Looking for the McPeak family

Hi Kelly,

Thank you very much for your message. I hope that someone with information contacts you and helps you to further your research.

Given the dates you have mentioned it may be difficult to find more information as records generally do not tend to go back that far in Ireland. I suggest that you contact Derry Genealogy for assistance. Here is a link to their page (contact details in last paragraph):

http://www.derrycity.gov.uk/Genealogy/Derry-Genealogy

Please be patient - as our programme has only begun to rollout across the island of Ireland and volunteers in some areas may not yet be organized.

Kind regards,    

Genealogy Support

 

Hi Kelly,

I have a cousin who has traced our family back to the same Patrick McPeek. Some poking around I have done on Ancestry.com brings up Daniel Lee McPeek as Patrick's father, and Charles McPeek as Daniel's father. I am unable to verify this. These same family trees show all three of them dying in the United States, usually Sussex County, NJ, but Patrick is also sometimes shown as dying in South Carolina in 1780. Again, other than Patrick dying the US (or the colonies, at that time), there is no independent verification of this information. Much of the Ancestry information relies on what people post, and they are often mistaken.

Two years ago my wife and I visited Ireland. I knew Patrick came from County Derry. We visited Derry and had an amazing tour of the city. We also met with a genealogist who was very helpful. He sent us to Tamlaught O'Crilly. There is actually a place near the River Bann known as "Bally MacPeake" which translates as "town of the McPeeks." There is a Bally MacPeake road--actually an upper and lower version. We found (with the help of a farmer's directions--it's a beautiful, rural area) a cluster of McPeake families living near one another near there (not on the road, and there is no town of McPeakes at this point). We met Patsy McPeake (as you can see, the spelling variations abound) and had a nice chat. I came to realize that showing up there from the US and saying "My name is McPeek, too" is akin to showing up at the Smith household and identifying as a Smith. A fairly common name.

I'm writing this on my lunch hour at work. I have more information and photographs at home. If you're interested in comparing notes, email me at bmcpeek@cox.net. I live in Florida.

Thanks!

Bob McPeek

Hi Kelly,

I have a cousin who has traced our family back to the same Patrick McPeek. Some poking around I have done on Ancestry.com brings up Daniel Lee McPeek as Patrick's father, and Charles McPeek as Daniel's father. I am unable to verify this. These same family trees show all three of them dying in the United States, usually Sussex County, NJ, but Patrick is also sometimes shown as dying in South Carolina in 1780. Again, other than Patrick dying the US (or the colonies, at that time), there is no independent verification of this information. Much of the Ancestry information relies on what people post, and they are often mistaken.

Two years ago my wife and I visited Ireland. I knew Patrick came from County Derry. We visited Derry and had an amazing tour of the city. We also met with a genealogist who was very helpful. He sent us to Tamlaught O'Crilly. There is actually a place near the River Bann known as "Bally MacPeake" which translates as "town of the McPeeks." There is a Bally MacPeake road--actually an upper and lower version. We found (with the help of a farmer's directions--it's a beautiful, rural area) a cluster of McPeake families living near one another near there (not on the road, and there is no town of McPeakes at this point). We met Patsy McPeake (as you can see, the spelling variations abound) and had a nice chat. I came to realize that showing up there from the US and saying "My name is McPeek, too" is akin to showing up at the Smith household and identifying as a Smith. A fairly common name.

I'm writing this on my lunch hour at work. I have more information and photographs at home. If you're interested in comparing notes, email me at bmcpeek@cox.net. I live in Florida.

Thanks!

Bob McPeek

My Name is Brandon Keith McPeake, The story you are writing also is my story of the McPeak/McPeake/McPeek. I live in the USA and have been researching for many years. Once you get to Patrick McPeak history gets a little sketchy as to who was the first one here. But Daniel is who we claim our blood line from. Any Q/A let me know and i can help.   

