The family is stated to have come from Normandy into England with William
the Conqueror. REGINALD PEACOCK, an Englishman, was appointed bishop of St.
Asaph, April 22, 1444, and March 13, 1449, was appointed bishop of
Chichester, but, denying the doctrine of transubstantiation, he was deprived
of his office and banished in 1457, and his books publicly burnt. He died in
the year 1486. It is not known exactly what relation he held to the family
in the United States, but he was related to them. He lived in the time of
the contentions between the houses of York and Lancaster, and some branches
of the family adhered to the one house, while others were loyal to the rival
house. In the year 1534, in the reign of HENRY VIII., Sir STEPHEN PEACOCK
was lord mayor of London, and as such went to the Tower gate in his "gown of
crimson velvet" to receive ANNE BOLEYN, preparatory to her being crowned
queen in Westminster Abbey, June 1, 1534. Some of the family went from
England to Ireland, and one of them fought at the battle of the Boyne, and
when King WILLIAM III. crossed the river, assisted him up the opposite bank.
In Burke's Landed Gentry of England, published in London, JOHN PEACOCK is
mentioned as a landed proprietor at Slyne, near Lancaster, whose ancestor,
RICHARD PEACOCK, settled there in 1713. The same book also mentions the coat
of arms granted to the family in the County of Berks, June 27, 1640, and
that granted to the family in the County of Durham, in the year 1688.

THOMAS PEACOCK, the ancestor of the family in the United States, was born in
Ireland, of English parents, about the year 1730. He was an active
participant in the American revolution. He was with General WASHINGTON in
his retreat through New Jersey, crossing the Delaware with him on December
8, 1775, the British army being just in the rear as the American army
crossed. He was also with General WASHINGTON at Newburgh, N. Y., in 1783. He
married MARGARET ANDERSON about the year 1777. She was from Scotland. They
lived in the western part of Long Island, and afterwards moved to a farm
near Newburgh, Orange County, New York, where they resided during the
greater part of the war. They afterwards removed to a fine farm near Geneva,
N. Y. Here they lived for several years; but, having become one of the
sureties of the sheriff of Ontario County, he incurred such a heavy
liability that it deprived him of his farm, and he sought a new home on the
Poultney estate, near Lyons, Wayne County, New York, then an unsettled part
of the State. MARGARET, the wife of THOMAS PEACOCK, died November 26, 1816,
in the sixty fifth year of her age. He continued to reside on the farm with
his son JOHN, until the year 1827, when he removed to Mayville, N. Y., and
lived with his son WILLIAM. He died in Mayville, July 3, 1828, aged
ninety-eight years.

THOMAS and MARGARET (ANDERSON) PEACOCK had five children, namely:
1. ANDREW PEACOCK, died young.
2. WILLIAM PEACOCK, married ALICE EVANS.
3. SARAH PEACOCK, born in 1781; married SAMUEL HUTCHINSON, in 1798. He was a
minister in the Society of Friends. She died in Washington, D. C., in the
year 1858
1. MARGARET HUTCHINSON, died young.
2. SARAH H. HUTCHINSON, married ROBERT JOHNSTON. Their daughter:
1. VIRGINIA JOHNSTON, married Dr. JOHN W. BULKLEY.
3 ANN HUTCHINSON, married JOHN W. SIMONTON. Their daughter:
1. FLORIDA SIMONTON.
4. ELIZABETH HUTCHINSON, married WILLIAM B. MAGRUDER.
5. MARY B. HUTCHINSON, married WILLIAM B. FERGUSON. Their children were:
1. CAROLINE M. FERGUSON, died young.
2. SUSAN B. FERGUSON.
3. SARAH ELIZABETH FERGUSON, married OMAR S. FARWELL.
6. THOMAS P. HUTCHINSON.
7. MARTHA HUTCHINSON, married JOHN BARRY.

