William Peck was born in 1601, probably in London. He was a merchant by trade and came to Boston on the Hector on June 27, 1637. He came in the company with Governor Theophilius Eaton, the Reverend John Davenport and the son of the Earl of Marlborough.

The plan was to establish a plantation within the limits of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and to found a commercial settlement. They had friends within the Colony and were sympathetic with the principles of Congregationalism.

However they found three major stumbling blocks to their plans when they arrived. First, all the best harbors of massachusetts had already been occupied, leaving them with no port for their own incoming ships. To shar a port with another company would have been unthinkable. They would have had to pay for the privilege, thereby cutting into their own profits, and the owners of the port would have been taking docking facilities from their own ships thereby reducing their own incoming goods.

Second, the Antinomian Controversy with Anne Hutchinson was at its height. The Antinomian Controversy was the denial of the need for Christians to conform with religious or church laws. The current church leaders demended conformity with the religious laws as a sign of godliness. Anne insisted that true godliness came from inner experience of the Holy Spirit. She also believed that persons under such a covenant of grace might commune directly with God. She was excommunicated by the Boston church in March of 1638 and went to Roger Williams in Rhode Island.

Thirdly, all the positions of power and authority were already filled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The people holding those positions would not st3p down for new comers, and the new comers wanted the authority to rule their settlement in their own way, according to their own beliefs.

So, even though the people of the Bay Colony courted Rev. Davenport and Easton, to remain and settle with them, Theophilus Eaton looked for another answer to his dreams. Glowing reporst of the Northern shore of Lon Island Sound reached Massachusetts at this time. The area having just been cleared of the ferocious Pequot Indians in the aftermath of the Pequot War (1637). So in the fall of 1637, Eaton and his greoup set out to investigate the "promised land". The group decided to settle at Quinnipiac, later renamed New Haven in the spring of 1638. New Haven was the nation's very first planned community.

William Peck was an original proprietor of New Haven. He settled there along with Henry and Joseph Peck who were possibly his brothers, but, because they were so much younger, were more than likely his nephews. William we the only one of the three whose name appears in the list of planters and estates which was drawn up in 1640. He was also listed as a freeman on October 29, 1640. Being a freeman meant that he was entitled to vote and hold office. In these early years of the Puritan rule, this meant that you were also a member in good standing of the Congregational Church, since only church members could be recognized as freemen. Henry and Joseph were not declared freemen until about 1645, Josehp did not marry until 1655 and Henry in 1643.

William was elected Deacon of the church in 1659 and he held the position until his death in 1694.

William Peck

Born: 1601

in: London, England

Married: Abt 1622

in: London, England

Died: October 14, 1694

in: Lyme, CT

Elizabeth

Born: Aft 1600

in: London, England

Died: December 5, 1683

in: Lyme, CT

CHILDREN:

Jeremiah Peck

Born: 1623

in: London, England

Married: November 12, 1656

in: Guilfort, CT

Died: June 7, 1699

in: Waterbury, CT

Spouse: Joanna Kitchell

John Peck

Born: 1638

Married: November 3, 1664

in: New Haven, CT

Died: 1724

in: Wallingford, CT

Spouse: Mary Moss

Joseph Peck

Born: January 1640

Married: 1663

in: Lyme, CT

Died: November 25, 1718

in: Lyme, CT

Spouse: Sarah Parker

Elizabeth Peck

Born: 1643

Married: 1661

in: New Haven, CT

Died: After 1704

Spouse: Samuel Andrews