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