4. JOHN PEACOCK, married MERCY MARIA FREES.Their children were:
1. WILLIAM W. PEACOCK, born January 16, 1815; married Mrs. CAROLINE RUXTON,
June 16, 1847.
He died in Buffalo, June 2, 1867.
2. THOMAS PEACOCK, born June 23, 1817: married ALICE E. PEACOCK; died
November 15, 1851.
Their children were:
1. FRANCIS H. PEACOCK, died March, 1861.
2. THOMAS A. PEACOCK, born September 20, 1849; married ALICE M. STANFIELD,
May 11, 1881.
3. JOHN PEACOCK, born December 8, 1819: died January 16, 1839.
4. MARY PEACOCK, born March 18, 1821; married CHARLES W. EVANS, September
10, 1857. Their children were:
1. ALICE MARY EVANS, born December 31, 1858.
2. VIRGINIA EVANS, born March 22, 1863.
5. SARAH PEACOCK, born September 4, 1824; married AUSTIN A. HOWARD, July 28,
1858. Their
children were:
1. ALICE A. HOWARD, born June 21, 1861.
2. SARAH V. HOWARD, born December 20, 1863.
3. MARY EDNA HOWARD, born June 23, 1866.

5. ABSALOM PEACOCK, married JANE NICHOLSON Their children were:
*Absalom, died Dec.20,1831,ae 49-9 Jane d Mar.8,1859,ae 74 buried Mayville
Cemetery

1. THOMAS R. PEACOCK, born September 8, 1812; married RACHEL MCKENZIE; he
died November 11, 1846.ae 34 Rachel, his w. Feb.12,1844, ae 26
Their son:
a, . FREDERICK MCKENZIE PEACOCK.d Dec.12,1869, ae 26
Mayville Cemetery
2. WILLIAM PEACOCK, died young. Mar.27,1825;Apr.8,1880

3. SARAH J. PEACOCK, born April 2, 1816; married JOHN BIRDSALL. He was one
of the judges of the supreme court in Western New York.(* She died
Birdsall, Sarah J. da. Absalom Peacock, Apr.2,1816;Mar.29,1847 Buried
Mayville Cemetery)
4. MARTHA PEACOCK, born August 19, 1818; married JEDEDIAH R. TRACY. buried
Mayville Their children were:
1. MARY J. TRACY.
2. JEDEDIAH TRACY.
3. PERRY TRACY.
4. ASHAEL TRACY.
5. EMELINE TRACY.
6. CALLIE TRACY.
5. ALICE E. PEACOCK, born August 12, 1820; married THOMAS PEACOCK as before
mentioned.
6. MARGARET PEACOCK, born May 20, 1822. *D May 19,1890 Buried Mayville

7. WILLIAM P. PEACOCK, born March 27, 1825; married ELIZABETH HOMEWOOD; he
died in Mayville, in 1880. Elizabeth, w. William P. d June 24,1882
Their children were:
1. MARGARET I. PEACOCK.
2. SARAH J. PEACOCK.

8. EVANS PEACOCK, born January 8, 1827; died near Westfield, N. Y., in
1879.*bur Mayville)

EVANS FAMILY
THIS family was very numerous in the old world, and was of English and Welsh
descent.
Those who intermarried with the ELLICOTT family, are of Welsh descent.
LEWIS EVANS, the original ancestor of the EVANS family who inter-married
with the ELLICOTT family, was born in Wales, England, in the year 1666. He
fought at the battle of the Boyne, in Ireland, June 22, 1690, between the
deposed King JAMES, and King WILLIAM the Third of England. He married ALICE
THOMAS, in Wales, probably about the year 1728, and removed to Bucks County,
Pennsylvania; he died there in the year 1770, at the advanced age of one
hundred and four years. He had three children, namely: THOMAS EVANS, LEWIS
EVANS, and WILLIAM EVANS.

THOMAS EVANS married Miss GRIFFITH, and had a son,** LEWIS EVANS, who died
in Mayville, Chautauqua County, New York, May 9, 1831, aged one hundred
years; HE is buried in Mayville Cemetery
he also had several other children.

