Question: The ladies gathered around this unusual trestle table are all wearing large cover-up aprons. The setting does not appear to be a home kitchen. Do you have any idea where the photo was taken or what has brought these ladies together?
Last week’s answer: Last week’s photo showed the Peck homestead at 2978 Brickyard Road. At the time of the photo the house was the residence of William Peck, son of pioneers Peter Peck, a native of Lyme, Connecticut, and his wife Eunice Beckwith, a daughter of Pompey pioneers Roswell and Lydia Beckwith.
Peter Peck came to Warners in 1811 and settled in the southeast corner of Van Buren on Lot 41. One of several members of the Peck family line who pioneered in early Van Buren, Peter erected a log cabin and began clearing land. Over the years additional parcels would be purchased on Lot 41 and adjacent Lot 29. The farm eventually reached 400 acres.
Three years later Peter married Eunice Beckwith. Two children were born to them, daughter Lydia and son William. A hard working and industrious farmer, Peter was also active in civic affairs.
When the town of Van Buren was carved from the large town of Camillus in 1829, Peck was among those elected to office at the new town’s first annual meeting. Peck was also a leader in organizing the community’s first active religious group, the Union Society. The society built a frame church in Warners in 1831 and eventually became part of the Methodist Church. The Warners church remained in use until the current brick church was dedicated in 1905.
Peter’s son William built the handsome Greek Revival style home a short distance from the modest dwelling in which he had been born. Of frame construction, the house sits on a substantial fieldstone foundation bonded with lime mortar. The interior still features its high ceilings, keyhole moldings around the doorways and window frames, fireplaces and wide floorboards. William married Matilda Lamerson. Their nine children were born in this home.
Eunice passed away in 1854 at the age of 57. Peter then moved into the Greek Revival home with William and Matilda where he passed away in 1871 at the age of 88. Peter’s obituary noted that he was “a warm sympathizer of the union army in putting down our late rebellion.”
The Pecks were staunch supporters of the republic; many saw active duty as soldiers. Peter’s father-in-law, Roswell Beckwith, was a Revolutionary War veteran who served in the Boston siege and was captured at Fort Washington in 1776 and held prisoner until 1780. Other family members also participated in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and the Civil War.
When the Warners church was built in 1831, land adjacent to the building was set aside for use as a cemetery. Peter and his wife Eunice, their son William and his family and descendants are among more than 50 members of the Peck family who are interred in that cemetery now known as Warners Village Cemetery.
In 1948 the Brickyard Road home was purchased from the Peck estate by Andrew McVicker, who later sold it to the current owners, the David Bender family.
Email your guess to [email protected] or leave a message at 315-434-8889 ext. 332 with your guess by noon Friday. If you are the first person to correctly identify an element in the photo before the deadline, your name and guess will appear in next week’s newspaper, along with another History Mystery feature. History Mystery is a joint project of the Museum at the Shacksboro Schoolhouse and the Baldwinsville Public Library.
