Peter was a brother of the celebrated General (and Sir) Martin Schenck, with whom his brother fought and was one of the most successful, daring and enterprising commanders in Holland in the time of the war of the revolution there. Tracing them back, they were descended from four Dericks in succession, and then from two Heinrichs, or Henrys, in succession, going back to 1346, and who were lords of the manorial estates of Afferden, Wachtendonk and Blyenbeck, Afferden and Blyenbeck Iying on the Maas River, above the town of Gennep, and Wachtendonk on the Nioss River, above the town of Gelden. Passing back one or two unknown generations, they were descended from Ludolphus, Wilhelmus and Christianus, going back to 1225, and then through Christianus, a second son in the family of Schencks, the barons of Tautenberg, going back to 330. The descendants of Christianus were known as the Schencks Van Nydeck, so called from the town of Neideggen, lying on the river Roer, some eighteen miles east of Aix-la-Chapelle, where no doubt Christianus had an estate or residence.