WILLIAM EVANS and MARTHA HOUGH were married in Bucks County, Pennsylvania,
in the year 1753. They had six children, namely: JOSEPH EVANS, ALICE EVANS,
JOHN EVANS, LEWIS EVANS, WILLIAM EVANS, and MARTHA EVANS. WILLIAM and MARTHA
were twins, born six months after the death of their father.
**1. JOSEPH EVANS, eldest son of WILLIAM and MARTHA (HOUGH) EVANS, married
ANN ELLICOTT. They had nine children.
**ANN ELLICOTT, daughter of JOSEPH and JUDITH ELLICOTT, was born December 3,
1758, married JOSEPH EVANS in the year 1777. They lived in Maryland, on his
large tract of land called "Limestone Valley" on the Patapsco, in Baltimore
County, one mile above Ellicott's Upper Mills.
He was very proficient in his business as a millwright, and built a mill and
a comfortable residence on the property.
Their home was the pleasant resort of all their friends and relatives from
both the Upper and Lower Mills, as well as from Baltimore, and prior to 1815
was a place of great beauty. It was approached by the ordinary roads of that
period, and their visitors generally came on horseback, carriages being
rarely used in those days. The road from Ellicott's Lower Mills was near the
side of the Patapsco, and very pleasant in the summer, passing through thick
woods of large trees. Mrs. MARTHA E. TYSON, in her written reminiscences of
a visit there, says: "My mother occasionally visited our cousins, the wife
and daughters of JOSEPH EVANS; sensible, agreeable, and pleasant persons.
They lived about a mile above the Upper Mills, very near the Patapsco, in a
situation of seclusion, wildness, and beauty. The Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad has since passed so near the spot as to break up its seclusion, and
rob all its surroundings of their rural charms. "The business engagements of
JOSEPH EVANS called him frequently from home, so that we rarely saw him. He
was very hospitable and friendly in his manners, and his family lived in
neatness and comfort. A garden filled with an unusual quantity of plants,
shrubs, and flowers, lay in front of the dwelling. In the center of the
garden was a rustic summer-house with seats inside, and overgrown with
honeysuckles. In this attractive home ANN bestowed great care on the
education of her children, devoting all her leisure time to them, and aided
by the good collection of books that her husband had made. So well had she
educated her daughters to adorn the home life, that when in one of the
visits of JOSEPH ELLICOTT to his mother, JUDITH ELLICOTT, of Ellicott's
Upper Mills, he mentioned to her the want of two of his nieces to take
charge of his home in Batavia, she advised him to take ALICE, the daughter
of ANN, as the most suitable of all her grand-daughters; he consequently
took ALICE and her cousin RACHEL, the daughter of LETITIA, with him in 1805.
But they were too attractive to stay with him very long; in a very few years
ALICE married WILLIAM PEACOCK, and RACHEL married CHAUNCEY LOOMIS. ANN'S
daughters, MARTHA, SARAH, and ELIZABETH and her son BENJAMIN also
subsequently went to Batavia, and in the year 1819 JOSEPH and ANN themselves
sought a home in Western New York, arriving in Mayville, October 28, 1819.
They finally settled near Northville, in north-western Pennsylvania, at the
mills near North East, and near the south-western bounds of Chautauqua
County, New York, on a farm. Their son, JOSEPH E. EVANS, remained at the
homestead on the Patapsco, in Maryland.
Soon after their settlement in their new home, JOSEPH EVANS returned to see
to his affairs at his old home, and died there in 1820. He was interred in
the family burial ground at Ellicott's Upper Mills. After the removal of
their son, JOSEPH E. EVANS, to the mills and farm near North East, Pa., the
property in Maryland was sold to the Messrs. Ely, the former neighbors of
the family, and was called "Elysville." A cotton factory was afterwards
erected on it, and it was then called Alberton.
ANN EVANS subsequently removed to a fine farm east of and near Lewiston, N.
Y., near those occupied by her daughters, Mrs. LYON and Mrs. GOODWIN. Her
family consisted of her daughter JUDITH, who never married, the children of
her deceased daughter, MARY ANN WAYS, and BENJAMIN WAYS, their father.
She resided there in the enjoyment of the ample wealth she inherited as one
of the heirs-at-law of her brother, BENJAMIN ELLICOTT, and as one of the
devisees of her brother, JOSEPH ELLICOTT, and departed this life, after a
short illness, October 22, 1840, in the eighty-second year of her age.
JOSEPH and ANN (ELLICOTT) EVANS had nine children, namely:
1. MARTHA EVANS, married DAVID GOODWIN. They resided in Batavia, N. Y. He
died June 3, 1827, aged forty-seven years. She died February 15, 1850. After
the death of her husband she resided near Lewiston, N. Y.

