Sailing to Marblehead, Massachusetts

After over a year touring England by bus, we have now returned to our Peach/Peachey cruise. For the next month, we are going to be crossing the Atlantic Ocean from England to America. Our destination will be Marblehead, MA, scheduled to dock in Boston by July 4 and be in Marblehead for the Eighth National (now International) Peach Reunion on July 8.

This will be the first reunion in which we will have those joining us from a country outside America. Dr. and Mrs. William Peachy will be traveling from Saudi Arabia to join us. He and his family have been a vital cog in the old wheel that turns this project since we first started our cruise two years ago. We all look forward to meeting them in person.

We will attempt to follow the path that John Peach, Sr. and later John Peach, Jr. took on their journey to America in the early 1600s. We know they both came from Symondsbury, Dorset, England, but we don't know from what port they departed. However, the Mayflower Company set sail from Plymouth, England, which is just southwest of Dorset. So we are departing from the same port.

The first English settlers in New England landed in 1620 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Nine years later, the Puritans invaded Massachusetts, with Salem as their starting base. Marblehead, only a few miles from Salem, became the home of several fellows who didn't come to the New World for religious freedom, but instead because of the fantastic fishing off the New England coast. One of these was John Peach, Sr.

Thanks for the research

As we depart England, we are not leaving our genealogical research there or the good friends we have from there who have joined us on our journey. We will continue to share and dig into family histories just as we did before we ever arrived in England. So, keep up the online experiences we have enjoyed on this tour.

I want to especially congratulate Kevin Sartorelli for what he has been doing for us. As most of you know, he has been providing extensive records to all those on our tour that he has gleaned from his own Mildenhall, Suffolk area. This has helped especially all those Peacheys and Peachys who look to this area as the place of their forefathers.

My hope is that we all will do this in our own local area. It is so difficult to travel to various locations doing research. If each of us would be able to do the research in the area we live and then share this with all on tour, it would be greatly appreciated and would expedite our research.

MARBLEHEAD Here We Come!

The Peaches are coming! Many are preparing themselves for the Eighth National Peach Reunion on July 8. Plans have now been finalized to have the reunion at the Masonic Hall in the heart of historic Marblehead. Located at 62 Pleasant St., the Hall also houses the Chamber of Commerce, making it convenient to those coming from out of town to load up on brochures, etc.

We will meet at the Hall at 10 a.m. for registration and fellowship. You are encouraged to bring your genealogical/historical materials to display. Set them up and share them with others.

At Noon, lunch will be served, followed by a short program of welcome and introductions. By 2 p.m. we plan to tour the heart of Marblehead's historic places on a walking tour.

We figure $15 per person will cover all expenses of the reunion, including the luncheon - but not the evening meal. Children under 12 will be $10. No charge for toddlers and infants.

Everyone is invited. We will all take a mythical journey there, but if you want to be there physically, please let me know A.S.A.P. Send your $15 per person registration to John H. Peach at the address on the letterhead of this newsletter. This will help us make sure we have enough food and provisions for all.

Ezekiel Peach, Jr. of Marblehead will be our host, having organized the meal and the reunion as a whole. He also has offered to take us on a real cruise of Marblehead and Salem harbors on his boat on Sunday, following the reunion.

Joan Cutler of Marblehead will be our hostess. She has arranged with the Salem Trolley Co. to provide the transportation on our historic tour to the original Peach properties of the 17th and 18th centuries. The trolley will leave the Masonic Hall (the location of the reunion) at 5 p.m., take the tour and then continue on to the restaurant for our evening meal. The cost for the trolley will be $5 per person and will accomodate up to 34 people. Please let me know ASAP if you want to take make a reservation for the trolley and how many will be going. Also, I need to know if you plan to join us for dinner after the trolley ride.

INDIANA - PENNSYLVANIA CONNECTION - amazing link

Peaches in and from Indiana have been one of the greatest mysteries for years. From where did they come? How did they get there? To which branch do they belong?

