Today, it is time to move back a generation to the second of my husband’s three ancestral Lewis Peavlers.

Today’s Lewis Peavler was born c1777 in Virginia per the 1850 census and possibly in Shenandoah County, which formed in 1772 from part of Frederick County. It is said that his father, also Lewis Peavler aka Ludwig Bibler, received a land grant in 1766 in Frederick County, Virginia. The same census has his wife, Catherine (MNU) living at home with Lewis in Knox County, Kentucky.

Catherine was born c1780, reportedly in Tennessee. If Catherine was actually born in Tennessee and not Virginia or North Carolina, it’s possible that she was born in Sullivan County, which had some settlers by the late 1770s and the Peavlers lived there for a while, too.

No marriage record has been found for Lewis Peavler and wife Catherine, although it seems likely that they married sometime around 1800, possibly in eastern Tennessee.

Some have theorized that Catherine was a Bull by birth. However, while there is a connection with the Bull family and the Peavlers by marriage, the connections that I have found don’t appear until the next generation. Therefore, Catherine remains (MNU) in my records.

Lewis and Catherine might have met in Sullivan County as it isn’t known exactly when Lewis Peavler settled there. In support of that theory is the fact that Lewis Peavler Jr. consistently reported i n1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 that he was born in Tennessee about 1805-1807. Secondly, Lewis Peavler Sr. appears on a Sullivan County tax list in 1812 and also was a witness in a land transaction there, also in 1812.

Similarly, there are no birth or church records found for their children, who have been placed together by two pieces of evidence. First, this family lived in Scott County, Virginia from c1819, when Lewis “Peevler” first appears on the tax list and he is the only Peavler of any spelling variation to be found on those lists until 1827 when William makes an appearance. Then in 1829, Lewis Jr. (who married Catherine Head) also appears. By 1830, Lewis Sr., Lewis Jr., William, Lewis and Christopher are all of age and tithable. Michael Peavler is the only son said to be a child of this Lewis who isn’t found on those personal property tax lists because he was born c1815 and didn’t reach legal age until the mid-1830s when the family lived in Knox County, Kentucky.

Lewis’s two daughters are placed in his family because they are the only two Peavler ladies who married in Scott County during the span of eyars in which Lewis Sr. lived there.

Lewis and Catherine (MNU) Peavler were the parents of seven known children:

Children:

1. William, born c1804, Tennessee (probably Sullivan County); died after 1880, probably Knox County, Kentucky where he lived with his son Lewis’s family; married Unknown (MNU). He was a widower at that time and, oddly, hasn’t been found in any census from 1840 through 1870. However, he does consistently appear on the Knox County, Kentucky tax rolls from 1841 through the 1840s. It appears his son might have gone by Peavley later on.
2. Lewis, born c1805, probably Sullivan County, Tennessee; died before 14 August 1882, when administration of his estate was held in Sullivan County, Missouri; married Catherine Head, c1828
3. Christopher, born about 12 August 1807, place uncertain – Tennessee, Virginia or Kentucky; died 8 April 1889, Linn County, Missouri; married Anna Head, c1830
4. Margaret, born c1809; died probably between 1830-1840; married Abraham Eakin, 7 January 1830, Scott County, Virginia. She was likely the mother of Abraham’s sons James, born 1834 and John, born 1836 at home in 1850. Abraham apparently married twice more after Margaret’s death.
5. Elizabeth, born c1812, probably Tennessee; died after 1830 census; married Samuel Cattron, 12 November 1828, Scott County, Virginia. Samuel is found on the Scott County personal property tax lists from 1822 through 1831. Neither Elizabeth nor Samuel has been found after that time. It is unknown whether they had any children.
6. John, born c1813, Virginia; died after 1890, when he was listed in the Union Civil War veterans census; married Mary Bull, 8 February 1838, Harlan County, Kentucky.
7. Michael, born c1815, Virginia; died after 1860; married Sarah Bull, 18 February 1836, Harlan County, Kentucky

Timeline of Lewis Peavler’s Life:

c1777 – Lewis Peavler born in Virginia, possibly Shenandoah County, VA which was formed in 1772 from part of Augusta County, VA
c1801 – Lewis married Catherine (MNU)
1812 – Lewis Peavler witnessed a land deed in Sullivan County, TN
1814 – Lewis Peavler credited with War of 1812 service, Sullivan County, TN
1819-1827 – Lewis Peavler appears on the personal property tax list, Scott County, VA
1828 – Not found
1829-1832 – Lewis Peavler taxed in Scott County, VA
1833 – Not found
1834- 1840 – Lewis Peavler taxed in Knox County, KY
1840 – Lewis Peavler was enumerated in Knox County, KY
1841-1850 – Lewis Peavler was taxed in Knox County, KY
1850 – Lewis Peavler and Catherine (MU), alone at home, were enumerated in Knox County, KY

Lewis and Catherine Peavler are last found in the 1850 census of Knox County, Kentucky. Lewis Peavler appears on the 1850 tax list, but is gone in 1851. He may have died late in 1850 or early in 1851. Although he was taxed on 50 acres of land valued at $25 in 1850, not a single land deed has been found in Knox County up to 1856 for any of the Peavlers.

Catherine appears to have died between 1850 and 1860, as she isn’t found in the 1860 census.

The digitized index of Knox County land deeds is a bit of a mess, filmed backwards with the first deed at image 661 and the last one at the beginning of the roll. I couldn’t find any Peavlers (any spelling variation) buying or selling land there even though they were taxed on land in the 1830s.