2. JOSEPH E. EVANS, born in 1778; married, first, ANN WATERS, and
afterwards, HARRIET BOWEN. was born in 1778, in Maryland, and in his younger
days went to reside in Western New York, but afterwards returned to
Maryland, and married ANN WATERS, in Baltimore County. After the death of
ANN, he married HARRIET BOWEN, ANN'S first cousin, and soon after again
removed to Western New York with his family, and afterwards went to reside
near his mother, Mrs. ANN EVANS, in Pennsylvania, adjoining Chautauqua
County, New York, and died March 22, 1832, aged fifty-four years.
JOSEPH E. and ANN (WATERS) EVANS had five children, namely:
1. ELEANOR B. EVANS, married CALEB O. DAUGHADAY, in Maryland, and
afterwards removed to near Chautauqua County, New York, and subsequently
lived in the town of Ripley, Chautauqua County. She was born January 25,
1807; married October 3, 1822. CALEB O. DAUGHADAY died January 10, 1872.
2. JOHN W. EVANS, married SARAH JANE COLVIN, February 25, 1836, in
Lewiston, N. Y., where he lived. He afterwards removed to Beloit, in
Wisconsin, and there married CLARISSA F. GOODHUE, April 15, 1851, and died
there January 25, 1867.
3. ANN EVANS, born in 1811; married WILLIAM R. GWINN, of Medina, N. Y.,
December 2, 1835. She died October 4, 1843.
4. SARAH R. EVANS, married MYCENE W. CLARK, of Medina, N. Y., and died
January 22, 1842. Her infant child was born January 22, 1842, and died the
next day.
5. MARTHA E. EVANS, born October 10, 1817; lived with her aunt, RACHEL
EVANS, in Batavia, N. Y. She married, October 15, 1850, Rev.JAMES A. BOLLES,
D. D., rector of St. James' Church, in Batavia. He was afterwards rector of
the Church of the Advent, in Boston, Mass., from 1859 to 1870, and now
resides in Cleveland, Ohio
JOSEPH E. EVANS and HARRIET BOWEN had one daughter:
ELIZABETH B. EVANS, born April 25, 1829. After her mother's second marriage,
she accompanied her to the western country, but afterwards returned to
Chautauqua County, New York. ELIZABETH married THOMAS C. NORTON, in that
county, April 29, 1850; they removed to Racine, in Wisconsin, and he died
there, March 2, 1851, in less than one year after their marriage. She again
returned to Chautauqua County, and lived with her mother in Ripley, where
THOMAS, her only child, died January 11, 1860. She married HARVEY HALL, in
that place, February 28, 1872. They have no children. He is a prosperous
farmer in Ripley, and has charge of other extensive business interests in
that vicinity. HARVEY HALL was born February 15, 1812. HARRIET, the mother
of ELIZABETH (EVANS) HALL, lives with her, and is now in the eighty-ninth
year of her age.

**3. ALICE EVANS, born July 30, 1780; married WILLIAM PEACOCK, October 3,
1807.
4. JUDITH EVANS, died, unmarried, April 21, 1843.
5. MARY ANN EVANS, was born in Maryland, November 23, 1784, and married
BENJAMIN WAYS. She died in Maryland, November 2, 1822, and after her death
he removed to near Chautauqua County, N. Y., and finally settled near
Lewiston, N. Y., and died there December 22, 1860.
BENJAMIN and MARY ANN (EVANS) WAYS had four children, namely:
1. THADDEUS S. WAYS, born April 2, 1817; married HARRIET GOODRICH, September
19, 1839.
2. EMELINE ALICE WAYS, born March 23, 1818; married LEANDER K. SCOVELL,
January 17, 1839.
3. JOSEPH EVANS WAYS, born February 2, 1821; married HARRIET C. SHEPARD,
November 1, 1843. They have no children.
4. WILLIAM WAYS, born October 23, 1822; died in infancy

