In answer to your letter of inquiry wishing to know about your forefathers, the Peerys and Harmans, I will inform you that my grandfather, John Peery, was born about 1748 in Augusta Co., Va., and died about 1817 at Burksville, Cumberland Co., Ky. He married Nancy Martin, who was born in Augusta Co., Va., about 1754, and died about 1798, in Tazewell County, Va. After they were married they moved to what is now Tazewell, Va., in 1771. They were of Scotch-Irish descent. John Peery and Nancy Martin were married about 1772. The names of their children are--James, David, Catherine, Jane, Archibald, George and Jonathan.

David Peery, my father, was born April 17, 1778, in Tazewell Co., Va., and died July 8, 1862, in Tazewell Co.

Eleanor Harman, my mother, was born Nov. 28, 1787. David Peery and Eleanor Harman were married Dec. 18, 1806, in Tazewell Co. Eleanor Harman died May 17, 1862, in Tazewell Co. The names of their children were--John D. Peery, born Oct. 1, 1807, died July 29, 1884; Christina Peery Hatcher was born March 15, 1810, died Nov. 28, 1886; Henry Harman Peery was born December 8, 1812, died Feb. 24, 1831; Nancy Martin Peery was born June 4, 1815, died May 26, 1883; Letitia Peery Carnahan was born April 7, 1818, died Nov. 27, 1858; Louisa Peery was born June 17, 1821; David Harold Peery was born May 16, 1824; Eleanor Martelia Peery Borders was born Oct. 15, 1827, died Nov. 7, 1854; David Augustus Bartlett (grandson) was born Oct. 26, 1834, died Jan. 5, 1875, in Ogden, Utah.

Henry Harman, Sr., my great grandfather, was born in Germany, about 1720, and came to America with his brother, Daniel Harman, and settled near Salem, North Carolina, about 1760, and married a Miss Wilburn. From there he moved to Tazewell Co., Va., in 1771. Henry Harman, Jr., my grandfather was born in North Carolina in 1762 and came to Tazewell with his father, Henry Harman, Sr., in 1771, and married my grandmother, Christina Harman, his cousin, daughter of David Harman. Grandmother Christina Harman died in 1835.

My grandfather, Henry Harman, built a large double log house in which the first court of the county was held (1800), and he was the first judge of the county. He was a very large man weighing over 300 pounds, and 6 feet 2 inches in height. To get him out of the house after he died, they had to take the door and facing out. He was a man of great intellect, honorable and high-minded; and left an immense estate of lands, negroes, and stock. He married my grandmother, Christina Harman, in 1784, and he died in 1808, honored, loved and respected by all.

The names of their children are as follows: Eleanor (my mother), who married Mr. David Peery; Daniel; Rhoda, who married John Gillespie; Malvina, who married Alex Harrison; Nancy, who married Hezekiah Harman, Jr.; Letitia, who married Addison Crockett; Henry Wilburn Harman; Christina, who married Samuel Lard.

Please send me a copy of this to each of your sisters, and have them record it in their bibles, as none of the Peerys or Harmans have a record of their progenitors, who were a noble race of men and women. Do not neglect to do this as the time is coming, when I am gone, and when their history will be written up by some of their descendants; it will then be valuable.

Your loving uncle,

(s) D.H. Peery