Thomas-Macon-Brooks County GaArchives Biographies.....Peacock, Duncan D. 1859 - living in 1913 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 1, 2004, 8:46 pm Author: William Harden p. 1058-1065 DUNCAN D. PEACOCK. One of the most prosperous small towns of south Georgia is Pavo in Thomas county. It is on the Georgia Northern Railroad and is seventeen miles from the county sites of the three adjoining counties of Thomas, Brooks and Colquitt, viz., Thomasville, Quitman and Moultrie, and is surrounded by some of the most productive farm lands in south Georgia, with turpentine and sawmill timber enough to keep these enterprises alive for many years to come. Pavo has a naval stores factory, variety works, manufactory of yellow pine, guano factory, two live banking institutions, two drug stores, one dentist, four physicians, two hospitals, and one of the most skilled surgeons in the south. It also has a large cotton ginnery with capacity of turning out one hundred bales of cotton, ginning both the long and short staple, per day, and a large cotton warehouse that would do credit to a town twice its size. The originator of the commercial enterprise and one of the chief factors in its growth and development has been Duncan D. Peacock, who was the first merchant of the place. When the town of Pavo was incorporated he was instrumental in having a prohibition clause inserted in the charter so that no intoxicants can ever be sold there, not even cider. He is one of the charter members of the Bank of Pavo and of the Planters Bank, and has served the town as councilman. He was postmaster for nineteen consecutive years until the spring of 1911, at which time the office was advanced to third class, becoming a presidential office, and although he secured the endorsement of ninety per cent of the entire patrons of the office, including the business, professional and banking interests of the town, the referee of the powers in control appointed his successor, against the wishes of the patrons, because he had incurred the displeasure of that official, in that he had failed to comply with his request to furnish him with the names of the patrons of the office, while to have done so would have been in direct violation of the postal laws and regulations. The first name of this place was McDonald, having been named in honor of Col. James McDonald, one of the pioneer settlers who represented his district as a member of Congress. The present name, Pavo, is the Latinized form of Mr. Peacock's name. Duncan D. Peacock is a native of Thomas county, where he was born February 24, 1859, and represents an old family resident from colonial times in North Carolina and Georgia. His great-grandparents were Simon and Zilpha (Pittman) Peacock, who were, according to the best information at hand, lifelong residents of North Carolina, and their children were named as follows: Stephen, Seth, Patience, Polly, Noah, Demeris, Robert, Raiford, Zilpha and Simon. Robert Peacock, the grandfather, was born on a farm near the present site of Goldsboro, in Wayne county, North Carolina, in 1791, lived in that vicinity until after his marriage and then became an early settler of Macon county, Georgia, where he bought land and made his home a few years. From there he migrated into south Georgia and settled in that part of Lowndes, now Brooks county. This was in the era of early settlement. He bought a tract of hammock land, heavily timbered with hard wood. His home was on the Coffee road, the main thoroughfare between Thomasville and Savannah, and at the place of his settlement has since grown up the little village of Okapilco. The grandfather resided there until his death in 1860. The maiden name of his first wife, the grandmother of Duncan D., was Wealthy Howell. She was born in Wayne county in North Carolina, and at her death in middle life left eight children, namely: Benajoh, Howell, Jane, Robert, Delamar, Edna, Byron and Morris. For his second wife the grandfather married America Howell and they reared ten children, named Sarah, Patience, John, Tyler, Virginia, Letitia, Laura, Margaret, Jasper and Eulalia. Delamar C. Peacock, the father, who was born in Macon county, Georgia, in 1824, spent his active career in farming. He bought land east of Thomasville, where with the aid of slave labor he engaged in the tilling of the soil, and resided there until his death, at the age of forty-eight. He married Mary Ann McKinnon, a native Georgian and of a pioneer family of this section of the state. Her father was Malcom McKinnon, a native of Robeson county, North Carolina. Her grandfather, John McKinnon, was also probably a native of North Carolina and came to south Georgia and located in what is now Thomas county, along with the first pioneers who blazed the paths of civilization in this vicinity. He improved a farm five miles east of Thomasville, and his remains now rest on that original homestead. John McKinnon married Mary McIntosh, a native of Scotland, who came to America with her parents at the age of six years. She reared a large family of children. Mary (McKinnon) Peacock, the mother, died at the age of fifty-four, and her children \vere as follows: Malcom Robert, Rebecca, Josephene M., Moselle, Duncan D., Daniel