6. BENJAMIN EVANS, . was born in Maryland, November 22, 1786, and was in the
Holland land office, in Mayville, N. Y. He purchased of the company a fine
farm fronting on the main street of that village. He married SUSAN E.
SHIPPEY, of Batavia, July 15, 1821, and afterwards resided on the Niagara
River, below Lewiston. After his death his family returned to Mayville, N.
Y. He died November 24, 1839.
Their children inherited a valuable estate as the devisees of their
grandmother, ANN EVANS, but they all died unmarried, and the real estate
they left was inherited by their mother, who, after their decease, married
Dr. WILLIAM CHACE, of Mayville, N. Y., January 15, 1860. He died in the year
1875. She died January 23, 1880.
BENJAMIN and SUSAN (SHIPPEY) EVANS had seven children, namely:
1. ALICE M. EVANS, born December 10, 1823; died June 9, 1839.
2. JOSEPH E. EVANS, born November 7, 1825; died August 14, 1826.
3. WILLIAM P. EVANS, born January 17, 1828; died October 20, 1859.
4. JOSIAH S. EVANS, born April 9, 1830; died September 1, 1861.
5. GEORGE EVANS, born June 9, 1832; died August 18, 1857.
6. SUSAN E. EVANS, born September 30, 1834; died October 4, 1851.
7. ANN E. EVANS, born April 8, 1837; died December 28, 1854
**Most buried in Mayville Cemetery


