Sarah Fleming Payne (29 Sep 1795 VA – 14 Sep 1853 Shelby Co., TN) and Craven Peyton (20 Oct 1794 Jefferson Co., KY – 23 Jan 1833) married in Shelby County, Kentucky Dec 1813 and bore their children in that state. Issue: Emily (1815), Dr. William (1817), Mary Chichester (1819), Dr. Craven (1821), Dr. Thomas Fleming (1823), Valentine Miner (1825), Presley Ross (1828), and Volney H. By 1840 Craven Peyton had died and Sarah and seven children migrated from Kentucky to Shelby County, Tennessee. By 1850 Sarah and her son Presley lived in the 5th District of Memphis near her daughter and son-in-law, Emily and George Y. Smith. She may have run a boarding house; there were seven unrelated residents in her home.
Dr. Thomas Fleming Peyton (10 May 1823 Mount Vernon, KY – 14 Feb 1878 Shelby Co., TN), son of Sarah and Craven, married Martha Custis Woolsey (1832 Brunswick Co., VA – 1892 Shelby Co., TN). He practiced medicine in Memphis and in north Shelby County. The 1860 Shelby, TN census lists Thomas F., 37, b. KY, Martha, 27, b. VA, Emma, 4, b. TN, James, 24, attorney, b. VA, and Virginia, 20, b. 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.” (A History of Cuba, Tennessee, Chamberlin, Millington, TN)
Presley Ross Peyton (14 Nov 1828 KY – bef. 1870 Shelby Co., TN), son of Sarah and Craven, married (1) Indiana Herodine Leake 31 Jan 1854 in Shelby County. She was born ca. 1823 in Goochland County, 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 and sister-in-law, Mary T. Anderson, and his brother, Col. Samuel Leake, migrated to Shelby County ca. 1833. Indiana died bef. 1867 at Morning Grove (Richard’s property) in the Morning Sun area (Col. Sam’s property). Issue: Ellen S. Peyton (1857 Shelby Co., TN – 30 Dec 1931 Memphis) and India Leake Peyton (b. ca. 1859 Shelby Co., TN).
Indiana H. Leake married (1) James W. Lenow (25 Oct 1809 Southampton Co., VA – 1850 Louisville, KY) ca. 1842. Issue: Josephine (b. ca. 1844 Shelby Co., TN) and James Horace (b. ca. 1850 Shelby Co., TN). James W. Lenow married (1) a Virginian, Elizabeth Babb, bef. 1837. Issue: Frances Louisa (b. ca. 1837 VA) and John Henry (b. ca. 1839 TN).
Presley R. Peyton married (2) Martha “Mattie” A. Brooks (6 Jan 1847 Memphis – 15 Aug 1940 Memphis) bef. Nov 1867 and died shortly after their marriage. Mattie was the daughter of James M. Brooks and Mary Ann Kingston. She attended St. Agnes Academy and Calvary Episcopal Church. Widowed early, Mattie lived with her parent’s family from 1870 to 1920. 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., was buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Memphis.
Dr. May L. Peyton (22 January 1869 Fisherville, Shelby Co., TN – 23 July 1948 Memphis) was the first woman dentist to practice in Memphis (1903-1938). She married Dr. William Wyatt Brooks before 1897 in Memphis and entered dental school after her marriage. She graduated from Northwestern University with 2nd honors in a class of 300 men and was lifetime members of the State Dental Society and American Dental Association. “Aunt May” was described as a small woman who always wore black. Fiercely independent, assertive, and demanding respect, every patient remained quiet and compliant. She and her husband, Wyatt, divorced after which time May lived at the luxurious Gayoso Hotel until her death. May mentored her younger cousin, Dr. Ardenne Hinson, who in turn mentored her nephew, Dr. Robert Black, in shared dental practices. She is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery. May’s 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 and became 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.
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. He is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery. (see Wright and Hinson)
PEYTONS and PAYNES of VIRGINIA
The Peyton Society of Virginia
“The Paynes of Virginia,” C. J. Carrier Co., Harrisonburg, VA 1990
Craven Peyton (1794) was the son of William Peyton (1753 VA – 1811 KY) and Mary Ross (1769 VA – ca. 1841 KY). William Peyton was the son of Craven Peyton (b. 1732 VA) and Ann West. Mary Ross was the daughter of Lawrence Ross and Susannah Oldham. Craven Peyton (1732) was the son of Col. Valentine Peyton of Virginia (1687-1751) and Frances Linton.
Sarah Fleming Payne was the daughter of Dennis Payne (1789 KY – bef 1825 KY) and Nancy Combs (b. ca. 1788 VA). Dennis Payne was the son of William Payne (1755 VA – 1829 KY) and Mary Grymes. Nancy was the daughter of Cuthbert Combs, Sr. and Sarah Evans.
Submitted by Brenda B. Watson