We have known that various branches are represented in Indiana, including the Kentucky and Marblehead Branch. However, the vast majority of Peaches who live in the southwest section of Indiana have failed to identify with any place of immigration or any already known branch. Although bits and pieces have been offered, nothing came together until Skye Driggs submitted a genealogy over the internet.

For many years, I have been aware that a vast number of Peaches lived in Knox Co., particularly Vincennes, Indiana. Some of them moved to the other side of the Wabash River to Mt. Carmel, Illinois.

At our last national reunion (Knoxville, TN 1996), we all were blessed as THE PEACH FAMILY BAND played and sang for us. Although the band is an Indiana Peach family living in North Carolina, some of their relatives from Vincennes, IN joined us for the first time in a reunion.

On p.352 of THE PEACH/PEACHEY MIGRATIONS, everything I knew about the Indiana Branch was written in four paragraphs. At that time, it was suggested they may be Irish.

This was later hinted at by Hershel Peach, who recorded an audio tape of all he can recall of his ancestry. (Those at the reunion have fond memories of blind Hershel, who stood up as the head of the family and made the whistling sound of the train in one of their songs).

According to tradition, Hershel said they may have been from Ireland and had the original name of O'Peachey, then later Peachey, and eventually Peach. Fred Peach of Florida was quoted as saying on p. 353 of MIGRATIONS "he had heard that his ancestors came from Ireland to Massachusetts, then to Pennsylvania and then further to Kentucky, before reaching Indiana and Illinois.

Thus, the tradition they came from Pennsylvania was already established. Now, thanks to the genealogy of Skye Driggs, we now prove they were from Pennsylvania and also can trace their ancestry back to 1800 to one common ancestor there.

WILLIAM (JOSEPH?) PEACH was born 1780-1790 in PA. and died before 1840. He married MARY CAIN 10/2/1822 in Harrison Co., IN. She was born in 1804 in Kentucky and died between 1880 and 1900 in Pike Co., IN (bordering Knox Co. in southwest Indiana).

William and Mary had eight children, the oldest being LUCINDA, b. 12/22/1839 in Indiana. All the children but Lucinda and Lenara (the third child) were born in Kentucky, Meade Co. being the only location mentioned. To go there from Indiana, you just cross the Ohio River. Mary was from Kentucky - no wonder they moved back and forth between Indiana and Kentucky.

Their seventh child was James Peach, whom we now can identify as the forefather of the sub-branch in Vincennes, IN. He was born in 1833 in Kentucky and married Rebecca Twitty (b.1833 IN; d.9/21/1904 Pike Co., IN). They had ten children, including John Peach, who was the grandfather of Hershel.

John's brothers were William, James, Nathan, Elmer and Henry. John was born April 1859 in Indiana and died in Knox Co., IN. He married Amanda Walker, who was born August 1865 and died in Knox Co.

John and Amanda had eleven children (according to Hershel): Ellis, Elzie, Harley, Minnie, Alta, Stanley, Marvey, William, Bertha, Arvie and Goldie. This is as far as Driggs takes the family tree. Hershel did a fine job of connecting the link to this family and providing some exciting stories and giving personalities to these names. He also has carried the family further into the present generation.

MARBLEHEAD BOOK has grand reception

My newest book, THE PEACH TREE HANDBOOK, Vol.III, The Marblehead Branch is now off the press. All the response of those who received it is overwhelming. These are some of the most significant accolades.

"It is wonderful. Marvelous. Stupendous. Magnificent. Fantastic. Exciting. Thorough. An excellent compendium of the Peach family," says Rev. Jim Bridges of New York. To show that these are not empty words, he backed them up by ordering two more books, donating one of them to the Belleville, IL Public Library.

"Wow, what a wonderful job you have done with this," writes Carolyn Knight of Marblehead, "it's incredible. I can't seem to put it down."

"It's wonderful," says Gloria Peach of Kentucky. "You have outdone yourself on this book - so much detail and such interesting reading."

"Greatest appreciation on what you have done," writes Robert W. Peach of North Carolina. "We had no idea how thorough it is - could not put it down. The genealogy group at our retirement center is envious."

