PEACH REUNIONS

I keep receiving inquiries about our next national reunion, such as from Gladys Henslin of Minnesota. The answer to her question is, "No, we didn't plan at the last reunion for a future one."

However, I would like to invite the next reunion to our home town of Knoxville, TN again. If any of you are interested, please let me know, and let me also know if June, 2002 or June, 2003 or another date would be better for you.

This summer, I hope to make it to the annual reunion in Vincennes, IN on July 4 and the Kentucky Reunion the last weekend of July. Will I see you there?

INDIANA PEACHES
from Pennsylvania

The most puzzling state I've researched seems to be Indiana. Part of the Kentucky and Marblehead branches are there. Descendants of Benjamin Peachey of New Jersey are there. But it appears the vast majority of Peaches in Indiana descend from a William (Joe) Peach of Pennsylvania.

Thanks to Skye L. Driggs' genealogical charts, we can learn much about the ancestry of this Indiana Branch.

William Peach was born 1780-1799 in Pennsylvania and died before 1840. He married Mary (Polly) Cain 10/2/1822 in Harrison Co., IN. She died 1880-1890 in Pike Co., IN.

They had 7 children:

1. Elizabeth b. 1826 Kentucky
2. Michael b. 9/7/1828  Meade Co., KY
    d.5/18/10 Jefferson Twp, Pike Co. IN                                                 
3. Sarah b.ca.1830 IN
4. James b.1833 Meade Co, KY 
    d.9/3/1919 Pike Co., IN.
5. Joseph b.1835 KY
6. Ellenor (Ellen) b.9/15/1835 KY
    d.6/16/18 Jefferson Twp.Pike Co.,IN 
7. Lucinda, b.12/22/1839 IN,
    d.7/21/1923 Petersburg, Pike Co., IN

It appears from the children's births that William and Mary Peach first went to northern Kentucky before they moved to southwest Indiana. However, they must have had ties to Kentucky because they kept returning there to have more children. We will explore this family more in future issues.

More INDIANA PEACHES

Teresa Elkins sent an query on the intenet recently asking, "Does anyone have this Peach in their tree? There is a tale about Michael Peach coming over, as a child, on a ship from Ireland." Michael's daughter was Mary Peach born in Pike Co., IN. She married Elijah Harbert. Teresa pleads, "Please help! I want to have peaches for cousins too."

It's quite interesting that we had an article in the last issue about the origin and reality of Peaches in Ireland. I also have heard the theory that Peaches from Indiana descend from Ireland. Could it be that the father of William Peach that founded this branch was from Ireland? I still can't help but believe that he descends from Joseph Peach who founded the Southern Maryland Branch.

I also have heard from a Carol Peach of California, whose family is from Vincennes, Knox Co., IN, which borders Pike Co. She writes, "My father's name is Fred Claude Peach. He was born in Decker, IN and currently lives in Vincennes. My father's parents were Joseph Earl Peach and Ruth Mae Lankford.

"My great grandfather William S. Peach (b.1865) had a brother named Haller E. Peach. Haller married Lulu C. Traylor.

"Our Peach branch of the family tree has a reunion every July 4th in Vincennes, Indiana at the central park.

DELAWARE PEACH Will

Recently, I was sent a copy of the will of Anna Matilda Peach who married Robert McFarlin of Delaware. On p.264 of THE PEACH/PEACHEY MIGRATIONS, Anna is shown as the granddaughter of John Peach, founder of the Delaware Branch. However, in the book Robert's last name is shown as McFarland rather than McFarlin, but now corrected by her will made in 10/13/1892, read in part:

"I, Anna Matilda McFarlin of the county of New Castle and state of Delaware ....give and bequeath unto my beloved niece, Anna Augusta Peach, her executors, administrators or assigns all my wearing apparel and all the jewelry I may die possessed of."

She also included in her will her grandniece, Adelaide P. Williams; her nieces, Laura Louisa Williams and Susan Silver; her sister, Phoebe Ann Plume (or Plummer) - all of whom are found on pages 264-268 of MIGRATIONS.

The Peach farm of some 120 acres which she inherited from her deceased brother, William Peach, she left to her husband, Robert McFarlin. (Note: this became a bone of contention among the Peaches because their farm passed out of the Peach family).

I was particularly impressed that she left $200 per year to the Old Swedes Church of Wilmington, DE (now Trinity Church) to keep in good repair the family burial lot and gravestones of the Peach family buried there.

SO. MARYLAND LORE?

You genealogists of the So. Maryland Branch, please send your comments on this submitted story.

"I'm not related to the Peach family, but my research includes a Dr. William (?) Peach, circa 1855.

"My GGGrandmother was named Sarah Jane Chaney (nee Duvall). Family lore maintains she was orphaned ca.1855 (being approximately 10 yrs. old). She was abandoned by her older siblings and left in the care of some freed blacks. She was found by a Dr. Peach and taken into his home.

