It’s been a long time – almost a decade – since I have written much about my husband’s Peavler family. In tech and genealogy years, that is back in the dinosaur age, so it’s definitely time to delve back into this family.

Peavler is, like Stufflebean, somewhat of a unique surname. As far as I can determine, at least in the United States, they all seem to be related. What complicates this family search is that they were definitely German and the name has been spelled in a myriad of ways, from Peavler and Piblar to Bibler, Peebler and even Peaveley!

The problem I have with my Peavler family is that most of the early data is tentative, based on family lore and documentation is sorely lacking.

Today, I’ll take a new look at my husband’s 3X great grandfather, Lewis Peavler, born c1805 in Tennessee, likely in Sullivan County. Sullivan County is a burned county, but a few scraps of early records survive, including a tax list from 1812, identifying Lewis Peevler (likely father of 3X great Lewis) as a resident.

By 1819, Lewis Sr. decided to buy some land, slightly north of Sullivan county, which put the family into Scott County, Virginia. Whether Lewis Sr. preferred to live in Virginia or just liked the land he bought better than what he had is unknown.

However, the Peavler family remained in Scott County for about fourteen years, before moving on to Knox County, Kentucky, again not far from Sullivan and Scott Counties.

Lewis Peavler Jr. was about 14 years old when the family removed to Virginia. Among the families that were part of the Peavler FAN (Friends, Associates, Neighbors) club was the James Head family. Eventually, multiple members of the two families migrated westward together.

About 1828, Lewis Peavler married Catherine Head, daughter of James and Mary (MNU) Head, probably in Scott County, Virginia. Their marriage is part of family lore since no document has been found, but is supported by Head DNA matches with my husband.

Early Tennessee and Virginia census records are missing, but Virginia personal property tax records have come to the rescue.

Lewis Peavler Sr. first appears on the 1819 tax list of Scott County, Virginia. As previously mentioned, Lewis Jr. would have been about 14 years old at the time. Lewis Sr. consistently appears as the only Peavler taxed there until 1827, when Lewis Sr. and William are found. By 1829, Lewis Sr., William and Lewis Jr. all appear.

This is important because Lewis Jr. married c1828 and had a (presumed) daughter (Sarah, born c1829) listed in the 1830 census.

By the time of the 1830 census, we find Lewis Sr., William, Lewis Jr, and Christopher Peavler all living in Scott County. Since Lewis Sr. is the only Peavler in the group old enough to be the father of these young men, it’s strong evidence that the other three were his sons, coming of age in the late 1820s.

However, 1831 is the final tax list in which all four Peavler men appear together. In 1832, Christopher and Lewis Sr. are the only two still taxed in Scott County. By 1833, Christopher alone was taxed and by 1834, the family had settled en masse in Knox County, Kentucky.

Lewis Jr. and wife Catherine lived in Kentucky for a couple of decades. They are enumerated in Knox County in 1840 and 1850. By 1860, they had moved on to Sullivan County, Missouri, where they lived out their lives.

Tax records again come to the rescue, showing Lewis in Knox County until 1853. He apparently left Kentucky late in 1853 or possibly in 1854.

Lewis Peavler was enumerated in Sullivan County, Missouri in 1860 with an extended family household: Catherine, 50, William F., 16, James G., 13, Thomas M., 8, Ira 25, Isaac L., 21, and Rachel J. Stufflebean, 16. Next door were Addison Smith and their daughter, Docia. Birthplaces were all correct, with Lewis born in Tennessee, Catherine in Virginia and all the children in Kentucky.

Lewis was, economically, considered to be solidly middle class with real estate worth $960 and personal property worth $1128. In today’s money, $960 has the purchasing power of about $40,000.

In the post-Civil War census of 1870, Lewis seems not to have been affected by war losses, as his land was worth $1600 and personal property $2500.

At home in 1870 were Lewis and Catherine with Thomas M., 16, William H. 7 (probably a grandchild), Mary D. Stufflebean, 15, and John Collyer, 21, a farm laborer from Indiana. Daughter Matilda Hall, 37, widow of John Stufflebean [my husband’s 2X great grandparents] who died in the Civil War, lived next door on one side and Sarah Peavler, widow of his brother Michael, lived on the other side with her family.

1880 is the last census in which Lewis and Catherine Peavler are found. He was enumerated as Louis Pevler with wife Catherine and granddaughter Jane P. Peavler, 12, at home.

Lewis Peavler and Catherine Head were married for 54 years before Lewis died. They were the parents of nine children, all of whom lived to adulthood.

Their two oldest children, daughters Sarah and Mary Elizabeth, were married before the 1850 census. However, Lewis and Catherine Peavler (Jr.) were the only Peavlers in Knox County in 1850 of the right age to be their parents. Lewis Sr. was too old and Lewis’s younger brothers were too young to have daughters born around 1830.

