| Notes |
- John Peckham probably immgrated between 1634-1638 and appears in Newport, R. I. in 1638. He was associated with the Clarkes and others, who were among the active supporters of Anne Hutchinson. His name is not found in any passenger list, nor in the Boston records. It is probable that he came with the Hutchinson party on the "Griffin" He was a zealous Baptist, but his name does not appear in the list of those disarmed in Boston, nor among the followers of Wheelwright,nor was he one of the signers of the Portsmouth covenant. He was a brother-in-law of John Clarke, and his lands were allotted along with those of William Freeborn, John Coggeshall and others who were the first settlers of the Island of Aquidneck in 1638, where, on May 20th his name is in a list of those who were admitted inhabitants of Newport. In 1640, the bounds of his lands were established. March 16, 1641 he was admitted a freeman. In 1648, he was one of the ten male members of the first Baptist Church of Newport,in full communion. This same year, Eleanor Peckham, his second wife, was baptized. His residence was in that part of Newport that afterwards became Middletown, and a stone marked I. P. is supposed to mark his grave. A reference to his will is found in a list of seventeen wills (between 1676 and 1695) that were presented to the court in 1700, by parties interested, the law requiring three witnesses and these wills having but two.
John Peckham and his sons became, prior to 1700, very extensive landholders. They were first, amoung the proprietors of the Petaquamscot purchase in 1660; second, in the Westerly purchase in 1661; third, in the East Greenwich purchase in 1677. These tracts reached across southern Rhode Island from Westerly to Narragansett Bay. Their purchases also included Connannicut Island and Dutch Island, in the Bay, besides large tracts on the island of Rhode Island, where the original settlement was made. Soon after the first settlement of Rhode Island, the Peckhams bought a tract of land one mile square in Little Compton, on which they buit a house in 1640,which stood two hundred years and in which six generations of Peckhams were born. Their purchases also extended into Dartmouth, Massachusetts, to the Acushnet River, where a part of the city of New Bedford now stands. The great-grandchildren of John Peckham were among the settlers of Stonington and other towns of eastern Connecticutt; Westerly, Charlestown, Hopkinton, North and South Kingstown, East Greenwich, Scituate, Gloucester, Providence, Jamestown, Newport, Middletown, Portsmouth, Tiverton and Little Compton, R. I.; and Darmouth, Westport, New Bedford, Rehoboth and Petersham, Massachusetts. The succeeding generation migrated to Dutchess County and central New York.
In a deed dated May 30, 1651, from Joshua Coggeshall and his mother, Mary Coggeshall, to Walter Connigrave, the land is described as bounded "on land granted to Mary Clarke, now deceased, sometime the wife of John Peckham."
The grant referred to was made previous to 1644. Mary Clarke was the sister of the five brothers, Carew, Thomas, Jeremiah, John and Joseph, and was born in 1607. It is not known where or when she was married, or when she died. The date of John Peckham's second marriage, the surname of his second wife, and the date of his death, are also unknown. There are reasons for believing that Mary Clarke was the mother of his sons John,Thomas and William. (The above was written by Stephen Farnum Peckham, A. M., of New York City, NY in 1903.)
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Abt 1595 - 1677 (~ 82 years)
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