About a month back I was asked to search out the lineage of the Peck family in regards to a legal matter. So instead of the typical genealogical working backwards into the distant past, I had to work forward to find the living relatives of Ira and Marsha Peck. But the name Peck was not one I had heard of, and in fact, the only Peck that came to mind was the painter Sheldon Peck who lived in Jordan, So here is what I found.

Ira Peck was the son of Elisha Peck and Percy Scott, and he was born in Phelps in 1821. He married Marsha Dixon and then moved to Mentz to take up farming. He owned a farm of about 80 acres next to the Dixon’s, who were his wife’s relatives. These farms were located east of the village near the intersection of Centerport and Nauvoo Roads. The area was known as Dixon’s corners and today we find the Dixon cemetery at that place.

You can see the farm of Ira Peck in this 1859 map, although it looks like “J.Reck.” Next door is the grave yard. 

Perhaps farming didn’t agree with Ira as around 1865 he sold the land to John Dixon. John would sell the land to a Mrs. Mary Connors around 1872. It appears that Ira took up the milling business as in the 1860s and 70s, he operated a water-powered mill that was located along the Outlet on Green Street. (This later would be the site of Wilt’s Mill.) Water-powered mills need water to turn the wheels and machinery, so when the State began to take water from the Owasco Outlet to supply the Erie Canal, these mills basically lost their “fuel.” Ira filed a number of claims against the state for damages and he won a settlement. With his settlement in hand, he sold the mill in 1882 to a company that made wagon wheels, and moved the family to Syracuse. He passed away in 1887 and is buried in Syracuse.

The 1859 map of Port Byron shows the Planing Mill and Lumber Yard of Ira Peck. 

By the time of his death, most of Ira’s children had moved west. Many settled in the Grand Rapids area of Michigan. Today the Peck family groups can be found in Michigan, California, Texas, Illinois, and near Philadelphia.

There is another Peck/Dixon marriage I found, although it wasn’t part of my study. Mary Ann Peck married Eli Wilson Dixon. This family settled in Kankakee, Illinois, which is near to Dixon, Illinois and not to far away from Port Byron, Illinois.

I should not be surprised at the twists and turns in these searches, but in the investigation of the Peck family, I found myself reading a rather detailed history of the Sine family in a 1952 article titled, “Five Generations Occupy Sine Farm, Throop.” Every genealogist dreams of finding an article with the detail of family history that this article shared. It seems that Dr. Lewis Peck of Barryton, Michigan, was in communication with Earl Sine since they shared a great-great-grandmother by the name of Sarah Hadden. In 1951 the Sine’s told the Port Byron Chronicle that Dr. Peck had been honored by his community for his work as a small-town doctor. A year later, Dr. Peck would return home to attend a large reunion at the Sine farm. A fascinating fact that the newspaper shared was that in her early life, Sarah Hadden was captured by “French-led” Native Americans and was then rescued by Rogers Rangers. This definitely needs further exploration! I only wish I knew all this when I use to speak with Vic Sine.

And I never did make a connection to Sheldon Peck.