Peffleyd
Transcribed from "An Illustrated History of The Big Bend Country, embracing
Lincoln, Douglas, Adams and Franklin counties, State of Washington",
published by Western Historical Publishing Co., 1904.
D. FRANK PEFFLEY was born near
the little town of Bainbridge, Putnam county, Indiana, on May 5, 1854.
His father owned a sawmill and a small farm, and in work in and on these
possessions, the youthful days of our subject were spent. Peffley
Pere believed in the strenuous life for boys and followed his theories
rather severely.
At the age of seventeen, Frank quit the parental
roof and began life for himself. He did various work and then learned
the carpenter trade. Having always been inclined toward books, he
began work in earnest to acquire a good education, and sought it until
he was the proud possessor of his first certificate for teaching.
Then he taught, went to school, and did private studying for some years.
In the spring of 1880, he turned his face
westward for the last time, having previously sojourned in trans-Mississippi
territory and returned each time to his native place. Location was
made in Bourbon county, Kansas, and the following sixteen years were spent
in or near Fort Scott, with the exception of one and one-half years in
New Mexicco. He taught but gradually relinquished his hold on that
profession for newspaper work, taking up reportorial and editorial labors
on the Fort Scott dailies. Later he mastered the mechanical portion
of the business. He also had some of the unusual experiences of the
novice as publisher of a weekly. In the spring of 1896, he left Fort
Scott, which for years had been the scene of his labors and hardships,
together with some degree of success. He engaged in teaching and
in newspaper work in Iowa until the fall of 1899, when he journeyed on
west to Lincoln county. Locating near Wilbur, he took up teaching
for a year and then went to Creston, where he filled the principal's chair
for one year.
In August, 1901, Mr. Peffley began the publication
of the Creston News, a venture of his own.
Mr. Peffley was married in 1883, at Fort Scott,
Miss Susan Martin becoming his bride. Two daughters have been born
to this union, Louise and Sara, now grown to womanhood.
Mr. Peffley has written much of a literary
character, both in verse and prose, besides numerous contributions to school
journals and on political and other topics. He handles the pen with
ease and fluency and many of his productions have received the recognition
of competent literary people. But he has never had the ambition to
write for money and has made no effort to get before more than his own
little world in letters.
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