JOHN B. PECKETT, Esq., AND FAMILY

Mr. Peckett was of English descent. His grandfather, Giles Peckett, in the year 1774, with his wife and four children, emigrated from the county of Yorkshire, England, to Portsmouth, N. H. Having remained there a few months, he removed to North Haverhill, N. H., and in 1779 or '80 came to Bradford, Vt., then called Moretown, to find a home for himself and family.  Edward Peckett, a son of these worthy parents, was fifteen years of age when he came with them to this country. In course of time he married Deborah Barron, of Haverhill, N. H., and settled in Newbury, Vt., where he died, leaving a widow, with six small children, with slender means of support. One of these children was John B., the subject of this notice. He was born at Newbury, November 29, 1789.

John B. Peckett, after his father's death, at the early age of two years, was taken into the family of his grand-parents, the Barrons, where he remained until he was nine years of age, when he came to Bradford, to live with Mr. Cheney, on the farm now (1874) occupied by Mr. Cyrus Stearns, and while but a little boy was taught the lesson of earning his bread by the sweat of his brow. It might be an advantage to many idle boys of these later days to be subjected to the same Spartan discipline, perhaps somewhat modified. Mrs. Cheney, a daughter of Col. John Barron, of Bradford, was his mother's cousin, and with them John B. no doubt found a pleasant home.  During his minority the means of education were extremely limited, but he, having a strong mind, retentive memory, and a liberal share of resolution and perseverance, obtained an amount of learning which enabled him to teach a common school with success, and proved highly beneficial in alter life.

When about twenty-one years of age, Mr. Peckett commenced the business of rafting on Connecticut river, and followed it as, his principal occupation during the appropriate seasons of the twenty-seven years next ensuing.  The rafts were chiefly of pine timber, to be sawed or hewn, and used for house and ship building, the same being not infrequently piled with boards and shingles, and dignified with a hut for the accommodation of the raftsmen. Having sold his lumber, generally at Hartford, Ct., it was no uncommon thing for him to return on foot, and, still full of energy, engage directly in preparing for an-other voyage. It is said that when getting his raft together at Haverhill, he would often board at home, on the lower plain in Bradford, going and returning on foot, a distance of some half a dozen miles, at least, and be on hand in the morning before the men on the spot were ready to begin their labors for the day. Though not of a large and apparently strong body, he was exceedingly muscular, tough and energetic. Hard work was his habit and pleasure. When at an age when most men feel used up, he would take his axe, in cold winter weather, and be off early in the morning into the forest, to take the lead in the business of logging, and to show the young men how to work. He also took great satisfaction in the various operations of farming. When almost seventy-nine years of age, only a few weeks before his decease, he one day held his plow, drawn by horses, till he had turned over three acres of soil.

While through life mainly devoted to such laborious pursuits, he found time to do a great many other things.  At the call of his townsmen he filled various offices of honor and trust, to their satisfaction.  He was overseer of the poor for thirty years, and represented his town in the State Legislature for the year 1831; was elected Selectman and town agent for several years; was appointed several times special agent to construct bridges, and for the building of new highways ; and commissioner on several occasions, by the County Court, to lay out roads in this and other towns.

