JOHN PEEK was born about 1744 in Fairfax County (became Loudoun county in 1757), VA,he married Tabitha O'Neal, he died in 1812 in Putnam co., GA
Children of John and Tabitha:
John Peek and Tabitha O’Neal Peek had six children. We do not have an extensive amount of information at this time on all six children. What we do have is documented from city records, cemeteries, the D.A.R. records, Georgia Citizens and Soldiers of the American Revolution, The U.S. and Georgia Archives, will papers of John Peek and old family Bibles
Leonard, the second son of John and Tabitha, was born in Loudoun County, Virginia. He was mentioned in both his father and brother’s wills, but we have no further proof of his descendants. It is mentioned in the HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, that Captain John and Tabitha Peek deeded to him on December 1, 1792, 1 slave and 222 acres of land adjacent to his brother John’s land, in Richmond County, Virginia, on Kioka Creek. In the book Georgia Intestate Records it states that Robert Jerman is deceased and Nancy Jerman and Leonard M. Peek issued L.A. (letters of administration) on January 7, 1810 in Putnam County. Robert Jerman was possibly Nancy’s father and she was Leonard’s wife.
Henry Peek was born on Thursday, December 25, 1766. He was the third son John C. and Tabitha Peek and was also born in Loudoun County. A major part of this web page deals with the descendants of this Henry Peek and he will be dealt with on another page.
Mary (Polly),was the fourth child of John C. and Tabitha Peek and we do not have her birth date or the time of her death. From the estate of her father at the time of his death, Mary Peek Hogan was listed as one on the legatees of his estate. We know from his will that she was living in 1814. Since her name was listed as Mary Hogan we know that she married. In the Historical Collections of the Georgia Chapters of the National Society of the DAR - Records of Richmond County, GA. (formerly St. Paul County, GA.) is listed, Hogan, Thomas and wife Mary- folio 116- Nov. 24, 1789. To Edward O’Neal, 125 acres. In the Abstracts of Georgia Wills in Columbia County, Thomas Hogan and Mary Hogan were witnesses to a will by Hannah Crute on February 11, 1805.
Eleanor (Nelly) Peek was the fifth child of John and Tabitha. Her name is spelled "Elinor", in her father’s estate papers. We did find out from this document that she married a man named Germany and it is probable that his name was John Germany. We found a will in GEORGIA RECORDS BOOK that listed John Germany died February 12, 1823, his wife as Eleanor and child not yet born and children as James, William, Robert, Raymond, Sarah and Elizabeth in Columbia County.
Nancy was the sixth child listed as a legatee of John Peek’s estate. Her name is actually listed as Nancy Bird. Her husband’s name was John and they were married on February 9, 1812. There is a John Bird listed directly below Leonard and Henry Peek in John C. Peek’s will papers as buying part of his estate who was Nancy’s husband.
More about Capt. John PEEK:
John Peek II and his family owned a large amount of land around Augusta on the Big Kioka Creek. In the book, GEORGIA HEADRIGHT AND BOUNTY GRANTS OF 1756-1909, John was shown as having been granted five hundred and fifty acres of land in Richmond County. We have the three documents one dated January 28, 1797, and two on March 7, 1800, giving John and his heirs 200, 150 and 200 acres of land, respectively.
John Peek was in the Revolutionary War and became a Captain during the war. He served at the siege of Augusta, Georgia with Colonel Elijah Clark, Regiment Commander. His name is on a payroll taken from the book Georgia Citizens and Soldiers. It lists a payroll of Capt. John Peake, Company of Militia in the Lower Battalion, Commanded by Colonel Robert Middleton. The original manuscript included the pay owed each man for the period June to 2 August 1799.
The following information was taken from Passports of Southeastern Pioneers 1770-1823. Louisville 8th Oct. 1804 Sir, An old relation of Mr. John Peek Senr. of Columbia, has signified to me his intention to visit the Western Territory - I have therefore to request from your Excellency, a passport, to enable him to pass through the Creek Nation of Indians. signed I am Your Excellencys Most Obt Sevt, Hor. Marbury.
In the book, 1805 Georgia Land Lottery there is listed John and Henry Peek who live in Columbia County. Each person had two draws and all the Peeks listed drew blanks except Henry who looks as if he drew a prize on his second draw. The counties that were formed from these drawings were Baldwin, Wayne and Wilkinson and the size of land lots were--Baldwin, 202 1/2 acres, Wayne, 409 acres and Wilkinson, 202 1/2 acres. The grant fee was $8.10 per 202 1/2-acre lot and $19.60 per 490-acre land lot.
This note of interest about the land where Capt. John and his family lived. Taken from The Story of Georgia, "Putnam County was one of the fairest in middle Georgia. In the description of the eastern counties we have described this charming country. Grand forests covered the hills; limpid streams made their way through great brakes of cane. The Oconee bordered the county to one side, the Little River made its way entirely through it."
"Putnam was laid off from Baldwin in 1807. It was named in honor of the brave old general, and its county site for General Eaton, who had distinguished himself in the war with Tripoli. It had been on the eastern border of the Creek Nation for over twenty-five years."
"None of the new counties, of which Putnam was one, could be said to have had any first settlers. They came in droves, and these first people were mainly Georgians, the land being given away them by lottery. The lots were two hundred and one half acres in size, and when Putnam was first settled it was dotted all over with small farms."
"Provisions were the only products. Tobacco was not raised and cotton was not as yet planted. Corn, hogs and cattle there were in great abundance. The people were not many of them people of means, and the luxuries enjoyed by the planters of Columbia and Burke were not during this decade found in this new county."
"They were much the same, and, as in Greene, the still-house was not far from the church, and in the inventory of estates the psalm-book and the Bible were put close beside the thirty-gallon still."