| WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS. | 307 cont'd |
JAMES PEERY.
JAMES PEERY.—When Samuel Peery came to Vigo county, Indiana, in 1776, the country was a wilderness. The French colony which had settled there had few members but these were hardy pioneers and the solitude of the forest and inhospitable character of the savages did not deter them from founding a colony that eventually brought civilization to the country and cultivation to the soil. In this state four generations of Peerys were born.
George W. Peery, born in Marion county, Indiana, was married to Miss Margaret A. Myers, and to them ten children were born. In 1869 he moved with his family to Allen county, Kansas, where he died in 1891, followed in 1897 by his wife.
In 1868 James Peery, the subject of this sketch, born in Monroe county, Indiana, April 10, 1843, came to Kansas, settling in Jacksonville, Crawford county. Here he lived for five years, moved thence to Labette county and after a few years there removed to Missouri. In 1882 he returned to Kansas this time settling in Humboldt where he has since made his home. When he came to Humboldt he entered the mercantile business and has been engaged in some branch of that business since. He is one of the most extensive broom corn buyers and shippers in this part of the state and gives it his chief attention. He has been eminently successful in the business and has built up a large and lucrative trade.
Mr. Peery's early life was spent on the farm on which he was born. He lived with his father, getting such education as the limited facilities of that day and region afforded and when the war came on he enlisted in the Thirty-eighth Illinois Volunteers and served throughout the war. His regiment participated in many of the hardest fought battles of the war and he looks back over those days with great pride. He was in the battles of Corinth, Nashville, Perryville, Stone River and Murfeesborough. He was
| 308 | HISTORY OF ALLEN AND |
wounded at Liberty Gap, Tennessee, in one of the numerous engagements of his regiment. He was invalided the latter part of his service and was mustered out near the close of the war. Returning to his home he was married October 20, 1864, to Miss Carrie Anthony, of Paris, Illinois, and to them have been born ten children, four of whom are still living: George H., Maggie, Mabel and Everett.
Mr. Peery has always been a prominent Republican and has been several times honored by his party with important offices. During his residence in Crawford county he was elected County Commissioner and Trustee of his township, and he has filled the office of Justice of the Peace in Humboldt. In 1899 he was elected Mayor of Humboldt.
Pages 307-308, transcribed by Carolyn Ward from History of Allen and Woodson Counties, Kansas: embellished with portraits of well known people of these counties, with biographies of our representative citizens, cuts of public buildings and a map of each county / Edited and Compiled by L. Wallace Duncan and Chas. F. Scott. Iola Registers, Printers and Binders, Iola, Kan.: 1901; 894 p., [36] leaves of plates: ill., ports.; includes index.
