498. Levi Peck was born 23 Jun 1748 in Litchfield, Litchfield Co., CT. He died 26 May 1802 in Morris, Litchfield Co., CT. Levi was a Revolutionary War soldier with military service 1775-1783 - Wounded in the shoulder. He died of consumption. Levi's death is noted in the Litchfield Monitor newspaper.
Levi Peck's tombstone in the Watertown Historical Society Museum Close-Up
- Tombstone pictures received 07 Sep 2006 courtesy of Steve Bartkus, Curator, Watertown Historical Society Museum
02 Sep 1775 Levi Peck 4th Company discharged
18 Jun 1802 - Second wife Anna's letter of administration and inventory of Levi's estate
16 Nov 1802 Levi Peck - Quitclaim deed from John Parker (Perkins?) to heirs
01 Apr 1803 Levi Peck estate distribution
17 Sep 2006 Levi Peck - letter from Watertown CT Town Historian Florence T Crowell
Summary of Levi's life for press when tombstone found
12 Aug 1999 Levi Peck - tombstone discovery Waterbury Republican-American
12 Aug 1999 Levi Peck - tombstone discovery Watertown Town Times
13 Aug 1999 Levi Peck - tombstone discovery Litchfield County Times
20 Aug 1999 Levi Peck - tombstone discovery Waterbury Republican-American
21 Aug 1999 Levi Peck - tombstone discovery Waterbury Republican-American
27 Aug 1999 Levi Peck tombstone inspection
28 Aug 1999 Levi Peck - tombstone removal Waterbury Republican-American
29 Aug 1999 Levi Peck - tombstone discovery Waterbury Republican-American
03 Sep 1999 Levi Peck - tombstone discovery Litchfield County Times
14 Sep 1999 Levi Peck - CT Gravestone Network letter
My sincere gratitude to Florence T Crowell, Town Historian, Watertown CT, for providing me with these documents and newspaper clippings related to Levi's tombstone discovery and removal to the Museum of the Watertown Historical Society, Inc.
499. Rachel Harrison was born 15 Feb 1751/52. She died 15 Apr 1791. Her death was noted in the Litchfield Monitor newspaper.
1790 Census CT Litchfield Litchfield - Levi and Rachel Peck
1800 Census CT Litchfield Southbury - Levi Peck
Watertown Historical Society Museum
22 DeForest Street
Watertown CT 06795
860-274-1050
The following newspaper article describes the discovery of
Levi's tombstone in a Watertown CT basement and its removal to the Watertown
Historical Society Museum ...
Sometimes Old Houses Are Full of Surprises
By FRANCES CHAMBERLAIN
Published: September 26, 1999
THERE are certain risks inherent in buying a house. Finding a tombstone in the
cellar isn't normally one of them.
In Watertown, two couples who went in together to buy a 249-year-old farmhouse
and its 23 1/2 acres of land, with plans to tear the house down and build new
ones on the property, soon discovered there was a mystery in their basement: A
tombstone dating from 1802 was cemented into the floor and state law blocked
them from doing anything to the house as long as a body was underneath.
At first, the couples thought it was a joke. When they bought the property, they
hadn't bothered to go into the basement. There was no electricity and the
basement was dark. ''We didn't really care what the house looked like,''
Cristina Francisco, one of the buyers, explained, ''because we planned to tear
it down.''
They found out when they applied to Mary Greene, the zoning enforcement officer,
for approval to demolish the house. ''She said O.K., but then she asked us what
we would do about the tombstone in the basement,'' Mrs. Francisco said. ''That
was the first we had heard about it. We asked if she was kidding? She said no.''
Armando and Dunia Rodrigues, Pedro Francisco, his cousin, and Mrs. Francisco,
bought the property on Nova Scotia Hill Road in mid-July. They had to post a
sign informing citizens of the impending demolition for at least 30 days and
then allow anyone who believed the structure had historic value to file
objections. The ramshackle farmhouse, dating to about 1750, was found to have no
historic value, but Susan Zuraitis, a member of the Zuraitis family who sold the
property, called Florence Crowell, Watertown's historian, in August and informed
her that a farmhand was buried in the basement.
The farmhand was Levi Peck, who was born in 1748 and died in 1802. According to
records, his entire estate, valued at $9.15, was distributed in April 1803.
Items included glass bottles, earthen pots, spoons, a Bible, a saddle and
several chairs. How he might have ended up in the basement is unclear.
Although Nicholas Bellantoni, the state archeologist, said that while finding
bodies in the basement was rare, bodies had turned up in odd places. ''We've
found tombstones in people's patios,'' he said.
Four years ago in Danbury, Mr. Bellantoni said a work crew cutting a trench near
Main Street turned up a cast-iron casket dating to 1870. After some research, he
narrowed it down to belonging to one of two men.
''The body was sealed in a metal coffin and was well preserved,'' Mr. Bellantoni
explained. ''Charles Ryder and Henry Taylor both died about the same time. Both
had been in St. James Episcopal Church Cemetery. In 1934-35, the church had a
court order to excavate, give the land over to school development, and move the
graveyard to Wooster Street. I guess they missed this one.'' An exact
identification was never made.