Clayton, Wesley and Wealthy (twins) and John Howell. This family have gained particular distinction in the field of education. Malcolm R. Peacock was for many years a teacher prominent in the public schools of Georgia, having spent the major part of his life in the schoolroom. Later he became one of the leading merchants of Thomasville. with a branch store in .what was then McDonald (now Pavo), Georgia, and one in Boston, Georgia. In his old age he retired to his farm near Pavo, where he could enjoy a more quiet life aside from the heavy responsibilities and cares of the ever-hustling business mercantile life. He married Miss Lelia Culpepper, a daughter of William H. Culpepper, a native of Thomas county, who was a leading farmer in Georgia for many years, but who later moved to Florida where he purchased an orange grove. The children of Malcolm are: Emmitt, Wallace, Wesley and Howell (twins) and Mabelle. Daniel Clayton is a graduate of the University of Georgia and also of Harvard, Massachusetts. He came from Harvard to Atlanta and established his school, "Peacock's School for Boys," in 1898. He now has a handsome three-story building in the finest residence part of the city, the school numbering one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty boys from the age of twelve to eighteen, the annual receipts from which are eight or ten thousand dollars. Professor Clayton has a summer residence in Pavo, where he spends a part of the summer and winter, hunting during the winter and fishing during the summer and looking after his varied interests, including his large cotton ginnery and cotton warehouse, etc. Wesley Peacock, next to the youngest of the family of nine, was born near Thomasville, Georgia, on December 24, 1865. At the age of fourteen he entered the South Georgia College in Thomasville, where after an attendance of four years, he was graduated in 1884 with first honor of his class and with a commission as first lieutenant in the military department. At the age of eighteen he taught school, the following year in Okapilco and in Stockton, Georgia, and was thus prepared to enter the University of Georgia in October, 1886, having received the appointment as a beneficiary of the Charles McDonald Brown scholarship fund by courtesy of ex-Governor Joseph E. Brown, of Georgia, which enabled him to graduate in the university in 1887 with second honor in his class. Mr. Peacock values a personal letter and a photograph from Governor Brown, received while teaching school in Texas two years after graduation, in recognition of his having been the first beneficiary of the Brown fund to repay the obligation. While attending the University he became a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and Phi Kappa Literary Society and in his junior year he enjoyed the unusual distinction of having won three speakers' places at commencement, one on oratory, another on original essay and a third on scholarship. Immediately upon graduation Mr. Peacock went to Texas to join his older brother, D. C. Peacock, also a graduate of the University of Georgia, who had preceded him to Texas by two years, and in Jasper-he was engaged for four years with his brother in conducting the South East Texas Male and Female College, after which he superintended the public schools of Uvalde, Texas, for three years. On December 28, 1893, he married Miss Selina Egg, and in 1894 he established the Peacock School for Boys in San Antonio, Texas, which grew into the Peacock Military College, an institution enjoying the distinction of having been the first school in Texas or any gulf state to be classed A by the war department. One son, Wesley Peacock, Jr., survived the death of his wife on November 28, 1898. On July 4, 1903, he married Miss Edith Wing in Chicago. In 1911, after persuading congress to name Corpus Christi, Texas, as a site of a marine school under government patronage, Professor Peacock established and maintained in that city the Peacock Naval School in connection with the Peacock Military School of San Antonio, obtaining from the navy department navy cutters and other naval equipment. Wealthy (Wessie), the twin sister of Professor Wesley, was educated at Young's Female College, Thomasville, Georgia, and died shortly afterwards with typhoid fever, at the age of eighteen, in the bloom of life. She was a devoted Christian and member of the Methodist church. She contracted the fever while in the performance of her Christian duties in attending the bedside of a sick neighbor, and was interred in Laurel Hill cemetery, Thomasville, Georgia. Thus her life was sacrificed in the service of her Master, but not in vain. John Howell Peacock was also a graduate of the University of Georgia. He was head master for three years in Peacock's Military College at San Antonio, Texas, after holding chair of mathematics in San Antonio's Female College. He is now head master of Peacock's School for Boys, Atlanta, Georgia. Professor Howell married Miss Meda Perkins, of Alice, Texas, who was a graduate of San Antonio's Female College. The names of their two children are: John Howell, Jr., and Evelyn Louise. Duncan D. Peacock also began his career as teacher when eighteen years old and continued four