Hello Brandon and thank you for your message.  I have virtually no information on the McPeek line as I am adopted so I have no family members to actually speak with and get even the basics.  I'm out here on my own.  I belong to Ancestry, but a lot of information put in by members is erroneous and document support is not easy to find as written records way back were not always kept consistently. So from Daniel, how is it that we would be related? Obviously not via Easter as she married a LaFever and the name dies out there.  Any ideas/suggestions as to where I might find some documentation to support at least the Daniel to Ezekiel to Easter portion of my tree would be helpful.  Thank you!

 

Here is a List of trees i have started on Ancestry.com 

 

Massachusetts McPeake Family Tree

View tree overview Manage tree

3/7/2016

Owner

Invite family

Florida McPeak Family Tree

View tree overview Manage tree

12/31/2016

Owner

Invite family

Georgia McPeak Family Tree

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12/31/2016

Owner

Invite family

Iowa 2 McPeak Family Tree

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4/23/2016

Owner

Invite family

Iowa McPeak Family Tree

View tree overview Manage tree

12/22/2015

Owner

Invite family

Ireland McPeake Family Tree

View tree overview Manage tree

2/12/2016

Owner

Invite family

Lebanon Tenn McPeak Family Tree

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8/7/2016

Owner

Invite family

Missiouri McPeak Family Tree

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11/5/2015

Owner

Invite family

Mississippi McPeak Family Tree

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6/9/2016

Owner

Invite family

New Hampshire McPeak Family Tree

View tree overview Manage tree

2/26/2016

Owner

Invite family

New Jersey McPeak Family Tree

View tree overview Manage tree

4/13/2016

Owner

Invite family

New York McPeak Family Tree

View tree overview Manage tree

1/28/2017

Owner

Invite family

Ohio McPeak Family Tree

View tree overview Manage tree

8/7/2016

Owner

Invite family

Pennsylvania McPeak Family Tree

View tree overview Manage tree

2/26/2016

Owner

Invite family

Tennessee Mcpeake Family Tree

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2/2/2017

Owner

17 people invited

West Viginia McPeak family tree

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6/24/2016

Owner

Invite family

Wilson County McPeak Family Tree

View tree overview Manage tree

8/9/2016

Owner

1 person invited

NameDate ModifiedRole
 

Thank you for the list of trees in Ancestry.  I found you on Ancestry but it says that we are not matched through DNA so we must not be descended from the same line after all.  Since my documentation is still in the formative stages, I have probably gone off on a wrong tangent somewhere!  Thank you for your help and I will keep searching.  I only have documentation confirming that my gggreat grandmother was Easter McPeek and that her father was Ezekiel McPeek and that his parents were Daniel and Elizabeth McPeak (nee Hall).  That's all I have confirmed.  Thanks again for your information!

I am a descendent of Patrick McPeek and the mystery of his death in South Carolina was answered by our family lore.  Upon his arrival in the United States, (NJ), Patrick  married, had two sons and fought in  the American Rev. War.  He was gone so long that he was pronounced dead.  His wife remarried.  Patrick returned home to the surprise of his family.  He and his wife compromised - she remained married to her second husband and kept Patrick’s youngest child and Patrick left with his oldest child to live in South Carolina.  According to our family story, he bought a slave plantation and lived out the rest of his life there.  I do not have anything to prove the story - it’s how we were told of our arrival in the US.

Hello Kit, Thank you for all of this new (to me) information.  I am at a great disadvantage because I am adopted and have no contact with my birth family (the McPeek descendants) so I do not have the benefit of any family lore. This provides some possible explaination and gives me a search direction via Ancestry.  Have you participated in Ancestry and have you done a DNA profile?  Just curtious.  This has led me to several new relatives on that side of my family but not specifically to the McPeeks yet.  Thank you SO much for adding to my information.  That part of my tree has been (and continues to be) a hard nut to crack.  KellyD

 

 

This is what i have and to the best of my  research  its pretty correct  Daniel Mcpeak 

