Biography of Peyton B Coker, Sebastian Co, AR

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SOURCE: History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford,
Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago: The Goodspeed 
Publishing Co., 1889.
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page 1301

Dr. Peyton B. Coker, physician and farmer of Big Creek Township, was born in
Bibb County, Ala., in 1835, and  is a son of Robert and Sarah (Myers) Coker,
natives of Lawrenceburg District, S. C., and Georgia, respectively.  They
removed from Alabama to Mississippi in 1847, where their respective deaths
occurred in 1881 and 1887.  Philip Coker, the grandfather, was born in South
Carolina, and died in Georgia. Dr. Coker is one of a family of  twelve
children, and being reared upon a farm his early education was received at a
country school. He read  medicine from 1856 until 1860, and the following
winter attended the Memphis Medical College. He began to  practice in
Tishomingo County, Miss., and until 1870 practiced in that State. He then came
to Sebastian County,  and having taught school prior to the war continued that
vocation one year, since which time he has devoted his  attention to farming
and medicine. In August, 1861, he enlisted as a Chickasaw Ranger, in Martin's
battalion, of  Steward's brigade, and served in the Virginia army until
discharged on account of ill health the following December. He afterward served
in different capacities, and he fought at the battle of Shiloh. In June, 1863,
he  married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas and Sarah Rogers, natives of North
Carolina and Georgia. Mr. Rogers  died in 1886, but his widow is now living.
Mrs. Coker was born in Georgia, and has borne the Doctor eleven  children, of
whom nine are living, and have enjoyed the advantages of a good education. Dr.
Coker has been a  prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
for thirty-one years, having held many offices in  the meantime, and his wife
belongs to the same denomination. Dr. Coker owns a nice farm of 320 acres as a
result of his labor. He has always been a Democrat, and for a short time served
as justice of the peace. He is a demitted member of the Masonic fraternity.