years. In 1879 he located at what was then McDonald, in Thomas county, where for two years he was in charge of the school. He was later appointed postmaster, and about the same time established the first general store in the village. There being several postoffices in the state similar to the name McDonald, viz., McDonald's Mill, Coffee county, McDonough, Henry county, McDaniel, Pickens county, resulting in much confusion of mail and freight, the patrons urged a change of name, and at the suggestion of the postoffice department several lists of names were sent to Washington, D. C., all the patrons who would do so having a part in the selection of the names listed, all of which were considered unavailable for the same reason that McDonald was unfit. In the last list Mr. Peacock added the name Pavo, which is the Latin for Peacock, and the postoffice authorities chose this as the designation for the postoffice, hence it was adopted for the entire village. After he had heen in business for a few years Mr. Peacock was stricken with nervous prostration and rheumatism, which kept him in bed for one year and in a wheel chair for several years, then on crutches. Always a devout Christian, while suffering this affliction Mr. Peacock covenanted with God, that should he be restored to his former health he would thereafter direct his energies for the benefit of the Lord's work in the world. When fully restored and confronted with the problem how best to fulfill his promise, he resolved that he would consecrate his entire life as well as his business and honor Him in all of the same, in buying and selling, and all his transactions with his fellow-man, and that he would henceforth have a higher incentive in the prosecution of his business than the mere money relations accruing therefrom. God honored his consecration, his faith and trust in Him, making it an epoch in his Christian experience, which has ever since been predominant in his business. Having adopted as his motto, "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God," and .all his "merchandise shall be holiness to the Lord," he therefore eliminated many articles formerly carried in stock which had been a source of profit, but which he could not now sell "to the glory of God," and which he thought the world would be better off without. His business cards and letter heads were made to read, "D. D. Peacock, Dealer in general merchandise of all kinds— EXCEPT tobacco, cigarettes, cigars, playing cards, pistols and cartridges." One morning after this, after he had made a fire in the heater in his store, he noticed his little son Clayton, who was only seven years old, with his arm full of books which he had taken from the shelving, cramming them in the stove. Asked what he was doing, the little fellow answered, "Papa, didn't you tell Mamma last night that these books are not good books, and that God did not want you to sell any more of them?" His father said: "Yes, son, and Papa will help you burn them all up; go and bring the others." So some seventy-five or one hundred novels which were being sold for the profit there was in them, without a thought of giving value received, were sacrificed, yes, "to the glory of God." A little later he purchased an entire stock of goods, a bankrupt stock, including quite a lot of playing cards, and a number of barrels of cider; he refused to take the cider, and reshipped it to the wholesale grocer, the merchant from whom he had bought the stock of goods protesting all the while that he had tried to get them to take the cider back and they had refused; but they were returned just the same and accepted, when they learned why it was refused by Mr. Peacock. The playing cards were destroyed. Mr. Peacock is a Prohibitionist in the full sense of the word. He has never taken a drink of liquor nor a chew of tobacco, nor smoked a cigar or cigarette in his life. He has never visited any place that he could not consistently take his mother, sister, or wife, or daughter with him, and does not claim any credit for it, but gives the credit to his pious Christian mother and her training in his early life. His unique trade device obtained a wide note through the country, and he was known far and wide as "The Except Merchant." This new name given to him by the commercial traveling salesmen, he later adopted, and had his return envelopes printed, "If not called for in five days, return to The Except Merchant." He frequently received letters addressed to "The Except Merchant." Pavo, Georgia. In April, 1912, he remitted his subscription to The Rain's Horn, Chicago, Illinois, an independent weekly, which has since become The Home Herald. This paper wrote an editorial, commenting and complimenting him for having1 the moral courage of his convictions in placing on the mast pole of his business cards and letter heads the line of eliminations included under the word "Except." which "indicated strength of Christian character worthy of note." This brought a number of letters from business men all over the country asking for copies of his letter heads; some desiring to emulate the example. One firm, a wholesale and retail house, as well as manufacturer, in the state of Maryland, wrote that they had never thought