Editor’s note: The family name “Peake” was also spelled “Peak” in some historical references.

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine being a small child of the late 1800s anxiously peering down the road, waiting for the circus to come to town.

That is the kind of excitement felt by many for a family of entertainers, who made Niles their home base in the latter part of the 19th century.

When the Peake Family Swiss Bell Ringers came to town, it was not quietly. This troupe would arrive on Main Street USA with great fanfare, with banners announcing the upcoming venue and the musicians giving crowds that lined the street a preview of the extravaganza to come from a large ornate horse-drawn carriage.

We have learned about Fannie and Jeppe Delano, but without the Peake Family, the famous lovebirds would never have met. In fact, Jeppe began his entertainment career with the eastern division of the famed show business pioneers based in New York, while Fannie began her career at seven, when the western troupe moved to Niles.

The original Peake Family originated in New York state. When the patriarch William died in January 1899 at 94 years old, his obituary suggested he was “a lifelong resident of Brooklyn’s eastern district.” As with much of the Peake Family story, there were side trips along the way.

He was an accomplished harpist and passed his love of music and the harp on to his namesake, William Henry Peake. It was the younger William who, eventually, with his sister Julia, formed the division of the family business that took the territory west of the Ohio River and settled in Niles, while his father headed the troupe, which entertained in the eastern and southern states.

“Previous to the civil war, the Peake family, seven in number, toured the United States giving performances in bell ringing, a form of entertainment much in vogue at that time (1870s). Mr Peake conducted the tours of the family and was always to be found in the center of the group. The others were arranged on either side according to their height,” the New York Times obituary states.

So how did a show biz family from New York become known as the Peake Family Swiss Bell Ringers? Most accepted versions of the story begin with none other than Phineas T. Barnum, who is generally attributed to introducing musical hand-bells to the U.S.

While on a tour of England in the mid 1840s with General Tom Thumb, one of his greatest acts, Barnum saw the Lancashire Bell Ringers entertaining in the Beatles’ hometown of Liverpool. He was so impressed with their musical skill he felt they would be a great hit back home.

It seems the master showman signed the group to a 12-month contract, under the condition they would grow long moustaches and don Swiss costumes. Barnum would then bill them as “Swiss Bell Ringers” to add to the intrigue of the show. Some reports suggest that they were not even allowed to talk in public lest their Lancashire dialects give them away and that because of Barnum’s insistence, the misconception that hand-bells originated in Switzerland and not England thrived.

One report suggests that legal complications concerning the Lancashire musicians nationality arose and brought their tour to an abrupt end, while another article suggests that a couple of their number died, victims of the harsh North American weather, and the group returned home.

Whichever the case, Barnum is reputed to have stored their bells in a cellar in St. Louis, Mo.

While we find no record that clearly defines when Barnum and the senior Peake first crossed paths; the book presidential praise: our presidents and their hymns, by C. Edward Spann and Michael Edward Williams, suggests that the two combined their talents to entertain at Andrew Jackson’s White House along with another famous local entertainment group, The Berger Family.

The final result was that Peake, recognizing the value of the bells purchased them from Barnum and adopted the name Peake Family Swiss Bell Ringers.  The senior Peake became a master of the bells and taught his family the art. The popularity of the bells, added to the brass band, harps, singing, comedy routines and acrobatics in the show, led to the family dividing into the two forces and William H. Peake making Niles the western troupe’s home base.

On Feb. 20, 1868, at the height of their success, a new public hall was dedicated in Niles. Appropriately the first performers in the new Peake Hall, described as “one of the most elegant and commodious halls in the state,” were the Peake and Berger families, “giving one of their unique and original entertainments.”

It was the harp that remained William Jr.’s favorite instrument. An article in the March 24, 1926, edition of the Niles Daily Star tells a remarkable story of “lost and found:”

“Mr. Peake, who met with financial reverses at one time, lost his harp because he needed the money more than the harp, which was his most prized possession. Lyon and Healy (Chicago manufacturers of musical instruments including harps) found the harp in a Chicago shop, purchased it and traced the ownership to Mr. Peake. They sent for him and returned the instrument.

“He often played the harp at dances here. His sons, Louis and Frank, were dancing masters here in the old days and often gave special parties at the pavilion at Paw Paw Lake.”

Back in New York state, the senior Peake also had fallen on hard times. The New York Times, Feb. 22, 1885, located the family’s founder and his wife, in their mid-70s, as “inmates of the Cortland County Poorhouse, near Homer, N.Y., just south of Syracuse. They shared their story with the reporter.

By the time of the poorhouse article, two of the Peake’s seven children had passed away. It states that “William Henry Peake was, when the parents last heard from him, in Australia, where he was unsuccessful with a large company on his hands,” but that “during the past week Mrs. Peake received a letter from William Henry’s wife, who lives at Niles, MI. She begged her parents to make their way home with her, but they will not do so, as they fear that her circumstances would not warrant the expense of their support.”

The couple spoke of their discovery of Sol Smith Russell.

“He came to us barefooted in Springfield, IL and asked the privilege of working for us. He was nothing of singer, but he more than made up by his genius for comedy.”

It can be assumed the legendary comedic actor came with the eastern division of the troupe when the younger Peake moved it to Michigan and closer to what appears to have been his home territory. Perhaps it was he who helped hone the talent of the Delanos?

Eventually Russell joined forces with the Bergers and married one of the Berger daughters.

It would seem these were also the final days of the western Peake Family’s popularity and that the younger William returned to Niles and disbanded the troupe.  There are suggestions that the family’s influence on music and the entertainment world did not end here.

Frank Peake, mentioned earlier with his brother Louis as a local “dancing master,” along with his wife Carrie, who played the piano, taught music and French dancing in Chicago. A book on his wife’s family, The Chandler Family, stated “They are poor but think their prospects flattering.”

In a day where entertainment mega stars become billionaires and music programs are at risk of being cut from school curriculums; Niles can still boast of being home to some of the country’s earliest mega stars, who entertained at the White House and in cities and towns across the country, at a time when the art was more important than the money.

For more information on Friends of Silverbrook with regard to memberships and work days to help restore and catalog the monuments contact: Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery c/o 508 E. Main St., Niles MI 49120, Tim and Candace Skalla at 684-2455, wskalla@sbcglobal.net or contact Ginny Tyler at sphinx1974@aol.com.