starryskye.org/GENEALOGY

The surname Pelton belongs to perhaps the largest class of English family names – those derived from names of localities. Pelton was a common place-name before the Norman conquest. William the Conqueror granted Pelton Manor to William the Deacon and some two centuries later his descendants took their surname from the Manor. Important branches of the Pelton family have lived in Northamptonshire, Wiltshire, Somersetshire and Buckshire. The coat-of-arms of the Essex family is described: an inescutcheon charged with a ben within a orle of escallops. [source]

John Pelton, the American immigrant was born in England about 1616 and was descended, it is believed, from the Essex branch of the family. [source]

There are a lot of PELTON’s in America – a lot of them are descended from John PELTON & Susanna WAY(E) who came over from England on the Mary & John.

“PELTON: John Pelton engaged in fishing business, came to Boston, Mass Bay Colony 1630; removed to Dorchester 1635.” [source, source]

John PELTON & Susanna WAY(E)
   then Samuel PELTON & Mary SMITH
      then John B. PELTON & Jemima JOHNSON
         then John PELTON & Elizabeth CHAMPION
            then Ithamar PELTON & Asenath PRATT
               then Asahel PELTON & Anna DENIO
                  then Horace Birt PELTON & Mary CORLEY
                     then Horace O. PELTON & Ella/Ellen S. HIGGINS
                        then George Lester PELTON & Francis M. WEEKS
                           then Charles Lester Isaac PELTON who is my grandfather.

I’m trying now to get away from the “name collecting” and find actual stories and photos. I’ve got a few of my grandfather but none of anyone further back. I’m also trying to get my hands on an original copy of the 1892 “Pelton Family in America” but it’s pricey and I only see it once in a blue moon.

There is a digital copy available for free:
http://www.archive.org/details/genealogyofpelto00pelt