The American Pecks belong to an ancient and prolific race, the progeny of John Peck of Belton, Yorkshire, from whom their descent has been traced in an unbroken line to their immigrant ancestors in this country. For centuries before the English colonization in America, they were numbered among the gentry, and their coat-of-arms is described as follows : Argent, on a chevron engrailed. gules, three crosses formed of the first: Crest: Cubit arm, erect, habited, azure; cuff argent; hand proper, holding on one stalk, enfiled with a scroll, three roses, gules; leaves vert. These armorial bearings, quartered with those of the Brunning and Hesselden families, with which they became allied by marriage, were duly recognized and attested by the officials of the Herald’s College in London, November 20, 1620, during the reign of James I. The Pecks not only became scattered all over England, but established themselves in every civilized country. Deacon Paul Peck, the first of the name in America, arrived at Boston in 1635 and the following year accompanied the Rev. Joseph Hooker to Hartford. Connecticut. Joseph Peck, son of Robert, and a lineal descendant in the twenty-first generation of John Peck of Belton, Yorkshire, previously mentioned, arrived in the ship “Diligent” in 1638, settling first in Hingham, Massachusetts, and later in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Another Joseph, the exact date of whose arrival from England is not known, went to New Haven, Connecticut, about 1638, and was probably a brother of Henry Peck, who settled there at about the same date. The Ontario county family, to which this sketch relates, belongs to this branch of the Peck family. About 1649 he removed to Milford, Connecticut, where he died in 1700-01. He married (first) Mrs. Alice Burwell, widow of John Burwell, (second) Miss Richards. Children: Elizabeth, Joseph, John, Mary, Ann and Hannah.
