THE PEACH/PEACHEY PROJECT The Electronic Peach Tree Issue 2 Editor: John Harding Peach Peachroot@aol.com
Between 1941 and 1943, an ardent genealogist and historian by the name of Edwin Peck, of New York, compiled an unpublished manuscript which represented ten years of research on the ancestry of William de Peche and his descendants. In these "Peach Trees" I will refer to this document extensively.
Peck relies on the Peche pedigree submitted by William Courthope, a Somerset Herald to the College of Arms in 1854. He claims that Courthope "was a careful genealogist and one of the best known of his day." Peck says this "seems to be the only elaborated Peche pedigree." Furthermore, he identifies his sources as being the Pipe Rolls, Patent Rolls, Fine Rolls and Close Rolls, all official records of England. He also consulted with county history books and documents throughout England.
I now quote from page 3 of my latest book, THE PEACH/PEACHEY MIGRATIONS:
HOW PECHE BECAME PEACH/PEACHEY
A bronze tablet was erected in 1931 by the French Government in the Castle of Falaise, Normandy. Inscribed on it are the names of the 315 Companions of the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings. William called "de Peche" was one of the knights who fought there. As evidence, the bronze tablet bears his name.
Peck say, "William de Peche I, who accompanied Richard de Brionne, founder of the Clare family, to England in 1066 is recorded as Peccatum in Domesday Survey of 1086 and in later records as Peccatum, Pecham, Peche and Pecche, the latter being the Norman French form of his name, which means ' William of the Great Sin.' He was the only person known bearing this name at the time of the Conquest, but which carried no stigma and was borne many generations by his descendants, when many Norman baronial families in England changed their surnames.
"The mystery of his name will probably never be solved and is one of the several most interesting mysteries in the ducal house of Normandy...but it was borne for many generations by archbishops of Canterbury, several bishops, abbots, priors, abbesses, many barons and a large number of knights until after 1400, when Norman French was supplancted by the new English language." (Editor's note: No one ever accused Edwin Peck of being too simple with his sentences. His detailed manuscript has been quite difficult for me to read and to choose the best tidbits of what he says to share with you. But his work is impeccable and has been verified [by me going to England to check this out myself] as being extremely reliable. So allow Peck to continue.)
"It may be that the surname of Peche was given him by general consent in Normandy, and he may have been known by that name at a period when surnames were not general at all for family names, and did not become general in England for over a hundred years later."
Several centuries would pass before the surname "Peche" would be Anglicized from the French "de Peche" or the Latin "de Peccatum" to the present common usage of Peach, Peachy, Peachey or Peckham. In fact, it would take ten generations for the preface "de" to drop from the name.
Peck writes, "Titles of the barons and knights are omitted for brevity, but all the barons and most of the younger sons were knights in the first ten generations of the Peche. And the 'de' is dropped here also for sake of brevity, but is borne as late as 1300 on the seals of the Peche. This was shown in the letter to the Pope signed by the earls and chief barons of England."
As a result of William de Peche I helping William the Conqueror to capture England, he was handsomely rewarded. There was no private ownership of property in those days. The king owned all lands, but he assigned to his faithful nobles the privilege of holding portions of his property. To William de Peche, he assigned two properties: One was Netherhall at Gestingthorpe, Essex; the other was in Dalham, Suffolk.
Essex and Suffolk are ajoining counties in the eastern part of England north of London. Although his properties were in two different counties, they were in close proximity to each other.
When I hosted the Peach Heritage Tour to England in 1990, those of us who went visited Gestingthorpe and saw the original site of our common ancestor's massive manor house at Netherhall. This has been replced by a more modern dwelling. Nevertheless, it was our joy to meet the owner and resident of the manor and to take ourselves back over 900 years to this first home site of our common ancestor.
The second property of de Peche was at Dalham, Suffolk. According to Peck, it was held by William and his descendants for over 130 years (ca.1170-1303). This was held by the Peche family for six generations.
However, Dalham remained with the Peche family a little longer than did Gestingthorpe. This was until Baron Gilbert Peche IV of the sixth generation in 1303 sold the lordship of the manor to King Edward I "in exchange."