Children:

1. Sarah, born c1829, Scott County, Virginia; died between 1860-1870, probably Knox County, Kentucky; married William K. Evans, 25 May 1844, Knox county, Kentucky. They were the parents of seven children.
2. Mary Elizabeth, born 14 November 1832, Scott County, Virginia; died 11 May 1921, Noble, Cleveland, Oklahoma; married Thomas Standifer, 2 September 1849, Cumberland Ford, Bell, Kentucky per information in Thomas’s 1917 obituary. They were the parents of thirteen children.
3. John Ira, born 2 May 1834, Knox County, Kentucky; died 10 August 1906, Saline County, Missouri; married (1) Louisa Bull, 26 November 1864, St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri (2) Mary (Mollie) (MNU), before 1880. Mary died on 21 February 1895 and is buried in Odell Cemetery, Saline County, Missouri. (3) Minerva B. Smith, c1897. John and Louisa were the parents of three children. He had no children with his later wives.
4. Matilda M., born December 1836, Knox County, Kentucky; died 6 August 1900, Linn County, Missouri; married (1) John Stufflebean, 9 June 1853, Linn County, Missouri. John died of dysentery during the Civil War on 10 June 1864 in Nashville, Davidson, Tennessee. (2) John B. Hall, 22 March 1869, Linn County, Missouri. They divorced and had no children together. John and Matilda were the parents of five children.
5. Isaac Lewis, born c1839, Knox County, Kentucky; died 26 February 1865, place unknown, possibly from effects of the Civil War, in which he served in November and December 1864; reportedly married Rachel Jane Stufflebean, 7 February 1860, place unknown. Rachel married (2) Henry Smith, 8 January 1867, Linn County, Missouri. Isaac and Rachel had one son, William Henry. Lewis’s mother applied for a minor’s pension on 25 October 1867 because of his father’s death in the Civil War. However, William was living with his grandparents, Lewis and Catherine Peavler in 1870. He married and had two children, but died young in 1885.
6. Theodocia C., born 1842, Knox County, Kentucky; died between 1876-1878, Linn County, Missouri; married Addison Jerry Smith, 2 September 1858, Sullivan County, Missouri. They were the parents of eight children.
7. William Franklin, born July 1843, Knox County, Kentucky; died 28 September 1927, Fort Worth, Tarrant, Texas; married Mary Ellen Chaplin, 26 February 1862, Sullivan County, Missouri (2) Julia Turner, 5 August 1891, Collin County, Texas. William and Mary were the parents of ten children. He had no children with Julia.
8. James George, born 20 April 1846, Knox County, Kentucky; died 20 March 1930, Yuba County, California; married Mary Elizabeth Haynes, 14 December 1865, Linn County, Missouri. They were the parents of eight children.
9. Thomas M., born 1852, Knox County, Kentucky; died 5 February 1938, Muskogee County, Oklahoma; married (1) Sarah Matilda Carmack, c1871 (2) Prudy Anna Peavler, 4 October 1883, Linn County, MIssouri. Thomas and Sarah were the parents of seven children.

There is no death certificate for Lewis, but probate4 on his estate was held on 14 August 1882, in Sullivan County, so he likely died during that summer.

There is no death certificate for Catherine, either, but she is last mentioned in Lewis’s estate record on 15 May 1886. Family lore states that she died in 1893, but nothing has been found to support that claim. In any case, she didn’t live to see the 20th century.

Timeline of Lewis Peavler’s Life:

c1805 – Lewis Peavler born, probably Sullivan County, TN
1812 – Lewis’ father, Lewis Sr., witnessed a land deed in Sullivan County, TN
1819 – Lewis Sr. taxed for personal property in Scott County, VA
c1828 – Lewis married Catherine Head, probably Scott County, VA but possibly in Sullivan County, TN
1829 – Lewis and Lewis Sr. taxed in Scott County, VA
1830 – Lewis enumerated in Scott County, VA census
1831 – Lewis taxed in Scott County, VA
1832 – Lewis taxed in Scott County, VA
1833 – Not found
1834 – Not found, but father Lewis and brothers Christopher and John are taxed in Knox County, KY
1835 – Not found
1836 – Lewis taxed, but no land, in Knox County, KY
1840 – Lewis enumerated in Knox County, KY
1850 – Lewis enumerated in Knox County, KY
1853 – Lewis is last taxed in Knox County, KY
1860 – Lewis is enumerated in Sullivan County, MO
1870 – Lewis is enumerated in Sullivan County, MO
1880 – Lewis is enumerated in Sullivan County, MO
1882 – 14 August, estate administration of Lewis Peavler, Sullivan County, MO
1886 – 15 May, widow Catherine Peavler last mentioned in estate administration; no further record

Before moving back in time to Lewis Sr. and his wife, also named Catherine, the next few posts will identify the grandchildren of Lewis and Catherine (Head) Peavler.