Daniel McPeak

1715–1787

BIRTH 1715 • Chester, Pennsylvania, United States

DEATH 1787 • Chester, Pennsylvania, United States

6th great-grandfather

LifeStory Facts Gallery Hints1

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Facts
Name and gender

• Birth

  1715 • Chester, Pennsylvania, United States

   

  1715

  (AGE)

• Birth of Half-Brother Ezekiel Mcpeak(1730–1808)

  1730 • Sussex, Sussex, New Jersey, United States

   

  1730

  15

• Birth of Half-Brother James McPeek(1732–1733)

  1732

   

  1732

  17

• Death of Half-Brother James McPeek(1732–1733)

  1733

   

  1733

  18

• Birth of Son John McPeak(1754–1817)

  1754 • Pennsylvania, Somerset, Pennsylvania, United States

   

  1754

  39

• Marriage

  12 Jun 1764 • Lancaster, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States

   

  Ann LNU

  (1715–)

  1 Source

   

  1764

  49

• Residence

  1780 • Cumberland, York, Pennsylvania

  1 Source

   

  1780

  65

• Residence

  1785 • Cumberland, York, Pennsylvania

  1 Source

   

  1785

  70

• Residence

  1786 • Cumberland, York, Pennsylvania, USA

  1 Source

   

  1786

  71

• Death

  1787 • Chester, Pennsylvania, United States

   

  1787

  72

• Residence

  Pennsylvani

Thanks again, Kit.  I will plug this into my family tree and see how the dates dovetail with what I’ve been able to source.  Very difficult to get Irish source material when the dates get this far back (as far as when Patrick was born and from where he left Ireland, etc.).  I spent all of last summer researching my husband’s grandfather who was born in Ireland in the 1880’s.  That was recent enough that I was able to get copies of actual handwritten parish records.  Unfortunately (or fortunately) our ancestor left Ireland long before that so the records are very sketchy.  I guess that is why this kind of information is so valuable to me!  KellyD

Something i have run into while doing this. The names changed many times for many reason's due to the person did not know how to spell or there names where changed when they came here from Ireland. The Irish people where treated like slaves the term (indentured servant) comes to mind. They where out cast because of there beliefs. The ones that came here in the 1700's fared well and became citizens. The ones that came over in the 1800's where the ones that did not fare so well. The McPeake's of today still and always with have to scrape and claw there way to the top to be someone. I have been lucky as to have people before me to have the notion to write things down and save photo's and tell our family story. All i did was take that and go a little further. Im proud to be me and proud of my family heritage. I have work for years now to tell the story of the mcpeake's in a time when there was alot of hardship. But in doing all of this i have meet family from Ireland and england and scotland and even one in new zealand. And Mcpeake's are a global people, even here in the states there is one in 49 of the 50 states that we have. But to understand the life they lived you have to be able to go that extra mile and visit the places they lived and go to the places of burial. Ive had the oppertunity  to save and preserve lots of artifacts that belonged to them even a log house from 1849. All i can really say is we are all connected even if it is distant kinship. Im a irish american but my heart still lives in ireland.     

I’m glad I found you then.  It seems you have a lot to share.  My journey has been long.  I was adopted as an infant so I did not even know who my birth family was for over 40 years.  That puts me way behind the curve, without a lot of time to try to scrounge for facts so that I can leave something for my children and grandchildren.  It’s hard work when you have no one to share any stories or the-all-important oral history.  I’ve just been doing my best to reach out to any forum that I can find that might accidentally result in a link with someone who might know something (like you!) that can add another piece to my puzzle.  Thanks.

 

Hi Kelly,

Just read your post with interest. My ThruLines on Ancestry.com have Esther McPeak as a potential 3rd great grandmother for me.  I have her born 1791-1841. Is this your Esther?

 

 

Hello Cyn,

My Esther is usually listed as Easter McPeek, but her dates are b.1822 in Ohio, USA and d. 1895 in Ohio, USA so it doesn't sound like the same McPeek/McPeak, sadly.

Good luck,

Kelly