Our tour included visiting Dalham. However, although we were able to view the massive and majestic Dalham Hall on the hill in the distance, we were disappointed the grounds were inaccessible to the public.
I have had considerable response to the first issue of this electronic Peach Tree from several Peacheys who trace their lineage to Suffolk. Thus I am going to highlight that county below and try to tie in their heritage with it.
THE PEACHEY ROOTS IN SUFFOLK
(To be continued in Part 2 of this issue. I will send Part 1 now and you will receive Part 2 shortly. I have a new disease I call Computer Phobia. That is the fear that all I have written will somehow go into never-never-land due to a brown out, a black out or some glich in my computer or in the internet server. Thus, I better get this first part to you before something like that happens).
CHRISTINA CHURCHILL of Massachusetts, USA has identified a branch of the descendants of Peche unknown to me before. She descends from JAMES PEACHEY and Maria Jennison (both born ca.1800 in Suffolk, England). They married in Little Saxham and lived in Bury St.Edmunds in that county and had 14 children. One of whom was THOMAS PEACHEY (b.28 Feb 1843) who married Harriett Sharpe (1841-1877). They had five children, all born in England. The whole family migrated to New Zealand in the mid to late 1800s.
The oldest son was GEORGE PEACHEY, who joined the military and ended up in Boston, MA in America, where he settled. Christina is one of his descendants. She says she believes the rest of Thomas' family is still in New Zealand. Wouldn't it be a blessing if we could reunite this family through the internet?
HELEN NICHOLS BATTLESON of Virginia sent me a lot of Peachey lines from those with whom she corresponds, including her brother-in-law, LARRY PEACHEY's line. One starts with JOHN PEACH (1733-1815) b. in Barnham, Suffolk, but married and died in Lakenheath, Suffolk. He married Sarah Smith (1730-1784) and had a son, also named JOHN PEACHEY (1770-1844), born in Mildenhall, Suffolk. Some of this line came to the USA.
One line she sent was of JAMES PEACHEY, who came from REUBEN PEACHEY, who married Elizabeth Godfrey in 1779 at Mildenhall, Suffolk. Reuben's grandson Abraham came to Canada ca.1850-51.
Another line came from WILLIAM PEACHEY born in Suffolk ca.1800. His son ROBERT DUNCAN PEACHEY migrated to Australia prior to 1869.
KEITH HILL of England shows his line as going back to Suffolk with the Peachey surname. He goes back as early as 1780 through Soham in Cambridgeshire (not far from Mildenhall, Suffolk).
Meanwhile, BOB DUGGAN is researching his wife's geneology coming from SUSANNA PEACHEY b.1645 in Virginia, USA, who married Col. Thomas Walker of Gloucester Co., VA.
I believe all of these are related back to the same common ancestor. Certainly they all descend from William de Peche I who had one of his first two homes in Suffolk. Where he lived in Dalham, Suffolk is in the same area as the towns in Suffolk from where these Peachey lines descended.
What does THE PEACH/PEACHEY MIGRATIONS book say about this Peachey lineage? >From page 93, I quote about one of the first immigrants to the USA.
1659 - Peachey, Samuel; to Virginia from Mildenhall, Suffolk (Virginia Gleanings in England)
SAMUEL PEACHEY, son of Robert Peachey of Mildenhall, Suffolk. Samuel's mother was formerly Ann Hodgskin. Samuel went with his uncle, William Hodgskin to Virginia. His will in 1712 showed he had no surviving wife and no children.
The will of a JOHN PEACHIE was proved on 9 Feb.1628 and is found in VIRGINIA GLEANINGS IN ENGLAND. This showed him to be a prosperous man. He was from Mildenhall, Suffolk, and his father was SAMUEL PEACHIE. Included in his will is: Agnes, Harrie, Peter, Richard and Robert Peachie.
AD INFINITUM
MARTIN PEACH of Canada suggested having a section in this newsletters for queries. I am willing to try it, but realize it may be a larger project than I can handle. But he offers a sample of what we can do if we query.
Information on JOHN SAWFORD PEACH WOODFORD, Northamptonshire, England b.1810. Parents: John and Jane. Plus earlier family members. Email to:mpeach@mb.sympatico.ca
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Yours until next issue. Please let me hear your response to this one.
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