The Dr. Henry John Peck Family

From Our Island Heritage, Vol. 3, 1978, compiled by Sophie Haley and Mickie Smith:

Dr. Henry John Peck was born on April 29, 1803 in Boston, Massachusetts.  He married Laminda McKinney Smith on December 21, 1828 in Yazoo County, Mississippi.  Laminda Peck inherited Battleground Plantation from her parents, William Mastin and Patience Kirkland Smith.  She and Dr. Henry Peck moved to Sicily Island shortly after they were married.  They had twelve children.  Their son, William Smith Peck, I., has descendants living on Sicily Island and it is this line that will be discussed below.

After having moved to Sicily Island, Dr. Peck represented Catahoula Parish in the Louisiana House of Representatives and later in the State Senate.  He was well known for his contributions toward flood control and the establishment of a free school system in Louisiana.  In 1845, he journeyed to Boston.  While visiting with relatives of his father's dear old friend, John Hancock, they purchased the first free school books to be sent back to Louisiana.

Dr. Henry John Peck died on July 25, 1881.  Laminda McKinney Smith Peck died on December 14, 1871.

William Smith Peck, I. was born on November 22, 1842.  He married his third cousin, Florence Celeste Lovelace, at the Gillis House on December 15, 1868.  William Smith Peck, I. was educated at Center College in Kentucky and was the only Confederate Veteran residing on Sicily Island who was imprisoned during the Reconstruction.  He was apprehended by Federal officers in New Orleans after an illness.

William and Florence had the following four children:

Laura Kirkland, 1869-1873
John Lovelace, 1871-1872
William Smith, II., 1873-1946
Henry Clarendon, 1874-pre-1900

Florence Celeste Lovelace Peck died on September 18, 1881 at her residence on Sicily Island.  William Smith Peck, I. died on December 10, 1910 in New Orleans following a long illness.

William Smith Peck, II. was born on December 27, 1873 and married Barbara Estelle Woodward in Sicily Island on February 1, 1915.  Barbara Estelle Woodward was born on May 8, 1893 at Bayou Barbara, Livingston Parish, Louisiana.  She was the daughter of William Thomas and Rosa Bacot Woodward.

William and Estelle resided in the Lovelace-Peck home on Ferry Plantation in Sicily Island.

Lovelace-Peck Home, 2011

Lovelace-Peck Home, 2011

Ferry Plantation Store, 2011

Lake Lovelace, now known as Lake Louie, 2011

 















In the 1920s, banker and planter, William Smith Peck, II was elected to the Louisiana State Legislature and served two terms in that office.  He established the Sicily Island Gas Company in the 1930s and proved himself a businessman of unusual ability by restoring to the Peck and Lovelace families their former honored positions.  He was reputed to be the largest single landowner in the state of Louisiana at that time.

William Smith Peck, II. died on February 17, 1946.  Barbara Estelle Woodward Peck died in January of 1983.  Both are buried in Highland Park Cemetery in Sicily Island.  (Editor's Note:  Tombstone photograph is courtesy of Karen Klemm Pinckard at FindAGrave.com)

The following children were born to the marriage of William Smith Peck, II. and Barbara Estelle Woodward:

William Smith Peck, III. was born on April 12, 1916.  He married Lena Juanita "Nita" Steele on April 29, 1938.  Nita Steele was the daughter of Isham Alfonso and Mary Virginia Blackman Steele.  

William was a businessman who served as a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1956-1964, during the administrations of Governors Earl Kemp Long and Jimmie Davis. (Wikipedia)

Nita and William had the following two children:

William Smith, IV., 1939-1989 (m. Elizabeth Files)
Betty Florence, 1944-2010 (m. Jack D. Shaffer)

William Smith Peck, III. died in February of 1987.  Lena Juanita "Nita" Steele Peck died on March 26, 1982.  William is entombed at Highland Park Mausoleum in Sicily Island.  Nita is buried in the Peck family cemetery on Ferry Plantation in Sicily Island.

Henry Clarendon Peck, Sr. was born on June 21, 1919 and married Mamie Dell Cruse on October 31, 1941.  Mamie Dell, born in Caldwell Parish on March 21, 1920, was the daughter of Reginald Gordon and Mamie Couey Cruse.

Clarendon and Mamie Dell Peck had one son:

Henry Clarendon, Jr., 1942 (m. Sheila Kelly)

Henry Clarendon Peck, Sr. died on January 24, 2004.  Mamie Dell Cruse Peck died on October 25, 2002.  They are both entombed at Highland Park Mausoleum in Sicily Island.  (Editor's Note:  Tombstone photograph is courtesy of Shirley Burks Wells at FindAGrave.com)

Barbara Jane Peck was born on October 26, 1922 and married Jess Carr "Sonny" Gilbert, II. on July 10, 1946.  Sonny, born in Wisner, Louisiana on March 6, 1922, was the son of Jess Carr and Fannie Adams Gilbert, I.

Barbara Jane and Sonny had the following two children:

Barbara Peck Gilbert, 1948 (m. 1.Thomas Leslie Enright; 2.David Haigh)
Jess Carr, III., 1951 (m. Katherine Walker)

Barbara Jane Peck Gilbert died on May 1, 1985.  She is entombed at Highland Park Mausoleum in Sicily Island.  (Editor's Note:  Tombstone photograph is courtesy of Dorothy S. Tiser at FindAGrave.com)