THE DESCENDANTS OF JOSEPH S. PEACOCK

Submitted by Joe Peacock   email →
June 15, 1997.

Family tradition says that Joseph S Peacock was born March 4, 1862, probably in Grayson County, Texas. The location is acceptable enough, but the date may be in error. Birth and death records were not kept in Grayson County until after the turn of the century, so the only known documentation to date is the 1870 census of Grayson County, which lists Joseph S as being five years old at that time, thus he would have to have been born in 1865, not 1862. Probably he believed the earlier date himself and never had reason to doubt it as he most likely never had any dealings with Social Security or any other agency which would have required proof of birth. Such errors were not uncommon before vital statistics were recorded and his son, Joseph William, Sr., died convinced that he was a year older than he actually was, though in his case the birth facts had been recorded.

Another questionable matter is what the "S" stood for. BURNET COUNTY HISTORY shows that it stood for "Scratchbogin", but this was probably something of a joke with Joseph because he is known to have told some that it stood for "Seacook." It seems very likely that the "S" did not stand for anything, just as the "S" in Harry S Truman, President of the United States, did not represent the initial of a name.

Jonathan Peacock, Joseph S's father, settled in Grayson County before the Civil War as he and his family of the time were recorded in the 1860 census there. At that time, he is listed as being 37 years old and his family consisted of his wife, Martha J. (26) a daughter Mary, (14) sons George W. (12), Thomas Benton (5), and Charles W. (1). His place of birth is listed as Carolina; Martha's as Tennessee and all the children are listed as being born in Illinois. His occupation is shown as "farmer" and his wife as "dom", which probably meant "domestic housewife" in those days. By 1870 Martha and Thomas Benton had apparently died, Mary had probably married Daniel Webster and moved out of the household, but George was still living at home, as was Charles. Additions to the family were Joseph (5) and Martha (4). Their address was the post office at McComb; a crossroads community still shown on Highway Department maps a few miles southeast of Whitesboro, where family tradition places Joseph at birth. As stated earlier, these censuses are the only documentation thus far discovered, yet they quite obviously cannot be trusted as factual. In 1860 Jonathan is shown as being aged 37 and George as 12, but ten years later, Jonathan is listed at 52 and George at 20, differences of five years for Jonathan and two for his son. This is probably not unusual for illiterate people who kept no written family records. Charles was apparently the first member of the family to learn to read and write. At least that is what the 1870 census shows to be the case.

THE LEE-PEACOCK FEUD

After the Civil War a citizen of Grayson County supposedly named for General Robert E. Lee returned as something of a local hero and apparently in better financial shape than most survivors of the home front. He was accosted by Louis Peacock, a Unionist who had moved to Grayson County about 1858 and with the help of the federal authorities, Peacock started a feud which resulted in several killings, including Bob Lee, and continued until Peacock himself was slain at his home in 1871. Though Jonathan and Louis were apparently born only two years apart in North Carolina, they were definitely not brothers, but distant cousins and no evidence has been found to determine if Jonathan ever knew Louis or was in any way involved in the feud. It seems impossible today, but communication in those days would have made it possible for Jonathan to have not known about the feud because he lived near the western edge of Grayson County and the fighting took place on the eastern border, adjoining Fannnin and Hunt Counties, and since he could not read, it is possible that he never knew anything about the feud. However, there is an element in both family tradition and the census that could be a clue to the contrary. Family tradition says that he moved to Burnet County in 1871, the year the feud finally ended, in a home made covered wagon drawn by oxen. Louis Peacock was a wagon maker, and in the 1870 census Jonathan's occupation has changed from "farmer" in 1860, to "carpenter" in 1870. He may have worked for his cousin Louis, at least long enough to learn how to build the wagon he used to bring his children to Burnet County. (This did not include son George, as George married Minerva Jane Gilliland in Grayson County in October 1871 and later moved to Bell County, Texas.) Efforts to find any evidence of Jonathan's connection with, or participation in, the feud have been fruitless, but he most likely was a strong Unionist since he named one son for the most outspoken advocate of Manifest Destiny, Thomas Benton, and his first grandson, Lincoln, was named for the most hated Unionist of all. (If you would like to learn more about the Lee Peacock Feud, see I'LL DIE BEFORE I'LL RUN, by C.L. Sonnichsen. It is the first of several Texas feuds discussed in the book. From information received from The Peacock Family Association of the South, it has been possible to trace Joseph S' ancestry to his grandfather, Etheldred, and great grandfather, John Peacock, who is known to have been at Valley Fore with George Washington during the American Revolution. However, there has been no identifiable reason for Etheldred's move to Illinois sometime after Jonathan was born, probably in North Carolina about 1823. But we do know that Jonathan married Martha Jane Storey in Johnson County, Illinois on September 7, 1845 as a copy of the marriage license is at hand, thanks to Jo Ann Brinkley, a great granddaughter of George Peacock. Jonathan died in Burnet County in 1873, long before vital statistics were being recorded there, and thus no exact date of his passing. He was buried at Council Creek (Fry) Cemetery, and later his daughter, Mary Peacock Webster, was interred next to him.

THE FIRST FAMILY

In 1886 Joseph S married Louise Bethsaida Underwood and sired four children: Mary Lena (1887), John Lincoln (1889), Iva Martha (1891) and Joseph William (1894). Family tradition tells that Louisa died 3 days after Joseph W. was born at Harper, Gillespie County, Texas and buried at Kempner, Lampasas County. This was practically impossible as even by modern roads it is about 130 miles from Harper to Kempner, considerably further n could be traveled in three days by wagon, thus making information in an Underwood genealogy paper supplied by Florence Baker much more likely to be correct. It says that Louisa died of "child bed fever" on October 11, 1894 at her home in the Lone Grove community. That's still a good journey from Kempner, but certainly more feasible than the distance from Harper, Louisa's brother Levi took the three older children and her brother Enoch Robert and his wife Mary took the baby Joseph William to care for until Joseph S remarried in December 1895. By then "Little Joe" had become so attached to Uncle Bob and Aunt Mary that Joseph S had to spend a year visiting with him before he would consent to live with his father and new step mother and play with his brother and sisters.

THE SECOND FAMILY

Joseph S Peacock married Henrietta Heine on Christmas Eve,1895 and sired nine more children, including twins who both died young. These children were as follows:

Susie Viola, born November 22, 1896.

Sidney Henry, born January 26, 1898

Frankie Augusta, born February 2, 1900

Charles Washington, born July 8, 1901

Clarence, born December 30, 1904

Lillian (twin) born July 12, 1906

Ollie (twin) born July 12, 1906

Lora, born December 7, 1907

Gladys, born June 22, 1914

The information given here, unless otherwise noted, is taken from BURNET COUNTY HISTORY,VOL II, compiled by Darrell Debo of Burnet and published in 1980. This entry provides much more detail than is provided here and the book can probably still be purchased from Fort Croghan Museum or the library in Burnet. Joseph S Peacock was well known as a Church of Christ preacher for over half a century in Llano, Lampasas and Burnet Counties. He died on February 25, 1953 and was buried in Lampasas beside his second wife, Henrietta who died eleven years before.