My Genealogy Hound

Peyton G. Whaley. Ever since locating in Hempstead County, Mr. Whaley has enjoyed the reputation of being a substantial and progressive farmer, as well as an intelligent and thoroughly posted man on all the current topics of the day. He was born in Walton County, Ga., February 10, 1833. His father, Barney Whaley, was born in Georgia in 1813, there grew to manhood, subsequently marrying Miss Frances Mobley, who was also born in Georgia about 1813, and together they passed their lives in their native State, he dying in 1860, and she in 1880. There were eleven children born to them, the subject of this sketch being the eldest, and those still surviving are scattered over different sections of the United States. The father was a Democrat politically. He was a very successful farmer in Georgia for many years, and was an upright and conscientious man, highly respected in the community in which he resided. The subject of this sketch was reared to manhood on his father’s farm in Georgia, his time being pretty equally divided between farm labor and attending school. In 1854 he left his childhood home and came to Arkansas, locating in this county, in Bois D’Arc Township, where he purchased 200 acres of land, to which he added until he possessed 1,500 acres. He has, however, given some land to his children, and sold other portions, leaving him a balance of 500 acres of as good land as there is in the county. This he has made entirely by his own industry and good management, as when he came here with his wife and child in 1854, he had but $9 ($3 of which he owed) with which to begin life in a new country. In July, 1862, he joined Monroe’s Rawhide Regiment, Cabol’s brigade of cavalry, in which he remained until nearly the close of the war, when he was detailed and served the remainder of the time under Maj. Thomas in the commissary department, and at the close of the war he was at Gilmore, Tex. While in the ranks he was in the battles of Backbone, Fayetteville, besides many skirmishes, and had many narrow escapes, both from capture and death. At Dripping Springs, Ark., his regiment was attacked by Indians, and his horse from which he had dismounted, was shot near him. Mr. Whaley has been married three times. He was first married on November 17, 1852, to Miss Mahala Thorn, who died in 1859, leaving four children, two of whom are still living, viz.: Marion (a farmer of this township), and Frances (now Mrs. T. A. Williams, of this county). William T. was born in 1855, and died at Fulton in 1887, and an infant is also deceased. In 1860 Mr. Whaley married Miss Eliza Anderson, who died after a very brief wedded life, and the following year her sister, Miss Lucinda C. Anderson, became Mrs. Whaley, and in time became the mother of six children—three sons and three daughters—as follows: Joseph P. (a farmer of this county), James (a successful merchant at Fulton), and Minnie, Norah, and Ada B. at home, and Robert L., who died in infancy. Mr. Whaley is steward of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of which body both himself and wife are worthy members. Socially he is a Mason, and politically a Democrat.