History of John Thomas Peery, M.D.

(Thomas J. Peery, )

History of Kings County, by Robert R. Brown

1940

Part 1

The pioneer physician and surgeon of Corcoran was the late Dr. John Thomas Peery, who practiced in this community from 1906 until his death on September 27, 1937. During these many years in Corcoran he enjoyed the respect and confidence of the entire community, and on his passing one of the most useful and most beloved citizens was lost.

He was born in a log house on a small mountain farm in Burkes Garden, Tazewell County, Virginia, on April 2, 1876, the son of Thomas J. and Margaret Spangler Sprecher Mahood Peery. His mother and father were separated when he was quite young and he lived with his mother and two half brothers and half sister during boyhood. He attended the local school of his community and had two years at Wartburg Seminary, one term at Pearisburg, Virginia, High School, and one and a half years at Burkes Garden Academy. At the age of eighteen he began teaching school, continuing for three terms, at the end of which time he decided to study medicine and went to Kansas City, Missouri, where he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons, now the University of Kansas. He worked his way through school by waiting on table in restaurants, as a newsboy, and working in the fields during vacation. He completed his course in March, 1901, and began practice in Woods County, Indian Territory. Two years later he moved to Tulsa.

Dr. Peery was married to Miss Lillie May Johnson in Salpulpa, Indian Territory, on June 29, 1903. To this union two sons were born, Elmer Joseph Peery, who is a teacher in the high school at Bakersfield, and John Thomas Peery, Jr., who at present resides in San Diego. Both sons are married; Elmer has one child, Diane; and John has three daughters, Gloria May, Ivy Louise and Lillie May. In connection with the family history, it is of interest to mention that Mrs. Peery is the daughter of the late A.H. Johnson, of Corcoran, who was an early resident in this community and an able member of the Board of County Supervisors.

It was in August, 1905, that Dr. Peery, with his wife and small son, Elmer, came to California, locating first in Hanford. Leaving his family there, he went to San Francisco and took a six-weeks post-graduate course at the San Francisco Polyclinic. Learning that the State Board required a four-year medical course, he entered the University of Southern California where he spent a year, graduating in June, 1906, and in August of the same year he passed the required examination for practice, and almost immediately thereafter settled with his family in Corcoran, which was then a very small community.

In addition to carrying on a very large private practice, Dr. Peery served as local surgeon for the Santa Fe Hospital Association at Corcoran for thirty years. For a long time he was a trustee of the grammar schools in Corcoran. His church was the Presbyterian, and his fraternal affiliations were with the Modern Woodmen of America in Hanford, F. & A.M., No. 490, Corcoran, and Eastern Star, Chapter No. 390, Corcoran.

Source: History of Kings County, by Robert R. Brown (Editor, Hanford Morning Journal), J.E. Richmond, Supervising Editor (Hanford, California: A.H. Cawston, Managing Editor and Publisher, 1940), pp 234, 237.
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