Liberty Island states. The oyster beds would remain a major source of food for nearly three centuries. Landfilling, started by the 1870s, particularly by the Lehigh Valley Railroad and Central Railroad of New Jersey, eventually obliterated the beds, engulfed one island and brought the shoreline much closer to the others. After the surrender of Fort Amsterdam by the Dutch to the British in 1664, the English governor Richard Nicolls granted the island to Captain Robert Needham. It was sold to Isaac Bedloe on December 23, 1667. The island was retained by his estate until 1732 when it was sold for five shillings
William S. Peck Sr. William S. Peck Sr. William Smith Peck Sr. (1873–1946) was a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Sicily Island in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana, having served from 1920-1928. Peck, a businessman and farmer, was married to the former Estelle Woodard (1893–1983). Their children were William S. Peck Jr. (1916–1987), who held the same House seat as his father from 1956 to 1964; Barbara Jane Peck Gilbert (1922–1987), the first wife of retired State Senator J.C. "Sonny" Gilbert, and Henry C. Peck Sr. (1919–1987), a Sicily Island banker, contractor, cattleman, and farmer. He was affiliated with the Methodist Church.