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10. Urbanization - Gabriel Timothy Peake Gabriel
Timothy Peake, son of Thomas Peake and Teresa Elizabeth Culver, was born
on Dec. 7, 1873 and raised on the Peake farm in Nelson County. He married Mary Russell
Coy (born Oct. 17, 1877), daughter of George Coy and Louise Rhodes Coy,
in Nelson County on Jan. 6, 1897. Together they raised seven children: Frances Erma
("Ernie"), born Apr., 1898, married Richard R. Watson, died
Apr. 11, 1982; Anna Camilla, born Nov. 1, 1899, married Joseph D. Craig; Emma
Elizabeth, born June 10, 1902, died Nov. 22, 1988; Margaret Lucille, born Dec.
8, 1904, married James C. "Chet" Clark; Mary Pauline, born Aug.
17, 1909, married John Lawless; Mary Praxedes, born May 5, 1913, married Henry
C. Zwicker; and Theresa Blanche, born Dec. 12, 1915, married Gordon Stewart.
An eighth child, Bridgett Olan, died in infancy. The family lived on a farm located
between New Hope and Holy Cross. The 1900 census placed the family in the New Hope
precinct. The older girls attended Holy Cross school in Marion County.
Having fathered eight daughters and no sons, Tim Peake concluded that farming was not
in his best economic interest. Consequently, he moved the family to Louisville around
1916, after his father's death, and found employment at the American Tobacco Company. The
move from rural Nelson County to the city must have involved at least some mild culture
shock for the younger children. Pauline Peake Lawless recounted pulling into the train
station at 10th and Broadway at night with her father about two weeks before the other
young children moved. Amazed at the array of bright lights in the station, she told her
father that she thought she must have died and gone to heaven. Tim Peake's reply was
"Hush now, or they'll think you're from the country".
The family moved first to a house near 16th and Garland Streets in Louisville's West
End, and the younger children of school age attended St. Peter's Catholic School. St.
Peter's was a predominantly German parish, and the children were taught to recite prayers
and give greetings to their teachers in German. Ethnic divisions were strong at that time,
and when Pauline Peake appeared to be dangerously ill with whooping cough and a high
fever, her parents sent for a priest to administer Extreme Unction. However, the priest at
St. Peter's deferred and suggested that they should request a priest from the
"Irish" parish, Sacred Heart. Mr. Peake did not find this a satisfactory
alternative, and directed that a second message be sent to St. Peter's telling them the
family was German. Around 1922 the family moved to a house at 723 S. 24th Street, and the
school age children transferred to St. Charles Borromeo School at 27th and Chestnut
Streets.
Gabriel Timothy Peake died Jan. 7, 1942, as a result of a seizure following a
fall on icy pavement in which his right hip was broken. This had occurred the previous
day, Jan. 6, near St. Charles Borromeo Church. At the time of his death, Tim Peake still
worked at the American Tobacco Company, as a nightwatchman. Mary Russell Peake died
of heart failure on Nov. 3, 1945. Both are buried at St. Michael's Cemetery in Louisville.
 Click the button for a photo of Gabriel Timothy Peake
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