Greensville County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Biographies.....Peebles, John Dudley 1872 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00001.html#0000031 February 17, 2008, 4:12 pm Author: Leonard Wilson (1916) JOHN DUDLEY PEEBLES AMONG the successful and prominent business men of Greeneville County is John Dudley Peebles, of North Emporia, who as yet is only in early middle life, but has worked his way up from small beginnings to a commanding position in the business circles of the community. He was born in Greeneville County on June 10, 1872, son of Joseph F. and E. (Allen) Peebles. His mother was a daughter of John D. Allen, of Brunswick. Mr. Peebles went through the common schools and the Davis High School, and began his business career as a railroad brake-man. He was promoted to fireman, and then to conductor, in the service of the Atlantic & Danville and Southern Railways. Later, entering business on his own account, he has had a prosperous career, and is now President of the Emporia Drug Company and Vice-President of the First National Bank. He is a strong fraternalist, holding membership in the Order of Elks, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, in which last-named Order he has been actively interested, and has taken all the degrees. He was married on December 20, 1892, to Cora E. Atkinson, of Greeneville County, whose father was a Confederate veteran, and they have four children: Taylor Lamar, Bessie Douglas, Emma Louise and Carlotta Alice Peebles. Mr. Peebles is descended from an ancient Scottish family, the name of which is commemorated in the County of Peebles in the south of Scotland and the town of that name. When the family of this name first settled in Virginia cannot be definitely stated, but it was after the year 1700. The first record of the name that is found in the old county proceedings is that of Henry Peebles who, in 1726, obtained a grant of two hundred and forty acres of land in Brunswick County. In the same year, James Wyche, George Wyche and Joseph Wyche obtained grants in the same county. The intermarriage between the Wyche and Peebles families, which has preserved the Wyche name down to the present time in the Peebles family, was evidently contracted by some of these early families. The next of the name is Captain Joseph Peebles, probably a brother of Henry, who moved from Prince George County to Brunswick County, and married Mary Robinson in 175S. He was apparently a mere youth when he moved to Brunswick County. He died in 1782. He served as a Captain of the Brunswick Militia in the Revolutionary War, was a prominent citizen, much interested in the church, being an official member of St. Andrew's Parish. Joseph Peebles mentioned in his will two sons: Sterling and Dudley Peebles. In addition to Joseph Peebles, the Revolutionary records show that Andrew Peebles served as a soldier, apparently a private. In 1765, Nathaniel Peebles obtained a grant of two hundred and thirty acres in Sussex County. This man's name apparently became changed into Peeples, and there are, at the present time, families in Georgia bearing that name who came from Virginia, and who are probably descended from this Nathaniel. The Assessors Records for Greenville County, for the year 1783, give the names of Drury Peebles and William Peebles as heads of families. Drury had six in family and owned two slaves. William had ten in family and owned fifteen slaves. It will be seen from this brief mention that Brunswick County was the original home of the family in Virginia. John Dudley Peebles, as his name would indicate, is a descendant of Dudley, the son of Captain Joseph Peebles. There is a comparatively full record of the descendants of Sterling Peebles, Dudley Peebles' brother. He married Martha Wilkins, moved to Northampton County, North Carolina, and had four sons: Joseph Douglas, Dudley Robinson, Edmund Wilkins and Henry Wyche Peebles, who after their father's death moved to Alabama (about 1815). Dudley Robinson and Edmund Wilkins Peebles died young. Joseph Douglas Peebles married Martha Barrett, of Columbia, Mississippi, and they had one son, James Sterling Peebles, and one daughter, Martha, who married Dr. Jones, of Hinds County, Mississippi. Henry Wyche Peebles, youngest son of Sterling Peebles, married Anne Wilkins Cocke (another Virginia name). They had four sons and two daughters. The sons were Dudley Thomas, Henry Wyche, Jr., John Willis Cocke and Sterling Wilkins Peebles. The daughters were Mary Robinson and Nanny Peebles. Henry Wyche Peebles (2) moved from Hinds County, Mississippi, to New Iberia. Louisiana, about 1850, and became a sugar planter. He died in 1S(>4. His wife, who was born in 1819, died in 1S70. Of their four sons, three entered the Confederate Army. Dudley Thomas Peebles was a student at the University of Virginia at the outbreak of the War. He volunteered as a Confederate soldier and at the battle of Antietam lost his right leg. His two brothers, Henry Wyche Peebles, Jr., and John Willis Cocke Peebles, both served as Confederate soldiers, and both died unmarried. Dudley Thomas Peebles, after his disability in the army, married Irene Duinesnil, and they had one daughter, Irene, who is now Mrs. C. W. Sanders, of Jacksonville, Alabama. The youngest son of Henry Wyche Peebles, Sterling Wilkins Peebles, married Virginia Harper, of Raymond, Mississippi, and they had three sons: Henry Wyche Peebles (3), who is now an architect in Seattle, Washington; George Harper Peebles, who is a dentist in Como, Mississippi; and Sterling Wilkins Peebles, Jr., who is now approaching manhood. They have one daughter, Virginia Harper Peebles, now thirteen. They lived in Jackson, Mississippi. The two daughters of Henry Wyche Peebles were Mary Robinson Peebles who married J. P. Wyche, and they had one son, Joseph Wyche; and Nannie Peebles, who married Judge J. W. MePherson, of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. There is another branch of the Peebles family in America, which settled first in Pelham, Massachusetts, in 1718. Prom this family was descended the late Dr. James Martin Peebles, who was born in Vermont in 1822. He was first a Universalist minister and later a medical practitioner. His great attainments won for him many honorary degrees. He served as Professor in the Medical College, was for a time in the United States Diplomatic service, was Fellow of many learned societies, founder of a sanitarium at San Diego, California, and the author of numerous valuable and interesting works, one of which "How to live a century and grow old gracefully" went through many editions. One of the "ancients" of this honorable family was David Peebles, who lived in the literary and theological center of Scotland, St. Andrews. He died in 1579, leaving behind him the reputation of being one of the greatest of Scottish musical composers, and was one of a half dozen of the great Scottish composers who produced the metrical version of the Psalms long used in Scottish Churches. John Dudley Peebles comes of good stock, as the records show, and his career has reflected credit upon the family name. The Peebles Coat of Arms is thus described: "Argent a chevron engrailed sable between three popinjays vert, membered gules." Additional Comments: Extracted from: MAKERS OF AMERICA BIOGRAPHIES OF LEADING MEN OF THOUGHT AND ACTION THE MEN WHO CONSTITUTE THE BONE AND SINEW OF AMERICAN PROSPERITY AND LIFE VOLUME II By LEONARD WILSON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ASSISTED BY PROMINENT HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WRITERS Illustrated with many full page engravings B. F. JOHNSON, INC. CITY OF WASHINGTON, U. S. A. 1916 Copyright, 1916 by B. F. Johnson, Inc. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/greensville/photos/bios/peebles33gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/greensville/bios/peebles33gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/vafiles/ File size: 8.2 Kb