Tag: Campbell

PEYTON, Presley Ross (Biography)

Presley Ross Peyton “P.R.,” 20 years old, lived with his 45 year old, widowed mother, Sarah Peyton, in Memphis, Shelby, Tennessee by 1850 (5th District). (The 1840 Shelby County, Tennessee Census lists Sarah Peyton with several children.)  Presley was born 14 Nov 1828 in Kentucky and died bef. 1870 Shelby County, Tennessee. He married (1) Indiana Leake and (2) Martha Brooks, both daughters of early settlers to Shelby County. 

Presley Ross Peyton married (1) Indiana Herodine Leake 31 Jan 1854. She was born ca. 1823 in Goochland Co., Virginia to Richard Leake (ca. 1794 VA – July 1850 Shelby Co., TN) and Sophie T. Anderson (24 Jan 1797 – 27 Oct 1830). Richard, his second wife/sister-in-law, Mary T. Anderson, and his brother, Col. Samuel Leake, migrated to Shelby County ca. 1833. Indiana died bef. 1867 in the Morning Grove (Richard’s property) / Morning Sun area (Col. Sam’s property). Issue: Ellen S. Peyton (1857 Shelby, TN – 12/30/1931 Memphis) and India Leake Peyton (b. ca. 1859 Shelby, TN). 

Indiana H. Leake married (1) James W. Lenow (25 Oct 1809 Southampton County, VA – 1850, Louisville, KY) ca. 1842. Issue: Josephine Lenow (b. ca. 1844 Shelby, TN) and James Horace Lenow (b. ca. 1850 Shelby, TN).  James W. Lenow married (1) a Virginian,Elizabeth Babb, bef. 1837. Issue: Frances Louisa Lenow (b. ca. 1837 VA) and John Henry Lenow (b. ca. 1839 TN). 

Presley R. Peyton married (2) Martha A. Brooks “Mattie” (6 Jan 1847 Memphis – 15 Aug 1940 Memphis) bef. Nov 1867 and died shortly after their marriage. Mattie was the oldest daughter of James Monroe Brooks and Mary Ann Kingston of Memphis and Fisherville, TN. She attended St. Agnes Academy and Calvary Episcopal Church. Widowed early in marriage, Mattie lived with her parent’s family from 1870 to 1920 and never re-married. In 1863 she witnessed the property confiscation by Union soldiers on the Brooks’ plantation and testified to the Southern Claims Commission in 1872 in Memphis. She is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Memphis. (See Brooks)

 

 

Issue of Martha Brooks and Presley Peyton

 

Walter R. Peyton (18 Nov 1867 – 22 Apr 1938 Memphis). A produce merchant for George Bloom Produce Co., he was buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Memphis. 

Dr. May L. Peyton (22 January 1869 Fisherville, Shelby, TN – 23 July 1948 in Memphis) was the 1st woman dentist to practice in the city of Memphis (1903-1938). She married Dr. William Wyatt Brooks before 1897 in Memphis and entered dental school after their marriage. She graduated from Northwestern University in Chicago with 2nd honors in a class of 300 men. She was a lifetime member of the State Dental Society and the American Dental Association. “Aunt May” was described small woman who always wore black. Fiercely independent, assertive, and demanding respect, those who visited her dental chair remained quiet and compliant. She and her husband, Wyatt, divorced after which time May lived at the luxurious Gayoso hotel with her parents and remained there after their deaths. They are buried in Forest Hill Cemetery.  

May’s husband, Dr. William Wyatt Brooks (3 May 1859 – 18 March 1927), son of John H. Brooks and Margaret J. Wright, was the foremost pyorrhea specialist in the south. Wyatt’s step-father, Dr. Shelton Hinson, one of Memphis’ first dentists, inspired Wyatt, May and others to enter the field of dentistry. May mentored her younger cousin, Dr. Ardenne Hinson, who, in turn mentored her nephew, Dr. Robert Black, in shared dental practices. Their only child, Dr. Ruth Brooks (ca. 6 Jan 1897 Memphis – ca. 15 Dec 1971 CA), attended Randolph Macon, the University of Chicago, and the University of Tennessee to become a dentist. She met Dr. John H. A. Campbell, D.D.S., Ph.D. at the University of Chicago and married in Memphis. They moved to Los Angeles and had a daughter, Mary L. Campbell.  (See Wright and Hinson)

PEYTON ANCESTRY

This line descends from Capt. Valentine Peyton of Virginia (1687-1751) and Henry Peyton of Lincoln’s Inn, London (1590-1656).

