My Genealogy Hound

JOHN WARREN PEFFER. Philip Peffer, who settled on the Yellow Breeches creek in Cumberland county, in 1773, had a large family. It is definitely known that he had six sons and two, probably three, daughters. His youngest son, named John, was born on the farm on the Yellow Breeches and always lived near the place of his birth. Like most of the boys of his section and time his education consisted of the instruction received in the country school, and the industrial training of the farmer. When John Peffer reached the years of manhood he married Elizabeth Souder, a daughter of David and Judith (Hoffman) Souder. David Souder was a native of Pennsylvania, but his wife, Judith, was born in Germany and brought to America while yet a child. John Peffer’s forefathers for generations had been farmers, and he, following their example, took up the same honorable occupation. He was not naturally inclined to mingle much in public affairs, but bore his full share of the duties and responsibilities of citizenship, being frequently called upon to fill township offices. He was also of patriotic impulse and served his country as a soldier in the war of 1812. In religious faith he was a Lutheran, and he and his family were members of the Lutheran Church at Carlisle, where they regularly attended worship. A family tradition relates that John Peffer’s four oldest children, Philip, Benjamin K., John A. and David S., would walk to Carlisle to church, a distance of six miles, and that when the weather was warm they would take off their shoes on the way and go in their bare feet. John Peffer died Sept. 7, 1872, aged eighty-four years. His wife died several years afterward, also at an advanced age, and their remains are interred in the Lutheran graveyard at Centerville, in Penn township. John and Elizabeth (Souder) Peffer had children as follows: Leah, Philip, Abbiah Jane, Benjamin Keller, John Augustus, David Souder, Samuel, Henry, Sarah Elizabeth, and William Alfred.

Benjamin Keller Peffer, the fourth child of John, was born June 3, 1817, on the ancestral Peffer homestead in Dickinson township, and was named after Rev. Benjamin Keller, who was then the much esteemed pastor of the Carlisle Lutheran Church. The minister came to the Peffer home to baptize four children, Leah, Philip, Abbiah Jane and another, the latter only six months old, and as yet unnamed. When the matter of a name for the baby boy came up for consideration the mother requested that the minister give him a name. The minister readily complied saying “He shall have my name, Benjamin Keller,” and Benjamin Keller Peffer he was named. He grew to manhood in the vicinity in which he was born, and on Sept. 5, 1839, was married to Anna Fickes, the ceremony being performed by the Rev. John Ulrich, who was then pastor of the Lutheran Church at Carlisle. Anna Fickes was a daughter of Jacob and Sarah (Wonders) Fickes, and a descendant of two well known representative families of Cumberland county. Jacob Fickes in his day was prominent in the affairs of the Reformed Church of Carlisle, and when that congregation’s present church edifice was built, his was one of the names which were deposited in the corner stone. After his marriage Mr. Peffer began farming on the farm where he was born, and lived there all his life. In his earlier years, prior to the coming of the railroads, he teamed on the road, along with his farm work, hauling to and from Baltimore, Philadelphia and Pittsburg, which was an experience he always remembered and often recounted to his children. The farm passing into his possession, he built upon it a new barn, afterward two new houses, and also otherwise greatly improved it. He was a man much esteemed for his modest worth and genial ways, was of a quiet and reserved nature, yet popular, and frequently selected for township office, and once for county office. He long held the position of school director in his district, also that of assessor and other local positions of responsibility, and in 1882, was elected director of the poor. In politics, he was always a Democrat, but while he was a firm believer in the doctrines for which his party stood, he was never a politician nor an office seeker. Benjamin K. and Anna (Fickes) Peffer had children as follows: Sarah Elizabeth, born Jan. 9, 1841; Isaac Newton, Nov. 17, 1842; William Henry, July 16, 1846; John Warren, Aug. 25, 1853; Elmira C., Sept. 2, 1855. Of these, Sarah Elizabeth Peffer, on Dec. 1, 1859, married Reuben Fishburn, and has two daughters: Anna Peffer, who is married to Melvin P. Herman, now of Camp Hill; and Edna Keller, who is married to George H. Rupp, now of St. Paul, Minn. Mr. Fishburn died Oct. 26, 1890, and Mrs. Fishburn now lives in East Louther street, Carlisle. Isaac Newton Peffer married Diana J. McKelvy, of Monmouth, Ill., and had five children. His wife died in 1896, and he and all his children reside in Harrisburg. William H. Peffer married Virginia Vallance, and resides at Mt. Holly Springs. He has three children. Elmira C. Peffer married Dr. J. C. Davis, and lives in Carlisle, where her husband is a practicing physician. They have four children, three daughters and one son.

J. Warren Peffer, the fourth and youngest son of Benjamin K. Peffer, was born Aug. 25, 1853, on the Peffer ancestral home, where he grew to manhood and where he still resides. Being a farmer’s son he in childhood and youth received the training usually given farmers’ boys in Pennsylvania, being sent to school during the winter months, and at other times given such farm work as suited his strength and years. Passing through this kind of experience naturally made of him the practical and successful farmer which he is to-day. On Dec. 25, 1879, he married Susan A. Weakley, of Dickinson township, a daughter of Stephen F. and Harriet (Kauffman) Weakley, and a lineal descendant of a James Weakley who settled in that same section of country about 1724, when the territory that is now Cumberland county was yet a part of Lancaster county. Mrs. Peffer is a woman of marked intelligence, is from an intellectual family who have long been prominent, and prior to her marriage was a teacher in the public schools of the county. The family attend the Methodist Church at Barnitz, of which Mrs. Peffer is a member. J. Warren and Susan (Weakley) Peffer have one child, Robert Weakley, born March 24, 1883, on the same farm where his father, his grandfather and great-grandfather were born. He was educated in the township schools and at the Cumberland Valley State Normal school, and is engaged in teaching.

In 1899 Warren Peffer purchased the farm upon which he was born, and where he has always lived, and which has been in the Peffer name and occupancy since his great-grandfather, Philip Peffer, settled upon it in 1773. He is much attached to it, and it is probable that he will spend all of his days in the home in which he first saw the light of day.