PART I

GENERAL BIOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE OF THE PEDDICORD FAMILY

Our great-grandfather was Adam Peddicord. He married Elizabeth Barnes, a daughter of James Barnes, the elder. Their son, Jasper Peddicord, our paternal grandfather, was born in 1762 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, from whence he moved to Ohio in 1829. He died in Barnesville, Belmont County, Ohio, on September 23, 1844, aged 82. Barnesville was named after James Barnes, grandfather’s cousin. Caleb Peddicord, another cousin of Grandfather Peddicord, emigrated from Maryland to Kentucky in 1830. Two other cousins of our grandfather, William and John Peddicord, served in the war of 1812.

Amelia Hobbs-Peddicord, our paternal grandmother, was the daughter of Thomas Hobbs. She was born in Maryland in 1767 and died March 23, 1841, in Barnesville, Ohio.

Jared Hobbs, our maternal grandfather, was born in Howard County, Maryland, March 22, 1772, and died on his farm in 1866 at the advanced age of 94.

Our maternal grandmother was Elenor Shipley-Hobbs, daughter of Edward Shipley. She was born in Howard County, Maryland, March 16, 1777, and died August 21, 1828.

Wilson Lee Peddicord, our father, was born in Howard County, Maryland, May 13, 1803, and died in Palmyra, Missouri, May 20, 1875, from injuries caused by his team running away and throwing him under a large iron field roller. He was a Royal Arch Mason, and Palmyra Lodge officiated at his funeral.

Our mother, Keturah Barnes-Peddicord, the fifth child of Grandfather Hobbs, was born in Howard County, Maryland, September 25, 1807, and died January 9, 1876. She is buried near father in Palmyra, Missouri, where she died.

Jared Hobbs and Elenor Shipley-Hobbs had six children:

1. Louisa, born October 16, 1801. 2. Robert T., born December 2, 1802. 3. Julia Ann, born April 3, 1804. 4. Corilla E., born March 2, 1806. 5. Keturah B., born September 25, 1807. 6. Teresa, born June 19, 1809.

Jasper Peddicord and Amelia Hobbs-Peddicord had twelve children; two of whom died quite young:

Sons. Daughters.

1. Thomas. 1. Pleasants. 2. Asbury. 2. Rebecca. 3. Benjamin. 3. Anna. 4. Joseph. 4. Cordelia. 5. Wilson Lee. 5. Hannah (Dorsey).

Anna married John Holton.

Cordelia married Thomas Holton.

Pleasants married Jerry Bartholow.

Rebecca married Robert Musgrove.

Hannah (daughter by a second marriage to Miss Dorsey) never married.

Wilson Lee Peddicord and Keturah Barnes-Peddicord were married on November 17, 1829, in Howard County, Maryland, by the Rev. T. Linthicum. They had seven children:

1. Columbus Adolphus, born July 18, 1831.

2. Kelion Franklin, born October 1, 1833.

3. Indiana Washington, born December 15, 1835.

4. Ruth Elenor, born November 7, 1837.

5. Carolus Judkins, born November 27, 1840.

6. Laura Clay, born November 22, 1844.

7. Lily Louisa Pleasants, born August 28, 1849.

Columbus A. Peddicord and Mrs. Issa Meador-Peddicord were married March 31, 1859, in Sumner County, Tennessee, by Rev. John Winn. They had three children:

1. Charles Lewis, born February, 1860.

2. Frank Morgan, born November, 1861.

3. Columbus, born 1863.

The following biographical sketch of Columbus A. Peddicord is by his sister, Mrs. India P. Logan:

* * * * *

Columbus A. Peddicord was the oldest child in our family. Six feet tall at eighteen years of age, the idol of our family, he was a model of manly beauty, an image of our stately, beautiful mother. His chestnut, curling hair, and his hazel eyes, clear pale complexion, perfect form, and friendship with all classes made him a universal favorite. Impetuous tempered, he forgave any who affronted him at the first overture. He was a splendid shot at an early age, afraid of nothing in the world.

After the first year of service in the “Silver Grays,” a company of Gallatin, Tennessee, in Colonel Bates’s regiment, Second Infantry, Company K., he was with J. H. Morgan, and was often sent on detached service. He was taken prisoner in 1863, and spent nineteen months starving and freezing at Johnson’s Island. Exchanged in November, 1864, he returned to find his wife in a Federal prison at Gallatin, Tennessee—a ruse to catch him. His father succeeded in getting her freed by going to Nashville to General Rosecrans, who banished her from Tennessee, where she owned one hundred and sixty acres of land, which was sold for taxes during reconstruction days. My brother Columbus was furious at his wife’s treatment, and he and his men were conspicuous for their daring until the close of the war.

