WILLIAM PECK was one of the founders of the New Haven Colony in the spring of 1638. With his wife, Elizabeth, and his son, Jeremiah, he emigrated from England to this country probably in the company of Gov. Eaton, Rev. John Davenport, and others, in the ship Hector, arriving at Boston, from London, June 26, 1637. This company was principally from the city of London, where Mr. Davenport had been a celebrated minister, and consisted of many wealthy merchants, and others of great respectability from London, and of farmers from Yorkshire, Hertfordshire and Kent, and some from Surrey and Sussex. They had suffered much from the intolerance and persecution of Archbishop Laud during the reign of Charles I., and the object of their emigration was the unmolested enjoyment of civil and religious liberty.
A persistent effort to trace the line of his progenitors involving much time and a large expense, has proved unsuccessful. He was born in the city of London, or in its vicinity, in 1601, and was there married about the year 1622. His son, Jeremiah, was his only child at the time of his emigration. He was one of the original proprietors of New Haven, his autograph signature being affixed to the fundamental Agreement or Constitution dated June 4, 1639, for the government of the infant colony. He was admitted a freeman of the colony October 20, 1640; was a merchant by occupation, and a trustee, treasurer, and the general business agent of the Colony Collegiate School, established on the basis of the Hopkins fund. He is usually named in the records with the title of "Mr.," then a prefix of respect and distinction; and from 1659 until his decease was a deacon of the church in New Haven. His wife, Elizabeth, died December 5, 1683, and he subsequently married Sarah, the widow of William Holt, and died October 4, 1694, at the advanced age of 93 years. His children were all by his first wife, and were 1. Jeremiah, 2. John, 3. Joseph, and 4. Elizabeth, all of whom, together with his second wife, survived him, and are named in his last Will and Testament. His home lot of about an acre, and his dwelling house and shop or store in New Haven, were, at the time of his decease, on the southeasterly side of, and fronting on, Church street; the lot extending from Centre street northerly in front on Church street towards Chapel street about one hundred feet, and extended easterly from Church street a few feet beyond Orange street. The front on Church street is now covered by the Connecticut Savings Bank building on the corner of Church and Center streets, the "Clark" building, so called, and the building known as the Odeon. His grave is in that part of the old burial ground now under the Center Church in New Haven. His gravestone, however, is in the new cemetery in the northern part of the town, having, with the monuments and tombstones of others whose graves are covered by the said church, been removed hither in 1821.