Presley Ross Peyton was the son of Craven Peyton (1794 Jefferson Co., KY – 1833) and Sarah Fleming Payne (1795 VA – 1853 Memphis) who married in Shelby County, KY in 1813.  Craven Peyton’s (1794) parents were William Peyton (1753 Loudoun Co., VA – 18 Aug 1811 Bullitt Co., KY) and Mary Ross (21 Nov 1769 Loudoun Co., VA – 25 Dec 1841 Hartford, Ohio Co., KY).  William Peyton’s parents were Craven Peyton (b. 1732 Aquia Creek, Stafford Co., VA) and Ann West.  Mary Ross’ parents were Lawrence Ross and Susannah Oldham. Craven Peyton’s (1732) parents were Col. Valentine Peyton and Frances Linton. Sarah Fleming Payne’s parents were Dennis Payne and Nancy Combs.  Dennis Payne’s parents were Cuthbert Combs and Sarah Evans.

Presley Ross Peyton’s older brothers were Dr. William Peyton (b. 1817), Dr. Craven Peyton (b. 1821), and Dr. Thomas Fleming Peyton (10 May 1823 Mount Vernon, KY – 14 Feb 1878 Shelby, TN). Thomas married Martha Custis Woolsey (1832 Brunswick County, Virginia – 1892 Shelby, TN) and lived in Shelby County. The 1860 Shelby, TN Census lists Thomas F., 37, b. in KY, Martha, 27, b. in VA, Emma, 4, b. in TN, James, 24, attorney, b. in VA, and Virginia, 20, b. in MS.  By 1870 the children listed were: Emma, 12, Fanny, 9, Sally, 6, Anna, 4, and Ashby, 2. “During the Civil War when medicine was so scarce, Martha Woolsey Peyton slipped through the Yankee lines in Memphis to secure some badly needed quinine for her husband’s patients. She was able to get the medicine which she put in the hem of her petticoat but was caught by the Yankees and put in jail. Martha was forced to pledge allegiance to the U.S. Army before they would release her.” 

Sources

Edna Barney, “Peytons Along the Aquia Genealogy”

Shirley Sigler Chamberlin, “A History of Cuba, Tennessee with Family Accounts and Genealogy,” Millington, TN

The Peyton Society of Virginia, “The Peytons of Virginia II”

 

Submitted by Brenda B. Watson

WRIGHT, James W. (Biography)

James W. Wright  “J.W.” (ca. 1810 Virginia – 8 Oct 1873 Memphis) married Elizabeth J. “Eliza” Edmondson (ca. 1816 VA – aft 1880 Shelby County probably) on 3 Feb l836 in Lawrence County, Alabama. James was a brick mason and farmer. The family migrated briefly from Virginia to Mississippi where the two oldest children were born: Nancy and Margaret. By 1841 the family (J.W., 40, and Eliza, 34) moved to Memphis. (1850 City of Memphis Ward No. 6 Census and “Virginians in Tennessee in 1850″ Part 2)  The younger children were all born in Memphis, Shelby, TN

Between 1848 and 1860, James paid taxes for 3 to 6 children in the Fort Pickering area, 12th Civil District, Shelby County.  (In 1798 Fort Adams, a swampy, hard-to-defend location was abandoned and Fort Pike, later named Fort Pickering, was built. On the South Bluffs, Fort Pickering became an encampment by the Confederate troops during the Civil War, the Indian mounds used as redoubts.)

The City of Memphis’ population was decimated twice during the 1870s by Yellow Fever. Residents were surprised by the first in 1873 but left the City when the second Fever hit in 1878.  A male, J.W. Wright, died in Memphis on 8 Oct 1873 during the first Fever. This was probably James W. as his wife, Eliza, was widowed and lived with her son, Robert, by the 1880 Census.

 

Issue

Nancy Wright                    (b. 1837 MS)

Margaret J. Wright           (18 Aug 1840 MS – 17 Aug 1904, Memphis, buried Forest Hill Cemetery) married (1) John H. Brooks.  Issue: Dr. William Wyatt Brooks, Walter L. Brooks.  Margaret married (2) Dr. Shelton Hinson. Issue: Shelton Hinson, Jr. (See Hinson)

John Wright                       (b. Jun 1841 Memphis) was a farmer and a brick mason. John married Martha (b. ca. 1846 AL) about 1864. Issue: Jesseker (Jessica) (b. ca. 1866 TN), Maggie (b. ca. 1870 MS), Johnnie (b. ca. 1872 MS), and James S. (b. July, 1877).