7. SARAH EVANS, married ASAHEL LYON.
8. JOHN EVANS, died young.
9. ELIZABETH EVANS, married ASAHEL LYON.

**ALICE EVANS, daughter of JOSEPH and ANN (ELLICOTT) EVANS, was born in
Baltimore County, Maryland, July 30, 1780. She and her cousin, RACHEL EVANS,
afterwards RACHEL LOOMIS, accompanied their uncle, JOSEPH ELLICOTT, from
Maryland to Batavia, N. Y., in the year 1805, and lived with him in that
village.
ALICE married WILLIAM PEACOCK, October 3, 1807.
The bride and groom, accompanied by RACHEL EVANS, and many other young
ladies and gentlemen of Batavia, came on horseback from that village to
Buffalo, where the marriage ceremony was performed. CHAUNCEY LOOMIS, who was
in Buffalo at the time, was invited to be one of the company; it was on this
occasion that he first saw RACHEL EVANS, his future wife. The young ladies
of the party were matronized by Mrs. ELIZABETH FOOT, the aunt of LUCY GRANT.
LUCY was afterwards the wife of DAVID E. EVANS.
After taking their bridal tour with their attendants, all on horseback, to
Canada and the Falls of Niagara, they returned to Batavia, where they
resided until the year 1810. WILLIAM PEACOCK was born February 22, 1780,
near the City of New York. In his infancy his parents resided near Newburgh,
N. Y. In after years they removed to a fine farm near Geneva, N. Y., and
WILLIAM received a good education and was taught surveying. In 1799, then
only nineteen, he visited on horseback the high land often traversed by the
French on their way from Chautauqua Creek and Lake Erie to Fort DuQuesne,
afterwards Pittsburgh, and then saw Lake Chautauqua. On this occasion he
passed along the Indian trail, afterwards Main Street, in Buffalo, and had a
beautiful view of Lake Erie from a green sward, much frequented by the
Indians, on what was afterwards the Terrace, between Franklin and Pearl
Streets.
He came to Batavia in the year 1803, expecting to go on to New Orleans,
where he intended to remain; but instead, at the request of JOSEPH ELLICOTT,
the local agent, he entered into the service of the Holland Land Company,
and surveyed much of their lands. He laid out a considerable part of the
village of New Amsterdam, afterwards Buffalo, in which place he selected and
purchased from the company, at very low prices and in different locations,
several acres of land, which he leased out in lots, and which became very
valuable in after years. One of the parcels of land is triangular in form,
and bounded by what is now Main, Niagara, Pearl, and Eagle Streets, in the
City of Buffalo, and is known as the Kremlin Block. This was deeded to him
in 1810, for the consideration of two hundred and twenty dollars. The other
parcel is known as outer lots Nos. 7, 8, 9, and 10, in the now City of
Buffalo, containing twenty-one acres of land, and extending from the Terrace
to Lake Erie, and being between Erie and Genesee Streets, with a valuable
water front on the Erie basin. This was also deeded to him in 1810, for the
consideration of one hundred and sixty-eight dollars and forty-eight cents.
Those were then the prices at which the company sold the lands.
In the year 1810 WILLIAM and ALICE PEACOCK removed from Batavia to Mayville,
Chautauqua County, New York, he having been appointed as the local agent for
the disposal of the Holland Land Company's lands in that county, subject to
the ratification of JOSEPH ELLICOTT, the local agent in Batavia. His salary
was fixed at one thousand dollars per annum, and in the letter of JOSEPH
ELLICOTT of June 16, 1810, in reference to the appointment, it is stated
that "he is ably competent to perform the business, having been for a number
of years one of the clerks in the land office in Batavia, perfectly
acquainted with the whole routine of the business, understanding the manner
of keeping the accounts, an excellent draftsman, understanding all the
theory and practical parts of surveying, a correct calculator, and a person
in whose integrity the most implicit confidence may be placed." He was
appointed by the governor and council of the State of New York as one of the
judges of Chautauqua County. He purchased from the company several valuable
lots of land in the county, one containing three hundred and twenty-one
acres of land, on the south-west side of Chautauqua Lake, near Mayville,
which he subsequently sold, and on which is Fair Point, a now celebrated
summer resort.
Judge PEACOCK took great interest in the conception and subsequent
construction of the Erie Canal, and before his removal from Batavia had
interviews on the subject with JESSE HAWLEY, and gave Mr. HAWLEY the
information he desired as to the practicability of the construction of the
canal through Western New York; and the route he marked out on the map for
Mr. HAWLEY, was substantially the one afterwards adopted. Mr. HAWLEY was the
author of the articles published in the Ontario Messenger, at Canandaigua,
N. Y., over the signature of "Hercules," wherein the great subject was first
presented intelligibly to the public. The articles appeared in fourteen
different numbers, from October 27, 1807, to March 2, 1808. Judge PEACOCK
has often given an account of the publications signed "Hercules," and how
they delighted JOSEPH ELLICOTT, he having first called Mr. ELLICOTT'S
attention to them.
In the year 1816 he was appointed to survey and locate a part of the western
section of the Erie Canal, and in 1818, to survey and to report on the
construction of a harbor at Buffalo. The office which he occupied in
Mayville for the transaction of the company's business, was destroyed in
February, 1836, by an armed assemblage of many discontented persons, who
considered themselves aggrieved when the Holland Land Company disposed of
all its unsold lands and unpaid articles of former sales to a company of
individuals, non-residents of Chautauqua County. These the debtors of the
company imagined would take advantage of their indebtedness to oppress them.
Hence they sought to destroy the evidences of their debt, by tearing down
the office and carrying off the papers; but in so doing they did not
accomplish their design, for all the business of this office had been
reported to the general office at Batavia. When other discontented debtors
attempted soon afterwards to destroy the Batavia office, they met with such
a determined armed resistance that they were compelled to retire without
effecting anything.
No compensation was ever made by the county for the outrage. Neither the
grand jury nor the courts took any notice of the flagrant violation of the
law, nor was any legal inquiry made as to those who took part in it. In fact
it seemed to be a movement of the people.
Judge PEACOCK had always taken great interest in the correct management of
the concerns of the company, and was one of the most accurate of its
surveyors, often exposing himself to great hardships in its service. The
destruction of the land office terminated his connection with the Holland
Land Company. He continued to reside in Mayville, attending to the
management of his own valuable real and personal estate.
He was one of the commissioners in building the court house in Mayville, and
one of the most liberal patrons of the academy in that village.
He had the settlement of the personal estate of BENJAMIN ELLICOTT, and was
one of the executors of ANN EVANS, his mother-in-law. He often visited
Buffalo to attend to his real estate in that city. He was always a strong
democrat, and a great admirer of General JACKSON, and of all true democrats
of that school.
In the year 1845 he built the large brick residence attached to the
comfortable frame dwelling in which he and his wife had lived for so many
years, but they still continued to enjoy their real home life in the frame
one, and were often visited by their relatives and their many friends and
acquaintances. The house fronts the main street of Mayville, and a portion
of it fronts the court-house square, and is surrounded by handsome grounds,
shaded by fine trees. An extensive garden is near by. The farm, including
the residence, grounds, and garden, contains fifty acres of land, and is
bounded by the main street and by a street at right angles with it, and
extends in the form of a parallelogram for nearly one mile north-easterly
from the main street. On the north-easterly part is the village burial
ground, and his own family burial lot, the latter surrounded by an iron
fence. The view north-east from the house presents in the distance some of
the beautiful Chautauqua hills. The dwelling is high above the level of
Chautauqua Lake, and that is 726 feet above Lake Erie, and 1221 feet above
tide water. This great elevation makes Mayville a very healthy and pleasant
village. Chautauqua Lake, with its several handsome sites, has become an
attractive summer resort, many fine steamboats passing its twenty-two miles
of length, at different hours of the day. The road from Mayville to
Westfield presents, near Mayville, a picturesque view of a considerable
portion of the county, and from one point may be seen Lake Chautauqua and
Lake Erie. Within three miles of Westfield, the road descends all the way
from one thousand feet in height to the level of Lake Erie, presenting from
all points many beautiful views of the country and the lake. One mile
northerly of Westfield, and near Barcelona, N. Y., is his fine farm of three
hundred acres, bounding on Lake Erie, fifty acres of which is woodland.
Chautauqua Creek runs through this farm, on which is a good mill-seat. There
is a beautiful grove at the mouth of the creek, from which is a fine view of
the lake, and near which he proposed to build his residence, but concluded
to remain in Mayville. Another of his farms is one mile west of Westfield,
well cultivated and containing about one hundred and twenty acres, some of
which is woodland.
He purchased, in 1856, a handsome residence in Washington, D. C., for the
occupancy of his sister, Mrs. SARAH HUTCHINSON.
Judge PEACOCK sold but a small portion of the large real estate he
accumulated, but leased it on long leases, and the rents he received, and
the judicious investments he made of them, enabled him to accumulate a large
personal estate, that, with the increasing value of his real estate in
Buffalo, made him one of the most wealthy residents in Western New York.
ALICE (EVANS) PEACOCK had many of the physical and mental peculiarities of
ANN (BYE) ELLICOTT, who was her great-grandmother. Like her she was of large
size, and like her she was apt in medical knowledge, and in faithful
attendance on the sick. ANN lived to the age of seventy-six, and ALICE to
the age of seventy-nine.
ALICE PEACOCK departed this life, after a short illness, April 19, 1859, in
the seventy-ninth year of her age. In the obituary notice of her, published
in the Mayville Sentinel, it was stated that "she was no ordinary woman; her
mental and physical powers were alike active and vigorous, and both always
exerted to promote the happiness of others. Until herself prostrated by the
infirmities of age, she was every where present with the sick and the
suffering, to nurse, to comfort, and supply their needs. She, with her
husband, came among the earliest settlers in Mayville, and her early deeds
of charity, the lives she saved, the joys she dispensed abroad in times of
sickness and sorrow, have been handed down from parent to child. In her
religious views she was a firm, sincere, and consistent Friend, but her
hand, her heart, her purse, were ever open to aid in Christian enterprises,
to extend and strengthen the Christian cause.
"When Judge PEACOCK and his wife removed to Mayville, the village was almost
a wilderness. They bore their full share of the toils, privations, and
troubles of the early settlement, and when prosperity came they were not
hardened into forgetfulness nor deadened by luxury, but never ceased to be
examples of industry and frugality, nor to dispense good to all around
them."
Judge PEACOCK continued to reside in the now to him desolated dwelling, and
it took him many years to recover from the loss of the strong and loving
companionship which had existed between him and his wife for nearly
fifty-two years.
ALICE (EVANS) PEACOCK was buried in the family burial lot, and over her
grave her husband constructed a plain, but large and substantial tomb, and a
similar one for himself, by her side. He survived her nearly eighteen years,
and died in Mayville, February 21, 1877, having almost attained to the age
of ninety-seven years. He was buried in the family cemetery, by the side of
his wife, with the impressive ceremonies of the Masonic ritual, he having
been a Free and Accepted Mason since 1803.
WILLIAM and ALICE PEACOCK had no children. He left no will, and his large
and valuable estate was inherited by his nieces and nephews.