"While this is family lore, which is usually distorted over the years, I did not consider it to be of much value until I located a Dr. Peach in Anne Arundel Co. and found that Dr. Peach's mother was a Duvall.

"Evidently, the Duvall/Peach family should have known of this situation, but the 1860 census does not list my GGGrandmother with Dr. Peach's family." - submitted by Harry Smith

I am interested to know if there is any truth to this story, or is it just tales passed on generation after generation.

NEW YORK PEACHES

Oliver F. Peach and Emma Durah/Duruh were my grandparents, writes Martha Golden. Born in Canada, they moved to Malone, NY. There were about 13 children born in NY. I have a great deal more if you are interested. MARBLEHEAD DARROW Lineage

When some Marbleheaders migrated to Illinois, they married into the Darrow family. If any are interested in this lineage, the following info. will help you.

"Since Sarah Peach married Charles Darrow, I think Linda Reuter would also be interested in hearing from you. She has been doing Darrow research for years and is quite interested in the whole line. Her email address is reuterip@yahoo.com", says Mark Woo-ton of England.

"She would love to hear from you and is quite anxious to share and exchange any info. about the Darrow line. She has even written several editions of a book on the Darrows."

PEACH on the RIVER KWAI

Our foremost authority on Peaches in England is David L. Peach of Romsey, Hampshire. He says that his Uncle Stanley Frederick Peach was killed on that awful Burma - Siam Railway in 1943. He was in the slave labor gangs who built two bridges over the River Kwai. He died six days before his 30th birthday.

The Far East Prisoners of War Association here have been quite amazing in sending me info. I did not know about him, and my already high regard for him is even greater for this material. The film of the same name, obviously, could not show what really happened and is so misleading, that it does those poor brutalized men no favors at all."

NEW VIRGINIA BRANCH
a new wrinkle

In the last issue, I starting revealing what to me has been "the greatest discovery made in the year 2000" when it comes to Peach genealogy. See p. 3 of Issue 119 to tie this article together with the first few generations.

Coincidentally, after I published the last issue, Deborah Fisk wrote asking about her ancestors saying:

"My mother was the daughter of Helen Peach Furneyhough. Helen had a brother, Nelson H. Peach, and four sisters (Esther, Jane, Virginia and Bertha). I know that Moody Peach was a close relative.

"Can you help fill in any blanks about this family? In Phoebus, Virginia, (where her ancestors lived, which she says in the present Hampton on the east coast), there was a service station owner named Jim Peach who was a cousin. "

In a later letter, Fisk wrote: "Josephus M. Peach was my great grandfather. He lived in Phoebus, VA. He was married to Bertha Briggeman. They had one son and five daughters (Nelson, Virginia, Ester, Bertha, Helen and Jane). Helen was my grandmother, and she married Vivian Furneyhough.

I know that she died about 1924, and my mother, Mary Virginia, and her brother, Walter Josephus, were raised by their grandmother and bachelor uncle Nelson. It gives their birth origin as Ohio, but I don't know what brought them to Virginia." Because I had just researched and reported on the new Virginia Branch in the last issue, I was quick to notice this was probably part of that branch.

Remember, Charles Peach, the founding father of this branch, had eight children, one being Josephus Peach. Fisk says that "Josephus M. Peach was my great grandfather." She also says, "The family called him Moody." Apparently, that was the middle name of the Josephus M., son of Josephus.

One of Fisk's questions was, "Why did this family move from Logan Co., Ohio, to Virginia?" This was quite unusual during the period when most people were moving westward. However, the answer seems to come when we realize that her ancestors began in Virginia. They were just returning to their roots.

"Phoebus was next to Old Point Comfort (Fort Monroe, VA)," continues Fisk, "and many of our family members worked over there. Nelson Peach was Postmaster in Phoebus, and Walter Josephus (my mother's brother) was Postmaster at Fort Monroe."

How interesting to know that many of those from the South Carolina Branch also migrated and lived in this area. Also, as I searched my past letters, I found one from Sam McCoy, who shared he was of this family. Sam says his great grandfather was Josephus Moody Peach, born in West Mansfield, Ohio, in 1849. He had a brother named Nelson. His grandfather was John Sherwood Peach who was born in Liepsic, Logan Co., OH in 1870.

SOUTH CAROLINA PEACHES

"John Peach received the 1000th land grant in Tennessee signed by then governor Sam Houston (later governor of Texas)," says Stephen Evans who wrote to me recently. He also said, "I am descended from his daughter, Anne, who married a Baird. Their son, John Peach Baird, moved to Philadelphia after the Civil War."

This is exciting info. A Tennessee Peach with a land grant! Wow! Can anyone help substantiate this? Please let me know if you can. Tremendous!