of printing their letter heads to show that they drew the line on tobacco, but that they would do so in future. Among other humorous comments he received a letter from a Savannah liquor house, stating they had not noticed wines as being "excepted" in his business and wanted to get him to handle their wines. Another house in New York sent him samples of playing cards. It was his custom in making remittances in liquidation of his indebtedness to write some scriptural references or quotations across the ends of the checks, such as John 3:16, Matthew 7:12, Heb. 10:14, 15. On one occasion the check was returned by the bank, with the inscription on the back, "Irregular," "Returned." Mr. Peacock wrote another check and mailed it to them with a new scriptural reference as follows: "Mene, mene tekel, upharsin." This time the bank kept the check, having concluded they "wanted the money" whether they were "weighed in the balance and found wanting" or not. In his business career, Mr. Peacock has prospered, but he has also had his reverses. In 1905 having bought a large lot of cotton, the price dropped suddenly from eleven cents to seven cents per pound, and he was confronted with financial ruin. To make the situation worse, he was so ill he could not attend to business, and at that time his creditors offered him a settlement on a basis of thirty cents on the dollar. He refused a compromise, declaring his intentions of paying all his obligations in full. He paid part cash at the time, giving his notes for the remainder, and has since liquidated the entire amount with interest. It is this business integrity which has given him a high position among his associates, and he is today one of the most influential business men and citizens of Thomas county. He has been an active member of the Methodist church, serving his church as trustee, steward, and has been superintendent of the Sunday School or teacher of the Bible class for a quarter of a century. He has a cottage at the Indian Springs camp ground, near Indian Springs, Georgia, where his family usually spends a part of the summer, he always joining them during the month of August during the annual Holiness Camp Meeting, which convenes during that month. He is an ardent supporter and believer in the doctrine for which that camp stands, and as taught by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, a definite experience of holiness of heart in the believer instantaneously received by faith. Duncan D. Peacock was married in June, 1888, to Mary J. Reddick, a native of Brooks county, and a member of an old Georgia family. Her grandfather, Nicholas Reddick, formerly a resident of Screven county, became one of the early settlers of what is now Brooks county. He improved a large farm in what is now Brooks county, in the Tallokas district, employed a number of slaves to work the fields, and remained a resident of this vicinity until his death at a good old age. He was three times married, and his second wife, the grandmother of Mrs. Peacock, was a Miss Lewis. Mrs. Peacock's father AVES Rev. Moses Reddick, who was reared and educated in Brooks county. At the breaking out of the war he enlisted in Company C of the Seventh Georgia Battalion, was later transferred to the Sixty-first Georgia Infantry, and gave long and faithful service as a soldier in the army of North Virginia. He always carried his Bible in his breast pocket, and at one time it was penetrated by a bullet to the very last leaf, thus saving his life. The Bible is now preserved by his descendants as a sacred relic. He escaped capture and was with his regiment until the close of the war, when he came home and took up farming. As a farmer and business man he prospered, and he also devoted much of his time and energies to his duties as a local preacher of the Methodist church. His death occurred at the age of sixty-three. He married Sarah Allen, who was born in the Dry Lake district of Brooks county, and they were the parents of eight children, named as follows: Elizabeth, Mary J., Sarah, James, Lucy, Virginia, Henry, and John Wesley. Sarah Allen's parents were from Wilmington, North Carolina, and were of Scotch-Irish descent. Mr. and Mrs. D. D. Peacock have reared three children: Clayton Wesley, Moselle, and Lois Elizabeth. Clayton was educated at Meridian Male College, Meridian, Mississippi. He is a successful teacher, and is at present the principal of the Union Point High School at Union Point, Georgia. Clayton is quite a young man yet, and intends to further complete his education at the University of Georgia, or at Harvard, Massachusetts. Mosie Mae is a member of the graduating class of May, 1913, of Andrew Female College, at Cuthbert, Georgia. Having studied harmony, history, interpretation, sight reading, and having two years in practical pedagogy at Andrew College, she is well qualified. Besides receiving the B. L. diploma, she was awarded a certificate in piano music and received a diploma in Sunday School pedagogy. She was an active member and officer in the college Y. W. C. A. and president of the Kappa Gamma Literary Society. During her college course Miss Peacock was a leader in all the college activities and has at the same time taken a high rank in class