BENJAMIN EVANS,( Bro of Anne EVANS PEACOCK) son of JOSEPH and ANN
(ELLICOTT) EVANS, was born in Maryland, November 22, 1786, and was in the
Holland land office, in Mayville, N. Y. He purchased of the company a fine
farm fronting on the main street of that village. He married SUSAN E.
SHIPPEY, of Batavia, July 15, 1821, and afterwards resided on the Niagara
River, below Lewiston. After his death his family returned to Mayville, N.
Y. He died November 24, 1839.
Their children inherited a valuable estate as the devisees of their
grandmother, ANN EVANS, but they all died unmarried, and the real estate
they left was inherited by their mother, who, after their decease, married
Dr. WILLIAM CHACE, of Mayville, N. Y., January 15, 1860. He died in the year
1875. She died January 23, 1880.
BENJAMIN and SUSAN (SHIPPEY) EVANS had seven children, namely:
1. ALICE M. EVANS, born December 10, 1823; died June 9, 1839.
2. JOSEPH E. EVANS, born November 7, 1825; died August 14, 1826.
3. WILLIAM P. EVANS, born January 17, 1828; died October 20, 1859.
4. JOSIAH S. EVANS, born April 9, 1830; died September 1, 1861.
5. GEORGE EVANS, born June 9, 1832; died August 18, 1857.
6. SUSAN E. EVANS, born September 30, 1834; died October 4, 1851.
7. ANN E. EVANS, born April 8, 1837; died December 28, 1854.

