Pecoy, William 1801 – 1906

PECOY, PECURE, PECOR, HASS, LIGHTMER, FRISBIE, PALMER

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 5/22/2024 at 16:07:25

Source: Twice-A-Week Plain Dealer Nov. 20, 1906, LP, C6

Death of a Centenarian.
We are clled upon to chronicle a most rare occurrence—the death of a man who has lived long past the alloted age of man and reached and passed a century in age. The deceased, William Pecoy, was at the time of his death the oldest man in the county if not in the state, and had retained his memory and vitality to a most remarkable degree, and the following brief sketch of his life is furnished by his son Stephen from incidents and dates recalled by the old gentleman.
William Pecoy was born in Lewis County, New York, in 1801, and departed life in Cresco, Ia., Nov. 16, 1906, aged 105 years.
In 1826 he was married to Elizabeth Hass, of Schoharie, Schoharie County, New York, and moved to Oswego, Oswego County, New York, in 1829; from there they moved to Sandy Creek, Oswego County, New York, in 1838, and to Dundee, Illinois, in 1854. On July 4, 1905, he came to Cresco, Ia., where he has since resided and where he has made his home with his son Stephen.
Of the nine children who came to bless this union, four children survive the aged parent; they are Stephen, of Cresco, Ia., Mrs. C. Lightmer, of Union, Ill., W. H., of Ball Center, Wis., and Mrs. Fred Frisbie, in Kansas. Two of their children died in infancy, two of their sons gave up their lives in the union Army, and one daughter, Mrs. Palmer, of Wisconsin, died as a result of a kick from a horse.
The father of the deceased came to this country from France with General LaFayette during the Revolutionary War and served as a soldier in that war, and also participated in the War of 1812 in the same capacity.
[NOTE:—The spelling of the name of Pecoy has been changed. Grandfather’s name, I have been told, was spelled Pecure; father spelled his name Pecor or Pecoy; it is now generally spelled Pecoy. S. P.]
The remains were taken, Saturday evening, to his former home at Union, Ill., for interment.