He was also a firm friend and supporter of the cause of temperance, and held not only to moral but to legal suasion. He believed in the necessity of law to restrain intemperance, as well as other crimes against society, and was for having such enactments put into execution upon reckless transgressors, whether drunkards or retailers.  Industrious, economical, and faithful to fulfill all his engagements, he wished to see others so, and the prosperity of not only those about him, but that of our entire country promoted. He was a firm advocate of freedom and human rights, a friend and supporter of the government of his country, and rejoiced in its triumphant suppression of the slaveholders gigantic rebellion, and-the universal emancipation and enfranchisement of their slaves.   In the Presidential election of 1868 he took a deep interest, and wished once more to cast his vote in favor of the cause with which he had so long been identified, but was not able. He lived, however, to hear of, and rejoice in, the result. He was then confined to his house by a prostration which was destined soon to terminate his long and active life. Though he had never been in the habit of talking much about death or eternity, he had evidently, for some years been sensible that he was liable at any time to be called hence, and had arranged all his secular affairs accordingly. The disease which finally broke down his strong constitution, and brought him to the grave, seized upon his heart, paralyzed his nervous and muscular powers, and toward the last sadly affected his once sound and strong intellectual capacities. But without murmuring he seemed resigned to his destiny, and quietly passed away on the evening of the 16th of November, 1868, in the seventy-ninth year of his age, having been a resident of the town of Bradford for seventy years. On the 19th his funeral was numerously attended, especially by those who for more than half a century had been associated with him in the various cares and comforts of life and love. But few of his age, in this community, are now remaining. May the evening of their lives be serene, and their eternity blessed. "As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field so he flourished; for the wind passed over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more." As to the family of Mr. Peckett, it may be remarked that he was married to Miss Martha Tilton, January 8, 1817, an excellent Christian lady, who died suddenly, December 23, 1858, at the age of sixty-six years. They were blessed with three sons and two daughters. One daughter died in infancy; their son Derrick died in March, 1851; Edward M. in June, 1858, leaving a family. John B. Peckett, Esq., and family, and his sister, Martha F., the wife of Col. J. C. Stearns, still reside in Bradford, and were able to be with their honored father in his declining years, and to. do whatever could be done for his comfort when finally passing away.

John B. Peckett, Esq., left at his decease a son bearing the same name, of whom, and his family, some account will now be given.

John B. Peckett, Jr., was born in Bradford, December 19, 1822. After his school days were over he spent several years in mercantile business, first as a clerk in the store of Mr. Asa Low, and subsequently as partner with Adams Preston, Esq., three years.

Mr. Peckett was united in marriage with Miss Caroline E, daughter of Mr. Asa Low, of this village, September 9, 1847, and in the year 1853 built the nice brick cottage nearly opposite to the Congregational parsonage, and there resided for several years. In 1854 he became partner with Dea. George W. Prichard and George and E.  Prichard in the ownership of the valuable brick grist-mill, and of the saw-mill therewith connected, in this village, and has since had the principal agency in the management of the same. Those mills are not only very beneficial to the public, but have the reputation of being very profitable to their proprietors. Mr. Peckett, in principle and practice has been decidedly in favor of temperance in this community, and by diligence in business, economy in his expenses, and uprightness in his pecuniary transactions, has been prospered in his secular affairs.  In March, 1865, he bought the beautiful homestead which he has since occupied and still further improved, on the Lower Plain, about three-quarters of a mile South of the principal hotel in this village. That nice brick house was built by Mr. John H. Richards, for his own family occupancy, in the summer of 1858.

Mr. Peckett has not only had business enough of his own to occupy his time, but has been repeatedly called to take an active part in public affairs.   He has officiated as Town Treasurer for five years, and as a Justice of the Peace for about twelve years.

Mr. and Mrs. Peckett have had two sons and two daughters.

1 Asa Low Peckett, born September 1, 1848, a worthy young man, married Miss Helen M.  Clement, of this town; and is at this date station agent on the Concord railroad, at Nashua, N. H. They have one child, a daughter.

2 Caroline Frances, born September 7th, 1853, grew up a comely, amiable, well educated, and hopefully pious young lady; fond of vocal music, and a competent teacher of the same; and on the 8th of April, 1874, became the wife of Horace Berry, M. D., of Cambridge, Mass.  He took her directly, with fair prospects, to her new home at Cambridge, where he was established in medical practice. But in less than one month, on the fourth day of May, 1874, she was, by the stroke of death, suddenly called away from all the joys and from all the sorrows which might otherwise have been her lot in life; called, it is confidently hoped, into the approving presence and happy kingdom of that blessed Saviour to whom she had years before consecrated herself. She died at the age of twenty years and eight months, lacking three days.  Her remains were brought to her native place for sepulture, and her funeral was numerously attended by deeply sympathizing relatives and friends. 

3 John Barron Peckett, born December 21, 1856, has been pursuing a course of education at Bradford Academy, and to this date has remained at home with his parents.

4 Martha Lucinda, youngest member of the family of J. B. Peckett, Esq., born January 27, 1859, died in her childhood.

Colonel John C. Stearns and wife occupy the pleasant homestead, now much improved, which was owned by her father, and are deserving of a more satisfactory notice here than the writer has been furnished with the means of correctly giving.   Biographie Index

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