SARAH EVANS, (Sister of Anne EVANS Peacock) daughter of JOSEPH and ANN
(ELLICOTT) EVANS, was born in Maryland, May 5, 1789; married her
brother-in-law, ASAHEL LYON, in Mayville, N. Y., and afterwards lived in
Lewiston, N. Y. She died August 3, 1864, in that place, and ASAHEL LYON also
died there. They had two daughters, namely:
1. ANN E. LYON, born February 2, 1830; married GEORGE MILLER, February 13,
1852; she died May 11, 1854. They had no children.
2. ELIZABETH WEST LYON, born December 4, 1833; married Dr. EDGAR C. HILL,
May 1, 1851. Their children were: 1. ALICE PEACOCK HILL, born March 4, 1852;
married JOHN MANN, Jr., June 9, 1874. Their
daughter: 1. ELIZABETH H. F. MANN, born June 29, 1875.
2. EDGAR FRANK HILL, born October 8, 1855.
3. HORACE HENRY HILL, born August 8, 1857.
4. ELLICOTT HILL, born January 31, 1865.
5. CHARLES NELSON HILL, born November 3, 1868.
ELIZABETH WEST EVANS, (sister of Anne EVANS Peacock) daughter of JOSEPH and
ANN (ELLICOTT) EVANS, was born in Maryland, July 27, 1791, and removed to
Western New York. She married ASAHEL LYON, in 1823. She died in Mayville, N.
Y., June 22, 1826. (* he married her sister SARAH after her death she is
buried Mayville)
ASAHEL and ELIZABETH (EVANS) LYON had one son, namely:
1. HENRY LYON, born April 13, 1826; married CYNTHIA M. CLEGHORN, March 8,
1858. Their children were:
1. ASAHEL LYON, born July 22, 1859.
2. ELIZABETH WEST LYON, born December 5, 1865.

Data Source;
Biographical and Historical Accounts of the Fox, Willicott, and Evans
Families, and the Different Families Connected With Them
Author: Charles W. Evans 1882

** added data from Cemetery records Most in Mayville Cemetery