"Fabulous," says Betty Paynter of California. "It seems like the work of several lifetimes."

"Thanks for a job well done," says Judy McIntyre of Oregon. "I'm impressed. I hope others will take the opportunity to purchase your book."

Needless to say, I have been greatly encouraged by all these rave reviews. For a person who was voted "LEAST LIKELY TO SUCCEED" in school, I think I am on the verge of proving my classmates wrong.

Only a limited quantity of these books were published and are quickly being ordered. Dozens of libraries are contacting me about obtaining a copy, as they already have copies of my previous books.

By the time I leave Marblehead on July 8, I may be sold out. So, if you want a copy, you better put your name in the hat now. Send $69.95 to yours truly at the address on the front of this newsletter. I will pay the postage. If you want a copy and can't pay now, then let me know, and I will reserve one for you.

Peaches and the Gold Rush

Dan Giffin claims his greatgrandfather, John Peach, "was involved in the Pikes Peak gold rush, according to his obituary. He left Ohio with a friend to seek a fortune, but found there was no gold on the mountain. So they turned back for home.

"Along the way," continues Dan, "they found people in worse shape than they were and so would give them food. The result was they ran out of food themselves and ended up eating their dog" to survive.

John was the son of Jacob Peach, the father of the Pennsylvania Branch. Giffin says his Uncle Reo also told him how the family came to reside in Colorado. "My grandfather, Warie Peach, wanted to move from Ohio and went to Texas, but didn't like the way blacks were treated there. So he went to Colorado and found it to his liking. They moved there in 1909 sometime after my Uncle Franklin was born. Most of the family is still there in the Grand Junction area."

PEACHES in CYBERSPACE

Nowadays, the internet is where it's at. This is true with most everything, including Peach genealogy. Every month, more Peaches are going "online" and thus accelerating their research and family ties.

What used to take years and hundreds of hours and dollars now can be obtained over the internet in just a few moments. I have messages every day from all over the world from Peaches in cyberspace. Instead of your letter taking a week or so to get here and a month or two for me to respond (I HATE TO WRITE LETTERS!), you can have a reply from me almost immediately by email.

By means of the internet, this Peach Tree Project is growing so fast I can't keep up with it. With all the channels I have surfed on the net, there are probably hundreds that I still need to search.

These are some of the sites you should search if you have a computer and are on the internet. For Marblehead, MA information to prepare you for the reunion:

• familyhistory.flash.net/reunions.html#P
• www.marblehead.com/tour/home.htm
• www.marbleheadchamber.org
• www.townline/marblehead/
• www.bridgemedia.net/tdg/default (a Marblehead genealogy page)

To help you research Peach genealogy:

• www.familytreemaker.com (hundreds of Peach family trees)
• www.ancestry.com (Advertised as the #1 site for genealogical research)
• www.myfamily.com
• www.familyhistory.com
• www.pro.gov.uk/genealogy/default.htm (Public Record Office of England, where most of the family history records are kept).
• www.thepeaches.com/genealogy
• www.rootsweb.com
• www.familyeducation.com (A beginning tutorial for genealogical research, applicable to children as well as adults. It includes info. from GENEALOGY OUTLINE FOR DUMMIES)
• rs/rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/rslsql.cgi
• www.egroups.com/group/PEACH (Go here to join our Peach Tree Project world-wide).

SOUTH CAROLINA PEACH News

Recently, I just had my book, THE PEACH TREE HANDBOOK, Vol.I, The South Carolina Branch, reprinted. (It had been out of print for about five years.) The reason I brought it back into circulation is because there has been such a recent influx of folks who are pleading to know more about their S.C. Peach heritage.

I am going to attempt to summarize briefly some of the latest queries. These will be organized by the way they are related to the sons of John Peach, branch founder.

1. John Peach had a son, John, who started the Tennessee sub-branch, who in turn had his first son, also named John. He was born 9/4/1805. Until now, nothing else was known about him. However, I just read a query posted by P.R.Craig that sounds like it might refer to this John.

