Peeples Family of South Florida


The Peeples Family Of South Florida

Researched by Jeanette Peeples & Edited by Spessard Stone



Since the seventeenth century, the Peeples family has contributed its part in the development of this country and has since the 1870's been prominent in South Florida.

Capt. David Peebles, the American progenitor of the Peeples clan, was born in 1594, near Fife, Scotland. In Scotland he married Elspet Mackie and to them were there born four children. David immigrated to Virginia where on August 5, 1660 he obtained a grant of 833 acres in present-day Prince George County. As it took six months to obtain a grant or patent, this placed his arrival in late 1649, when over 300 adherents of Charles 1, condemned to the block by Cromwell, escaped to Virginia. In the summer of 1656, there was Indian trouble, which Capt. Peebles' militia helped subdue. It is believed he was wounded in the action and died about two years later.

William Peebles, David's oldest son, who had been baptized on July 7, 1635 in Fife, arrived to take over his father's estate. He married several times, including Judeth, a ward of John Drayton.

William Peebles II, son of William and Judeth, was born about 1670. He inherited "Burleigh," 150 acres of his father's land on the west of the Birchen Swamp and died there. William II, a Quaker, married, it is believed, Elizabeth Hamlin. His will was probated in 1695.

Abraham Peebles, son of William II, was born in Virginia about 1695. In 1767 he patented 250 acres on Lynches Creek, Craven County, South Carolina, but, prior to that, had apparently been in North Carolina. A Loyalist, he died in 1782.

William Peebles, son of Abraham, was a constable and owned various pieces of land in North Carolina. It is believed that he went to South Carolina to be with his sons and died there.

William Peebles, son of William, served in the Revolutionary War from South Carolina. Leaving two young sons, Henry and Lewis, William died about 1793 in Beaufort District, South Carolina.

About this time the spelling of the surname changed from Peebles to Peeples although some of William's brothers kept the Peebles name.

Henry Peeples, son of William, was born January 17, 1786 in South Carolina. A storekeeper, he married Frances Smith in 1812. Two of their sons were judges, one continued in the storekeeping business, and the fourth son, George Anson, was a schoolteacher.

George Anson Peeples was born May 1, 1820 in South Carolina and moved with his parents to Hall County, Georgia in 1825. He taught school in North Georgia and in Tennessee married Martha Adaline Willis, born 1826. In 1856, they moved to near Milltown (now Lakeland) in Berrien County, Georgia.

During the Civil War, the oldest sons of George and Martha, Joseph H., William H. and John W., served with the 29th Georgia Infantry, CSA. Joseph H. died of chronic diarrhea and was buried in Lauderdale Springs, Mississippi. During the battle of Jackson, William H. was wounded and nearly died from his wounds. John W. joined, but was discharged when it was discovered he was only fourteen years old.

Following the Civil War, the family moved to Polk County, Florida where they settled on Whidden's Creek. There George Anson farmed, was a citrus grower and cattleman. Martha, a "doctress," died in October 1874.

On December 14, 1884, George Anson Peeples married Mrs. America Wommock. George died August 10, 1890.

George Anson and Martha Adaline (Willis) Peeples had the following children:

1. Joseph Henry Peeples, born 1844; died 1863 in CSA; never married.
2. William Hosea Peeples, born 1845; married on Dec. 11, 1864 Nancy E. Clements.
3. John Wesley Peeples, born 1847; married on Sept. 26, 1865 Malinda Dobson, daughter of James Dobson.
4. Sarah J. Peeples, born 1848; married on Oct. 5, 1865 Andrew S. Best.
5. Richard Harrison Peeples, born Feb. 18, 1850; died April 18, 1922; married in Polk Co. on Feb. 24, 1878 Martha Caroline Durrance, daughter of Jesse Harris and Priscilla (Altman) Durrance.
6. Jemima J. Peeples, born 1852; married Peter T. Best, brother of Andrew.
7. Edwin M. Peeples, born 1854; married on Sept. 18, 1872 Emily Odum.
8. Martha Ann Peeples, born Feb. 18, 1858; died May 4, 1927; married on Jan. 26, 1879 Joseph Bascom Carlton, son of Rev. John Wright Carlton and Susan Lee (Cason) Carlton.
9. James Jackson Peeples, born 1859; married in Polk Co. on Feb. 15, 1885 Ann America Altman.
10. George A. Peeples, born 1865; paralytic; never married.
11. Joseph M. Peeples, born 1866; died in his youth.
12. Samuel C. Peeples, born 1867.


This article was published in The Herald-Advocate (Wauchula, Fla.) of Feb. 11, 1999.

February 28, 2001 & October 17, 2001 & May 6, 2002>