Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

Jeremiah and Joanna (Kitchell) Peck, of
Waterbury, and both he and his wife
joined the Farmington church, April 17,
1692. He died April 14, 1713, and his
wife five years later, May 23, 1718. Rev.
Jeremiah Peck was the son of Deacon
William Peck, of New Haven, a graduate
of Harvard, who married, November
12, 1656, Joanna, daughter of Robert
Kitchell, of Guilford. Mr. Peck taught
school in Guilford, 1656-60. Then for a
year or more he had charge of the Hopkins
Grammar School at New Haven,
subsequently being appointed minister of
Saybrook. In 1665, he removed to Newark,
New Jersey. In 1672 he, with
others, purchased land from the Indians
in the district now known as Greenwich,
Connecticut. He ministered there until
1689-90, when he was called to Water-
bury, where he remained as minister until
his death, June 7, 1699, he being then
aged seventy-seven years.
Thomas Stanley's father was John
Stanley, born in England, in 1624. After
the death of his father he was placed by
the Court under the guardianship of his
uncle, Thomas Stanley, until he should
reach the age of twenty-one years. The
uncle, Thomas Stanley, and his ward of
same name, came to Hartford in 1636, in
which year the nephew, although at that
time only thirteen years of age, joined the
expedition against the Pequots. On December
5, 1645, he married Sarah, daughter
of Thomas and Anna Scott, of Hartford,
and settled in Farmington. John
Stanley and wife joined the church, Janu-
ary 30, 1652-53, and later, when the fami-
lies were graded according to dignity,
they ranked fourth in a list of forty fami-
lies. He was one of the most distin-
guished of the colonists, being appointed
by his fellow-citizens to nearly every
office of trust and honor. He was deputy
to the General Court almost continuously
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
from 1659 to 1696, his in this connection
having been one of the longest terms of
service in the history of the State. He
was generally called Captain Stanley,
having gained the title in King Philip's
War. He was constable in Farmington
in 1654; was sergeant in 1669; ensign,
1674; captain, 1676. For his services to
the State, he received a grant of one hun-
dred and twenty acres of land from the
General Court in 1674, which grant was
followed by another in 1687. Captain
Stanley was, in 1689, appointed member
of the commission on Indian troubles.
His first wife died June 6, 1661, but he
lived until December 19, 1706. His
estate was appraised at three hundred and
sixty pounds, seven shillings and six
pence, a goodly sum in those days.
His father, John Stanley, embarked for
New England in 1634-35, but died on the
voyage. The research of the family gene-
alogist establishes, with strong probabil-
ity, the English origin of the Stanley fam-
ily, connecting it with a family of like
patronymic resident at that time in the
County of Kent, its noble antecedents
having entitled it to a coat-of-arms, which
it bore.
(The Robbins Line).
Captain Wait Robbins was born in
1744, and died May 15, 1826. He married
(first) Hannah, daughter of Captain Jona-
than Robbins, who, with two children,
was killed by the terrible tornado of
August 15, 1787. Captain Wait Robbins
was highly esteemed by his fellow-townsmen.
His father, John Robbins, esquire and
captain, was born in 1716. Stiles says he
was "the historic personage of the Rob-
bins line. Tall and well-proportioned in
body, possessed of great strength and
untiring energy, he was remarkable
among his contemporaries for his indus-
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try, impulsiveness of action and alert-