"John Peach ca before 1800 SC, died before 1845 Tippah Co., MS., spouse Mary (?) ca 1798 SC, died Prentiss Co., MS. Daug. Ellen A. b.9/2/1824 AL, d.2/11/1899 Dumas, Tippah Co., MS, mar. Edward Monroe Strange 1850 Tippah Co., MS." This sounds like it might fit the mysterious ancestry of Mary Coleman. Can anyone help us identify this family?

2. This John Peach had a brother, Reuben R. Peach of Tennessee, who in turn had 18 children by two wives. His oldest, Nancy Ellen Peach, married John A. Barnes. Sandra Barnes posted a query about this family. John was the son of her GGGrandfather, Solomon M. Barnes, and he and Nancy are both buried in the Pasquo Christian Church Cemetery. She also refers to James Alexander Barnes, who married Mary Ann Peach, grand- daughter of Reuben R. through his son, William Riley Peach. 3. Ira W. Peach, brother to Wm.Riley and another son of Reuben R., is being researched by a lady called Nina on the internet. Ira married a lady named Lizzie, who in turn had five children, one being Benjamin Franklin Peach.

4. Mattie Peach, the youngest daughter of Reuben R., married Rainy Andrew Waddey in 1894. Wm. H. Clifford submitted the descendants of this couple including children: Leona, Corean, Ollie Arron, Ellie, Jennie Lou, Eunice, George and John Waddey. This made a nice addition to our S.C.Peach genealogy files.

5. Darlene Anderson sent me an obituary dated 4/22/2000 of Crafton Adam Peach, 71, of Nashville, TN. He was a retired carpenter and a member of Richland Free Will Baptist Church. Survivors included his wife, Mary Elaine Peach, three children and two sisters, Rosa L. Patton and Hazel Davidson and six grandchildren. He was the son of Foster Peach, the youngest son of Reuben R.

6. James Peach, another son of the original John Peach, had descendants who settled in the Virginia Beach area of Vir- ginia years ago. I failed to stir up much interest in this family until John Collins and Lesley Allen recently inquired about their ancestor, Samuel James Elijah Peach, who married Nannie West.

7. Hamp Williams of Jackson, TN traces his ancestry back through another son of James, Alfred Peach. 8. Go to www.angelfire.com/tn2/Shakenby God to see the poems written by Leslie Johnson, another S.C.Peach. Remember how she stirred our hearts with her poem at the Knoxville Reunion.

So.Maryland Branch Update

Pam Fossum of Utah recently solved a lot of mystery about Rebecca Peach of Walnut, Illinois. On p.216 of THE PEACH TREE HANDBOOK, Vol.II, Southern Maryland Branch, I wrote regarding her, "Lost contact with family. Death date and place of burial is unknown."

Thanks to Pam, we now have the details about Rebecca and her husband, to where they migrated and where she died and is buried. She also sent a photo of their entire family. If you want to see more in future issues, let me know.

Peach Tree Products

If you wish to receive the printed version of THE PEACH TREE, please subscribe to it by sending $12 to the address on the front of this Peach Tree. I publish this four times per year, and the $12 covers 18 mos.(6 issues).

peach tree handbook, vol.I, so.carolina branch $29.95+$5 I just had a few copies of these reprinted. They are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. When they are gone, they will no longer be available.

peach tree handbook, vol.II, so.maryland branch $29.95+$5 peach tree handbook, vol.III, marblehead branch $69.95 This is a limited edition, and the books are selling fast. I don't expect to have many left after the Marblehead reunion. So, a word to the wise: If you plan to get any copies, you better order them now.

peach/peachey migrations, 1066-1990 $39.95 + $5

peach heritage video (traces the history of the Peaches through England, beginning with 1066 A.D.) $12 + $5 These are running on short supply and will not be reprinted.

There is a satisfaction or your money back guarantee on all these products. So, you have nothing to lose and I believe an awful lot to gain.

If you live outside America, the shipping costs will be higher than those quoted above, depending on whether you ship by sea or air. Please contact me if you want to find out the costs to your particular country.

-John Harding Peach

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