He was farming near Glasgow Junction in Kentucky until August, 1867, when he attended a Democratic barbecue at Glasgow City. While riding in his carriage driven by the old faithful slave driver, he was approached by four men, and asked if he would take them to the grounds. He acquiesced. Three rode with him, and one with the driver. “You are Captain Peddicord,” said one. He smiled, saying, “The Captain is played out.” The man, using vile epithets, said, “A fine carriage for a d—d rebel to ride in.” Brother, thinking they were joking, replied, “Yes, but the rebel is played out, too.” After he found out they were antagonistic, he stepped out and said, “Get out of my vehicle.” The one who got out first went behind the carriage and shot at my brother, hitting him in the left arm, shattering the bone. My brother then pulled out his pistol, but, as he said afterward, it failed to go off for the first time. The man shot again and struck his spine. He fell, and the men ran, and as there were many old Confederates on the grounds the crew disappeared quickly. My brother lived thirteen days. He is buried in the old “Bell” family cemetery at Glasgow Junction, Kentucky. His wife and two sons—one seven, one five and a half years old—were left to mourn his loss.

* * * * *

Kelion Franklin Peddicord never married.

The following appreciation of his character is by his sister, Mrs. India W. P. Logan:

In person my brother Kelion was about five feet eight inches in height, pale olive in complexion, with dark gray eyes and fine, very dark brown hair, and erect form, even when his hair had become white with age. Though always cheerful, his countenance was grave and he seldom laughed. He looked the soldier to the last time he walked the street, and died like the “bravest of the brave.” With his soft hat under his arm, his Kentucky Confederate badge on his breast (from the reunion in Louisville in 1905), he was laid beside his father and mother for whom he had given up his ambition of rising in his profession of civil engineer, becoming the cheerful farmer until the death of his parents, when he came to Palmyra, where he filled many positions of trust. He was a member of Robert Buffner C. V. Camp at Hannibal. Kelion was one of the most truthful persons I was ever acquainted with. This was a trait he inherited. “If you cannot speak the truth,” he said, “say nothing.” He was always chivalrous toward women and loved children to a great degree, and was an uncommon judge of men.

Always uncomplaining, he said only once when ill, looking at the clock, “It is so long.” He was ill eighteen days.

Kelion, as he was always called until his army life, was only two years older than myself, and I corresponded with him when possible until the last sixteen years of his life, during which he lived in my home. I wish to say here that I can never forget the kindness of those who ministered to him in his last illness. He was the last link that bound me to the past.

Indiana W. Peddicord-Logan and Samuel Logan were married in St. Marys, Pleasant County, Virginia, May 15, 1855. They had three children:

1. Eugene W., born June 27, 1856; died August 18, 1857.

2. Minnehaha, born May 21, 1858.

3. Ernest Lee, born April 26, 1862; died August 8, 1893.

Samuel Logan died of apoplexy in Parkersburg, West Virginia, April 14, 1896. He was buried in Palmyra, Missouri, April 17, 1896.

* * * * *

Ruth Elenor Peddicord-Byrd and William Hamilton Byrd were married April 27, 1881, by Rev. Dr. I. A. Wainwright at the National Hotel, in Palmyra, Missouri.

William Hamilton Byrd died January 12, 1905. He was a descendant of Sir William Byrd of “Westover,” Virginia.

* * * * *

Of Carolus J. Peddicord, his sister, Mrs. India P. Logan, writes:

Our youngest brother, Carolus J. Peddicord, was only twenty-two years old when taken prisoner by General Paine’s soldiers at Gallatin, Tennessee. He was during the first year of the war a member of Col. Ben Hardin Helm’s First Kentucky Cavalry, Company A, and afterward belonged to the same scouts with my brother, C. A. Peddicord. With five of his men Carolus was put in a dungeon at Gallatin, on a stone floor, without a blanket, until a comrade left his on being paroled by General Paine. He was told if he would inform on his friends and the Southern sympathizers that his life would be spared. He obstinately refused from October until December, when he was informed that he would be taken out on horseback to the country and be shot if he refused to guide them to the homes of his friends. One friend who spent the last night in the cell with him said to my brother, K. F. Peddicord, at a reunion in Dallas, Texas, “Your brother was the bravest man I ever saw. He said, ‘I can die, but never can I betray a trust.’” He was taken many miles out into the country and shot in the forehead.

Carolus had auburn hair, extremely fair complexion, was pale, slender, about five feet eight inches tall, with a graceful figure, and dark blue laughing eyes like our father’s. He is buried at the old Bell family cemetery in Kentucky.

Laura Clay Peddicord was born in Barnesville, Belmont County, Ohio, and died at Fountain Head, Sumner County, Tennessee, May 18, 1867, having been an invalid her whole life. She is buried at Fountain Head Church, Sumner County, Tennessee.

* * * * *

Lily L. Peddicord-Webster and Thomas T. Webster were married December 21, 1887, in Kansas City, Missouri. They have one child, Frank Thursby, born December 1, 1888.