work. She has good natural gifts, well developed by faithful study at college, and is an active religious worker. Lois Elizabeth is in school at Pavo. She is only seven years old now. Mr. Peacock and wife are both active members in the Pavo Methodist church. Rebecca Peacock, the eldest daughter of Delamar Peacock, married Anthony Wayne Ivey, who was a son of Robert Ivey, one of the pioneer settlers of Thomas county. He was reared on a farm six miles east of Thomasville, Georgia. Wayne was a teacher in the public schools of Georgia for a number of years and was a member of the legislature for two years. He was also secretary and treasurer of the Farmers' State Alliance of Georgia, during which time he moved to Atlanta, where his wife died. After the death of his wife, he moved to Thomasville, where he died. His wife, Rebecca, was an invalid for several years and a patient sufferer, uncomplaining, and bore her sickness with Christian fortitude and grace. At the approach of death, she drew her loved ones around her, entreated them to meet her in heaven, and departed this life with shouts of victory, having called for a favorite hymn to be sung while she passed over. Their children were: Robert, Felton Bartow, Mamie, Elizabeth, Eula, Lee, and J. Duncan. Felton Bartow, after holding the responsible position as business manager for a large wholesale house in Savannah for a number of years, resigned this place in favor of his brother Duncan (who holds that position now) to go on the road as traveling salesman for the same company, viz., F. J. Cooledge & Bro., of Atlanta and Savannah. Mamie married Mr. Robert Varnedoe, of Thomasville; Lizzie married Henry Reddick, a merchant of Morven, Georgia. Miss Lee and Robert are living in Thomasville, where Felton B. makes his headquarters, his territory being south Georgia and Florida. Josephene Peacock, the second daughter of Delamar Peacock, married Abraham Foreman, son of Glover and Malinda Foreman, of South Carolina. Her children are: Cora, James J., Delamar G., Mary (deceased), Blanch, Floy, Marion, and Dudly F. Abraham Foreman was a farmer in Thomas county and moved to this place in the early days when it was called McDonald, with only two stores, and purchased the place which was known as the old McDonald dowery farm. In later years after the name was changed to Pavo and the place became an incorporated town, he opened up the most of the farm into resident lots and placed them on the market in one sale, thus offering the first big sale of land to those who were seeking homes in Pavo. He served the town in capacity of mayor and was always active at work in the development of Pavo. He is still one of the substantial residents of the town. Cora, the oldest daughter of Josephene and Abraham Foreman, married P. A. Adams, a successful merchant of Pavo, who was one among the first of the town. James J., the oldest son, was educated in the public schools and graduated at the Stanley Business College of Thomasville, Georgia. He held important positions with business firms in Atlanta, Georgia, and was appointed a clerk in the pay department of the United States army. He did service in different departments of the United States and in the Philippine Islands and resigned in 1907 and came to Pavo, where he entered the cotton warehouse business. He has been an active citizen, having served as councilman, clerk, treasurer, as well as mayor of the town. He married Miss Ethell Mosely of Jakin, Georgia, in 1912. Blanch, the second daughter, married W. F. Harrison, of Slocum, Alabama. Floy, the third daughter of Abraham and Josephene Foreman, graduated at the Pavo high school, was a student of the state normal of Athens, Georgia, and is assistant teacher of the high school of Clayton, Georgia. Marion, the fourth daughter, also graduated at the Pavo high school and also at the state normal of Athens. She is now a teacher in the primary department in the Pavo high school. Moselle Peacock, the third daughter of Delamar and Mary Peacock, married Hezekiah Roberts, a large landholder at Pavo. He is one of the chief factors in the growth and development of the town of Pavo and furnished many of the town resident lots on which are now erected the residences of many of her citizens. Mr. Roberts has served the town as mayor and councilman, and in many ways has been instrumental in building up the town and community, a more complete account of which is given in this volume in the history of Pavo. To Moselle and Hezekiah Roberts were born: Mamie, Wessie. Frank, and Jack. Miss Wessie married Hugh C. Ford, the cashier of the Bank of Pavo. Mr. Ford is a graduate of Oxford and is of a prominent family of Cartersville, Georgia. Mrs. Ford attended Wesleyan Female College and received a certificate in music. Jack is assistant cashier in the Bank of Pavo. Mrs. Moselle Roberts died in August, 1895, and was buried in Lebanon cemetery at Pavo. Additional Comments: From: A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA BY WILLIAM HARDEN VOLUME II ILLUSTRATED THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 1913 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/thomas/bios/gbs518peacock.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 26.5 Kb