At the mouth of the Loire River, in France, there is an important sea-port town called St. Nazaire. It has a large and commodious harbor and from its wharves are sent out ships to many ports. In late years it has had rapid growth, and is now a town of about 35,000 inhabitants.
For some time previous to the French Revolution, during the general unrest and dissatisfaction which marked the reign of Louis XV, and which was largely caused by the oppression of the great mass of the common people, many citizens of France emigrated to other countries from choice, and many others were exiles for different causes.
At this time there lived in the town of St. Nazaire a family of the name of JAQUES, which is the same as the Fnglish name Jacob. It is in one of the members of this family that we, of the Jaquay connection, are especially interested.
About the year 1760, Henri JACQUES -- (the first name being uncertain) was, for some political reason, threatened with arrest, fled to England, and embarked on board an English trader for America. It is said that he endured many hardships, among them being shipwrecked, but he finally landed on the coast of Rhode Island, at a place called Quonochontaug, (pronounced kwon-o-kon-tawg) in Washington County, near Naragansett Bay, and near a bay having the same name as the town. Here he settled, married a young French woman named Juletta MONTARLIER, and raised a family.
There is a tradition that he fought in the Revolutionary War as a free lance, not as a regular, for which reason his name does not appear on the records.
Whether the name was changed as soon as the first ancestor arrived in America we do not know, but as far back as we are able to trace it in this country it has been JAQUAY.
In the early years the men of the family followed the sea for a living, and some still remember stories of sea-faring life told to the grand-son of the first settler.
Of the second generation we know the name of only one -- Jonathan. He married Dellia ALLEN, and raised a family of five sons and two daughters: William, Joshua, Samuel, Christopher, Jonathan, Rhoda and Lydia. It was he who came, with all his children except William, to Madison County, New York, and settled there.
Of the descendents of William, the son who remained in the old home in Rhode Island, we know nothing. One of the daughters married and went to the northern part of New York State, and the son Joshua, who had, in 1810, married Martha PECK, came to the north-western part of Pennsylvania. The others lived and died in Madison County, New York, where there is still living a large number of Jaquays- cousins and second cousins to this branch of the family.
In 1833, Joshua and Martha PECK JAQUAY and their four sons and five daughters started from their home in Brookfield, Madison County, for Warren County, Pa., then an unsettled section. Of that journey overland by wagon there are many stories familiar to the older members of the family. It was a long and tedious trip through a country only partially settled, but in course of time they came to their destination and located near what is now the town of Sugar Grove, Pa. After they arrived at the new home, another daughter was born, and the family then consisted of ten children: four sons- Theodore, George, Joshua and Daniel; and six daughters- Delia, Betsey, Polly, Leonore, Lusina, and Charlotte.
Those assembled here today of the families of JAQUAY, BALL, FOX, MESSENGER, BLODGETT, or PHILLIPS, are the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of this family of brothers and sisters, who all grew up, married and lived lives of industry and usefulness.
It is unnecessary to proceed further with details which are entirely familiar to all the family. There are many who remember the grandfather, Joshua JAQUAY, of whom the two most important recollections of his grandsons seem to be that he was lame and that he drove a white horse. He must have been a most interesting and entertaining story-teller, as some of his stories are still remembered and recounted by these same grandsons. There are also some who remember the grandmother, who had never had her photograph taken, as she considered it necessary to have a more elegant dress than she had ever owned, and had just acquired material for what she considered a suitable gown at the time of her death.
It is also unnecessary to rehearse here the account of the marriage of one Delia JAQUAY to Daniel BALL, a widower with several sons, and the subsequent marriage of two of these sons to two of her younger sisters, thereby bringing about a state of affairs which makes nearly all of the BALLs also JAQUAYs, and many of the JAQUAYs also BALLs.
It seems hardly just to relate the history of a family, giving place only to the annals of the father's ancestry and entirely ignoring the mother. Therefore, we have thought that it might be interesting, since the information is to be obtained, to give also to the mother's family the credit due them.
The PECKs were of English origin. The first of the family, Henry PECK, settled in New Haven in 1638. He is supposed to have come to this country in the company of Gov. EATON on the ship "Rector". For four generations the family lived in New Haven, and a part of the present city is built on property originally owned by the PECKs.
One member of the fourth generation, Eliphalet PECK, settled at Danbury, Connecticut, thereby separating himself from other members of the connection.
A member of the fifth generation, Jesse Peck, with his four sons, entered the army in the Revolutionary War. He and two of his sons were taken prisoner and confined in New York until they took small-pox, when they were released and came home on foot. The father and one son died. The other son recovered. Another one of the sons was Luther PECK, who resided first in Danbury, Conn., but afterwards settled at Middletown, N.Y. He married to Annis COLLER, and to them were born eleven children, six daughters and five sons, and of this family the second daughter was Martha PECK, who married Joshua JAQUAY and came with him to Warren County, Pennsylvania.
All of us who are familiar with the history of Methodism know what a large part this family has played in the development of that church. All of the five sons were distinguished clergymen, two being also eminent authors, and one, Jesse PECK, being a bishop of unusual ability and influence, and one of the founders of Syracuse University. The histories of the various conferences show that several of the grandsons have made names for themselves in the church, and whatever the name of PECK is known, it stands for all that is highest and best.
This, then, is the stock from which we are descended. From the French and the English, from the man who was a free lance and the man who was a regular in the American Revolution, from those who have defended their country on all necessary occasions, and those who, on both sides, have been upright, intelligent, industrious and God-fearing people.