PECK

One of the earliest English speaking settlers to Albert County, NB was Abiel PECK.
He was born 18 May 1730 at Attleboro, Bristol Co., Massachusetts, the son of John and Rebecca (RICHARDSON) PECK  and a descendant of Joseph PECK, who emigrated from England to Attleboro, Mass., in 1638 . He died 16 December, 1802 at Hopewell, NB and is buried in Pioneer Cemetery in Riverside, Albert County. (Turn left down McClelan Ave. off highway and head towards the river.) The inscription on his tombstone reads:

"Here lies interred the body of Abiel Peck, a native of Boston, and one of the first settlers of this place, who, on the 16th day of December, 1802, unfortunately perished in a boat, in the 73rd year of his age, leaving upwards of three-score descendants to lament his melancholy fate.

Peck, 1868, explains this apparent conflict of birth places by saying Abiel's father died in Attleborough about three months before Abiel was born. The widow may have removed to Boston. She afterward married a JONES.
Abiel married circa 1750, to Ruth Skinner.

Abiel PECK came to Cumberland, Nova Scotia at the time of the revolution and had holdings in what is now Sackville. Shortly after, he crossed over the Bay and acquired 5,500 acres of the Calhoun grant in Shepody area. It is believed that the original home of Abiel Peck was in the Holmstrom’s blueberry fields.(at Peck Colonial House at 5566 Route 114, Hopewell Hill).  After his death, most of the grant was divided among his eleven children; the only part that went outside the family was sold to David HOAR of Colchester, Nova Scotia. The greater part of this grant is still held by Mr. Peck's descendants.

Members of the PECK family were among the social aristocracy of early Albert County and a great deal of biographical data as well as most of his descendants to the year 1865 can be found in Peck, Ira B., 1868, "Descendants of Joseph Peck", Mudge & Sons, Boston.

 (Thanks to Judy McQuinn and David Christopher for excerpts of this article)