BAD PENNIES

Cousin Don complains that people are still sending him genealogies tracing the Commoners back to William Peacock of Surry County, Virginia, and wonders if I can do anything about it. Unfortunately, I can’t. The most I can do is suggest that our reward for proof of the parentage of Samuel Peacock I be supplemented by a reward for anyone finding a DNA match for the Commoners in a Peacock clan in England, Scotland or Ireland that can be traced back to the 1600’s – I hope that extant records of that clan might mention a Samuel who left for America.

GOOD PENNIES?

Cousin Don also complains that he still hasn’t gotten anywhere with efforts to find the ancestry of Arnold Peacock (ca. 1786-1860’s), who came from Newberry County, South Carolina, to Pike County, Alabama, in the 1830’s. Arnold’s DNA doesn’t match the Commoners’, not by a long shot; a yet the earliest records for him – War of 1812 service and the 1820 census – put him in Barnwell County, home of the Abraham Peacock (Commoner) clan.

We know that Arnold was NOT the twin-brother of Levi Peacock Jr. (ca, 1786-1850’s), who moved from Barnwell County to Choctaw County, Mississippi. But Levi did have a son named David Arnold Peacock, and Arnold Peacock had a son named John Arnold. Both names turn up in an Arnold family, which lived for a time in Newberry County. By 1820, the only Arnold left in Newberry County was Isaac, although there were plenty of other Arnolds in Greenville, Laurens, York and other counties. None in Barnwell County, but there were a couple, James and Beny (sic) in Edgefield County – possibly sons of Jacob, son of John and Letitia Arnold, who appears in the 1810 census there.

Two Isaac Arnolds (1776-1828, died Heard County, Georgia; and 1779-1855, died Edgefield County) are credited to John and Letitia in different pedigrees at Rootsweb.com. A third (1784-1855), who moved to Mississippi, is credited to Moses Arnold and Rachel Lynch, who themselves moved to Ohio. An Isaac Arnold the right age is in the 1850 census of Itawamba County, Mississippi, with wife Rutha but no children (There were a bunch of Arnolds in Choctaw County, but without any South Carolina connections.) What actual connection there may be between any of these and the Peacocks, remains a mystery.

Published four times a year by the Peacock Family Association of the South. Editor: John J. Pierce,
48 Addison Rd., Ramsey, NJ, 201-327-9507, e-mail pierce1941@verizon.net.

Editors Note: “Commoners” refer to direct decendents of Samuel Peacock...the great, great... grand daddy of most of us Peacocks.