Before Tennessee, there was John and William Peach in South Carolina, possibly brothers. After John's death, William moved to Tennessee along with his six children and John, Jr., his brother's son. Most of the Tennessee Peaches descend from this John Peach, Jr. If there was a land grant for John Peach as mentioned above, this would be the one who would have received it.

Many Tennesseans also descend from William Peach, believed to be John's uncle. Occasionally, a descendant of William happens to marry one of John's descendants, thus reuniting the family. Recently, a lady named Shirley shared her genealogy with me, and we found she was descended from both William and nephew John Peach.

On p.A14 in the back of THE PEACH TREE HANDBOOK, Vol.I, So.Carolina Branch, I show George R. Peach, grandson of William, marrying Sarah Arabella Peach, great granddaughter of John. I also show them with seven children, the youngest of whom was Ellen Peach b. June 1884. This happened to be Shirley's grandmother, and with Shirley's info. we can add another link to these Tenn. Peaches. Shirley writes,

"My grandmother (Ellen Peach) married Alex Gaddis, and they had seven children. She died during the big flu epidemic, when my father was 4 or 5, and her husband died two years later. So I know nothing about the Peach family and have been trying for some time to find my grandmother's family.

"I believe that Ellen was born in Davidson Co., TN and died somewhere between 1918 to 1920. I was able to get hold of an old letter this year from a deceased great aunt, and in it, she mentioned that Ellen's parents were Bell (Sarah Arabella) Peach and George Peach, and she has a brother, Henry, who is buried by her in the Gaddis graveyard in Tenn."

THANKS FOR KIND WORDS

"You and 'The Peach Tree' have meant so much, as without it and your South Carolina Reunion, I would have known little of my father's paternal side," says Judge John Peach of Jasper, Florida of the So. Carolina Branch.

"John, you should not be shy about asking the subscription rate you do. Based on content, it is the best buy around," writes Zeke Peach of Marblehead, MA. Thanks for these kind words. They mean a lot to me.

KENTUCKY PEACHES

"I am trying to find any info. about my family," writes Patricia Peach Krutz. "My parents were Willard and Goldie Peach. They died when I was young, and I know very little about them. I believe my grandmother was Maudie Sparrow Peach."

"I have a Willard Peach born 10/22/1914 and died in Nov.1972. He lived in Hopkins, KY and was married to Goldie Oakley."

This was the Willard Lake Peach found on p.146 of HISTORY OF THE PEACH FAMILY by Dorothy Sanders and Ineva Peach. Here he and Goldie are shown having one child: William Riley Peach, b.11/26/1935 in Hopkins, KY.

However, there were other children: David Wayne, Patricia Ann (Krutz) and two half sisters: Phylis and Alice Peach. Also, Patty said "we all called my brother, William Ray" rather than William Riley.

According to p.145, Willard had three other wives besides Goldie, his first. From which one of these Phylis and Alice descend is unknown.

Also, Julie Webb inquired about her husband's Kentucky ancestry. James Thomas Webb and Susan Peach (mar. 1/2/1895 in Anderson Co., KY) are her husband's great grandparents. Their son, Earnest b.8/19/1911, was her husband's grandfather. He is found on p.61 of the same Kentucky book. Here, it shows him with 7 siblings, which Julie confirms.

AMBERLEY CASTLE
owned by Peacheys

"I have collected a reasonable amount of info. on the Peachey family of West Sussex, England," says David L. Peach of Hampshire. "Intriguingly, from 1738 to 1871 (131 years), the ownership of the West Dean Estate north of Chichester was held by four generations of Peacheys, the last three being the first, second and third Barons of Selsey.

"Amberley Castle was also owned, I believe, by this same family for a while." Interestingly, our So. Maryland genea-logist, Maureen McGowan-Singer got married at Amberley Castle, making the trek from Florida to England for this momentous occasion. PEACH TREE PRODUCTS My latest book, THE PEACH TREE HANDBOOK, Vol. III, The Marblehead Branch To order a book, send $69.95 (includes shipping) to address below. THE PEACH HERITAGE TOUR Video, a pictorial tour of the castles, churches and properties of our Peach ancestors in England. $19.95 (includes shipping). THE PEACH TREE HANDBOOK, Vol. I, South Carolina Branch $29.95 + $5 shipping/packaging. THE PEACH TREE HANDBOOK, Vol. II, The Southern Maryland Branch for $29.95 + $5 shipping/packaging. THE PEACH/PEACHEY MIGRATIONS, 1066-1990 for $39.95 + $5 shipping. If you want to subscribe to this Peach Tree newsletter, send $12 for 18 mos. (6 issues) to: John H. Peach, 221 GeronimoRd.,Knoxville,TN 37922

PEACH TREE PRODUCTS