In New London, where the Third Burial Ground was established from 1835 to 1890,
relatives were later asked to retrieve their loved ones' bodies and move them to
Cedar Grove. Some relatives responded and some didn't. ''In every building
project there, bodies have come up,'' Mr. Bellantoni said.
Real estate law requires sellers to disclose material facts -- things like leaky
roofs and toxic waste. They are not bound to tell buyers about things that might
have happened on the property that could ''spook'' potential owners. Sellers are
also required to sign a title insurance affidavit to disclose other things that
might not appear in a title search, such as whether a cemetery or family burial
ground is on the site.
Joseph DiBlasi, the real estate agent who represented the owner of the Watertown
property, Alice Zuraitis, would not say if he knew about the tombstone. Mrs.
Zuraitis, who had lived in the house with her husband, Joe, until his death two
years ago, never believed a body was under the stone.
''I just think someone made that up,'' Mrs. Zuraitis said.
''She thought it was a joke,'' Mrs. Crowell explained. ''She told the
grandchildren she'd send them to the basement to Levi if they didn't behave.'' A
mother and sister, Judy, of Joe Zuraitis also used to claim that the house was
haunted. ''The story was that someone used to come in and kiss Judy good
night,'' Mrs. Crowell added.
Joke or no joke, before the couples could go ahead with the demolition of the
house, they had to find out if Levi was indeed in their basement. State statutes
prevented them from disturbing any human remains without first notifying the
chief medical examiner and state archeologist. Mr. Bellantoni, the state
archeologist, came to the house to conduct ground-penetrating radar tests in the
third week of August. When he got indications that there was something under the
cellar floor, the next step was to start digging.
So on the foggy, overcast morning in late August that Mr. Bellantoni arrived to
dig up the tombstone, about 20 people were huddled in the cramped basement to
watch.
''There's no such thing as ghosts. I know that for a fact,'' said Mr. Rodrigues,
a cement worker who used his jackhammer and pry bar to break the gravestone
loose and pry it from the cellar floor.
Maybe so, but when the gas-powered generator failed, leaving the cellar in
darkness, everyone got out of there and moved into the backyard until the
generator was fixed.
Mrs. Crowell came armed with her research and the belief that the middle of the
cellar floor was a strange place for a tombstone.
''I had the feeling they would've gone in the corner to bury him,'' she said.
The fact that Levi Peck existed was demonstrated by Mrs. Crowell's research. The
census, which has been taken every 10 years since 1790, listed a Levi Peck in
Litchfield that year, with three males under 16 and eight females in the home.
He appears again in the 1800 census, but not in the 1810 census. Mr. Peck
apparently died, if the tombstone is accurate, in 1802.
Mrs. Crowell took her research to the Mormon genealogical library in Salt Lake
City where they had records of a Levi Peck born June 23, 1748, in Litchfield.
Further records indicated that land, belonging to heirs of Mr. Peck, was sold
Nov. 16, 1802, to a John Parker.
However, even with all these details, there is no record of where Levi Peck is
buried.
Mrs. Crowell joined the crowd for the excavation, believing that Levi Peck's
body wasn't there, but knowing full well that it wasn't unusual to bury a body
in the cellar during winter or inclement weather, disinterring it later for a
proper burial.
''Like many other families they could have had their own private cemetery, out
back of the house,'' Mrs. Crowell said. ''There was a Bryan family cemetery in
Watertown once and all the stones were removed to pave a basement. I don't know
how many other cemeteries have just disappeared.''
Mr. Bellantoni knew that the radar could have hit rocks or a coffin that was no
longer intact.
Once Mr. Rodrigues lifted up the gravestone and loosened up the hard-packed
soil, Mr. Bellantoni and his assistants set to work sifting through layers of
dirt. They dug down three feet and found nothing but dirt and rock.
''It was hard-packed glacial soils, never disturbed,'' Mr. Bellantoni said. ''I
can look at feature stains which are indicative of burial shafts. That kind of
activity would change the soil color and this was completely intact strata.
''Levi is simply not in that basement,'' Mr. Bellantoni said. ''He's probably in
Watertown, maybe in an old grave, with no marker. We've seen lots of gravestones
in strange places before. Also, this stone says he was 55 years old, but he was
actually 53, and there was a quarry nearby the farmhouse. This gravestone could
have been a reject that ended up in the basement.''
The dig did turn up a section of iron ore, perhaps what had shown up on the
radar, but even a metal detector turned up not so much as a coffin nail.
So just where exactly Levi Peck is resting is still unknown, although his
tombstone is now on display at the Watertown Historical Society Museum. Now that
it's clear that he's not in the basement, the couples are free to tear down the
house. Mrs. Francisco said that if she buys property again, she plans to be more
careful.
''Now my attorney is buying property in Watertown,'' she said, ''and I told him
to be sure and look in the basement, too.''
