Page 148-150

A valuable and highly productive farm of six hundred acres located on section 18, Jackson township, Livingston county, is evidence of the life work of John H. Peery, who in its cultivation attained a success which places him among the few most successful farmers of the neighborhood. His property is improved with a handsome and commodious residence which Mr. Peery himself has erected and on his farm can be found extensive and high-class improvements of all kinds and also such equipment and machinery as are considered indispensable to productive and intensive farming, as it is conducted in these modern days.

A native of Livingston county, Mr. Peery was born on the place on which he is now residing, October 29, 1841, and is a son of William F. and Margaret (Hutchison) Peery. The father has valid claim to the title of pioneer, having come here in 1838 as one of the oldest settlers of the county and becoming successful along agricultural lines. Not only, however, was he prominent in his occupation but became a man of public renown, being chosen by the constituents of these parts to the office of state senator and also representative, taking care of the interests of the county in both houses of the legislature, He died in 1865, offering up his life as a sacrifice to his patriotism when he fell in battle, fighting in the ranks of the Confederacy, of which he was a recruiting officer, He found his last resting place after an eventful and useful life at Bedford Missouri, his wife being buried in the family graveyard on the farm of our subject. The father was a representative of an old English family, his ancestors, however, having come to this side of the Atlantic at the time of the Pilgrim fathers.

John H. Peery acquired his education in the district schools near the father's farm and in his leisure moments assisted in the minor duties upon the place, having, however, not much opportunity to attend school on account of the troublous times of the Civil war and the pioneer conditions then prevailing in this section. He fought in the great conflict between the north and the south on the side of the Confederacy, which naturally received his sympathies on account of upbringing and the traditions surrounding his youth. He participated in the hotly contested battles at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and

Springfield, Missouri, among many others and distinguished himself by bravery, gallantry and utter disregard of danger. Immediately after the close of hostilities he returned home and took charge of the farm, taking the place of his father, who had fallen a victim to the sanguine conflict. Since that time he has greatly improved his property, where he engages in general farming, specializing in stock-raising. As the years have passed, prosperity has come to him as the well merited result of indefatigable labor, industry, energy and progressive and productive methods.

In 1868 Mr. Peery was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Crews, who passed away in 1883 and is buried in the family graveyard. Subsequently, on February 18, 1886, Mr. Peery married at Edinburg, Missouri, Miss Florence Peery, a daughter of Dr. Archibald and Elizabeth (Kirk) Peery, the former of whom a well known medical practitioner of Grundy county, where he enjoyed a large and gratifying patronage. Of the first union were born: Stella, who died and is buried in the family burial grounds; Fanny, the wife of Jefferson McCue, a farmer of Daviess county; Mary M., who married Joseph Francis, of Newton, Kansas; William F., a farmer of this county; and Grace Drummond, residing at Kansas City. Of the second marriage were born Ethel, James T. and Jessie F., all of whom have passed away; and John Roger, who is residing at home.

Mr. Peery, however, has not only become one of the foremost agriculturists of Livingston county but has ably assisted in another undertaking that has become of foremost importance to farmers of this section, namely, the Farmers & Merchants Bank of Jamesport, Missouri, of which he was one of the organizers, while he is also a stockholder of the Commercial Bank of that place. His political affiliations are with the democratic party, in the principles of which organization he staunchly believes, while his only fraternal relation is with the blue lodge of Masons. Although nearing his seventy-second birthday, Mr. Peery is still active in the management of his extensive interests, vigorously and heartily attending to the many duties which fall upon his shoulders. A residence of over seven decades entitles him to the distinction of being one of the oldest native sons in this section of Livingston county, to whom many do honor for his attainments and those qualities of mind and character which made them possible.

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