George Catlett Peery
George Catlett Peery
(Archibald Peery, John Peery, James Peery #1)
(Nancy Peery Peery, William Peery, Thomas Peery #1)
George Catlett Peery was born 27 May 1828, in Tazewell County, Virginia,
and died 31 July 1907, in Portland, Oregon. He married, 26 Sep 1855, Ruth
Jane Kirk, daughter of Thomas and Ruth Howe Kirk. She was born 10 Oct 1834,
in Giles County, Virginia and is still living (1918) in Portland, Oregon.
George Catlett Peery was a farmer, and resided while actively engaged in
that business one and a half miles northwest of Edinburg, Grundy County,
Missouri. His mother was Nancy Peery, daughter of William and Sarah Evans
Peery (William Peery, Thomas Peery #1). He was born a few miles from
Tazewell Courthouse, Virginia, where he was raised until about 11 years old.
In the fall of 1839, he moved with his parents to Grundy County, Missouri,
where they took up a farm near Edinburg.
Three brothers and five sisters of his mother, with their families
emigrated from Virginia and settled in the same neighborhood about the
same time, so that together they formed quite a community of Peery
relatives. The country was newly settled and the arduous task of clearing
the land of virgin forest and establishing new homes told hard on the
family, and by the end of the year 1852 death had claimed all but four of
the family, including his father and mother.
For awhile after the death of his parents he engaged in merchandising in
Edinburg, Missouri, in partnership with his brother Mitchell T. Peery. On
closing this business he sold the home place, which had been left to him,
and bought land adjoining from his brother, Mitchell, where he made his
home and reared his family. The Civil War broke out just as he was
entering active farming life and this seriously hindered his success.
His sympathies were with the South, but he could not participate on that
side of the struggle without leaving his wife and two young children in
an unfriendly community, and this he declined to do. His age exempted him
from service in the Federal army, and so he took no military part in the
struggle.
He and his family, however, experienced all the hardship of border
conditions of the Civil War. Shortly after its close, his health gave
way, and he was unable to actively engage in farming under the hard
conditions of that kind of a life in a newly settled country. This was
followed closely by the long sickness of his wife, so that for awhile his
lot was one of particular hardship. He, nevertheless, by close economy
and perseverance managed to raise his family, giving them good educations
and paying his debts in full.
In 1886, he removed to Portland, Oregon, wither his son Edwin had
preceded him, retiring from active business. There the health of himself
and wife greatly improved, and he passed the last years of his life in
comparative ease and comfort. He survived the last member of his father's
family more than 45 years.
Mrs. Peery removed from Giles County, Virginia, with her parents in 1844,
and with them settled in Livingstone County, Missouri, which adjoins
Grundy County on the south, and formerly included it. She and her husband
received their education at Grand River College, located but two miles
from where her husband's parents had settled. They were both members of
the Methodist Episcopal Church South, joining at one of the numerous camp
meetings held in those early days, and it was here that they first met.
After moving to Oregon, they placed their membership with the Methodist
Episcopal Church, there being no organization of their denomination in
Portland.
Mrs. Peery was a true helpmate to her husband in the trying days of Civil
War, and in the struggle of properly raising a family under the adverse
conditions during that period and following it, even though much of the
time an invalid. Her two grandparents, John Kirk and Daniel Howe, were
Revolutionary soldiers. The former belonged to the Virginia Continental
line, and served under General Washington; the latter served with Colonel
Preston on the Virginia frontier, and attained the rank of ensign or
second lieutenant. Mrs. Peery still resides in Oregon with her daughter
Georgia Ruth.
Children all born in Grundy County, Missouri: Edwin Howe, b. 27 July 1856;
Leslie Thomas, b. 14 Mar 1859; Lura Belle, b. 4 Dec 1863, md. Trusten P.
Peery (Archibald Peery, George Peery, William Peery, Thomas Peery #1); and
George Ruth, b. 1 Sep 1866.
Source: "The Peery Genealogy," The Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine,
Vol. IX-1918, pp. 66-67, no. 118.
Editor - Peery Family
History
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