James Wright                    (b. ca. 1843 Memphis)

Thomas Wright                  Thomas Wright  (May 1845 Memphis – 17 Oct 1908 Memphis, buried Forest Hill Cemetery) Thomas was a farmer and a brick mason. General Lee was a brick mason and a contractor who built houses.  Thomas married:

(1) Unknown.  Issue: Jimmie Wright (b. ca. 1866 in MS).

(2) Lizzie Neely (b. ca. 1856 TX – ca. mid-1800’s MS) on 17 Jun 1872 in Desoto Co., Mississippi.  Issue: General Lee Wright (b. 28 Dec 1875 MS – 18 Sept 1949 Memphis, buried Forest Hill Cemetery)

(3) Mrs. Amelia Reddell (Nov 1850 MS – Mar 1913, buried Forest Hill Cemetery 8 Mar 1913) ca. 1889.

Samuel Wright                   (b. ca. 1846)

George Wright                  (b. ca. 1849)

Robert Richard Wright     (24 Oct 1851 Memphis – 5 Apr 1936 Memphis, buried  Forest Hill Cemetery)  Robert was a farmer and truck farmer who specialized in raising berries. Robert married:

(1) Unknown.   Issue: Lucius Wright (b. ca. 1873 MS).

(2) Litiana Augusta Daily (July, 1860 TN – 2 Nov 1915 Memphis, buried Forest Hill Cemetery) ca. 1878.  Issue: Maggie (Jan 1880 Memphis), Robert Elmer (Apr 1884 Memphis), and Lena (15 Oct l885 Memphis – 2 April 1924 Memphis, buried Forest Hill Cemetery)

(3) Cambria ? (b. ca. 1870 TN)

 

The James W. Wright and John Brooks families may have known each other in Mississippi before moving to Memphis. They were neighbors in Memphis by 1850. John and his wife, Narcissa, were born in North Carolina. They migrated to Tennessee where their son, John H. Brooks, was born ca. 1835. Their daughter, Ellen Brooks, was born in Mississippi ca. 1837.  By 1850 John H. was 15 and Ellen, 13, and lived in Memphis.  The Wright and Brooks’ neighbor children, Margaret J. Wright (1840-1904) and John H. Brooks (1835) married on 28 Jan 1858 in Shelby, TN. John H. Brooks was a farmer in Fisherville, Shelby, TN in 1860. The family is listed in Memphis with their first child, William Wyatt Brooks, age 1 in 1860. Wyatt became a dentist, studying under his step-father, Shelton Hinson. John H. Brooks died bef. 1870 and Margaret (1840) married (2) Dr. Shelton Hinson, Sr. ca. 1871 in Memphis. (See Hinson)

 Issue of Margaret Jane Wright and John H. Brooks

Dr. William Wyatt Brooks (3 May 1859 Shelby, TN – 18 Mar 1927 Memphis) practiced dentistry at the age of 20 in 1879 with his step-father, Dr. Shelton Hinson in Memphis. (Southern Business Guide 1879-80.) Wyatt became the foremost pyorrhea specialist in the south. He married a fellow Memphian, May L. Peyton, who became Memphis’ first female dentist after their marriage. They divorced.

Issue: Dr. Ruth Brooks (ca. 6 Jan 1897 Memphis – ca. 15 Dec 1971 CA), attended Randolph Macon, the University of Chicago, and the University of Tennessee to become a dentist. She met Dr. John H. A. Campbell, D.D.S., Ph.D. at the University of Chicago and married in Memphis. They moved to Los Angeles and had a daughter, Mary L. Campbell.   (See Peyton)

Walter L. Brooks (ca. 1860 – Aft. 1952)

 

Issue of Margaret Jane Wright and Dr. Shelton Hinson

Shelton Hinson, Jr. (19 Dec 1871 Memphis – 18 Aug 1952 Memphis) (See Hinson) 

To date, no relationship has been determined between the John Brooks and the James M. Brooks families with whom they inter-married. (See Brooks, Hinson, and Peyton)

 

Submitted by Brenda B. Watson

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