Andrew James PEDDY Sr.

  General Notes:

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James was a hotel keeper in Carter township, Hamburg, Arkansas. This is probably why John and his son, Billy Frantom, came to Hamburg to sign up for the Civil War. 1860 census of Ashley County, Arkansas, page 106, Carter Twp. (Hamburg area) is Pedy, J. H. (hotel keeper) 28 years old born in Georgia, E. S. (Euphemy Salsbury) aged 22, born in Louisiana.

THE PEDDY SCHOOL (written by Sybil Jones, granddaughter of Malinda Mason Salsbury and James D. Brown)

Before and even after the Civil War, most schools in the south were privately owned schools. Many children from the poorer classes of people had little or no chance at all for an education.

Around 1820 when Mexico became an independent republic, settlers were invited, especially into that northern area known as Texas. If a man were married and had a few cows and wished to found a home, he was granted a league of land, roughly nine sections or around 5,760 acres as we would think of it. Among those early settlers coming to Texas and taking a land grant from the Mexican Government was William Henry Sudduth.

William Henry Sudduth was born in North Carolina around 1788. Sometime later in his life he moved to Georgia. In Georgia William Henry Sudduth married Sallie Golden. A daughter, Elizabeth Ann Sudduth, was born May 22, 1815 in Georgia.

When William Henry Sudduth decided to move to Texas and take up a land grant from the Mexican Government, he no doubt began the long move to Texas via wagon train. Records attest to the fact that in 1818 Henry Sudduth owned three slaves and thirteen acres of land in Georgia. He may have owned more by the time he began his wagon train move to Texas. (On examining the 1830 census, Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, we found Henry W. Sudduth listed as owning seven slaves.)

We know that he traveled across the northern section of Louisiana and stopped for awhile near Monroe, Louisiana. I do not know how long he and his family remained in this part of the country. However, recorded in Ouachita Parish Clerk's Office is a record that on May 7, 1829, Elizabeth Ann Sudduth and John S. Salsbury were married. Sometime following the wedding and after 1830, the Sudduth family traveled on into Texas and the General Land Office in Austin, Texas has a record that Henry W. Sudduth was issued one league and one labor of land in Jasper and Newton Counties, Texas.

John S. and Elizabeth Ann (Sudduth) Salsbury remained in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana where their eleven children were born: William Henry, Emily Ann, Laura Aurabella, Euphemia Sarah, Therese Elizabeth, John Haston, Almeda Jane, Elias Leighton, Eugenia Frances, Alice Irene, and Malinda Mason Salsbury.

In years to come, December 18, 1856, Euphemia Sarah Salsbury married a Baptist minister by the name of Rev. James D. Peddy.

After the death of William Henry Sudduth and wife, Sallie Golden, their holdings were divided among their children. The portion given to their daughter, Elizabeth Ann, was around Burkeville, Texas.

After the close of the Civil War and the deaths of John S. Salsbury and his wife, Elizabeth Ann, this Sudduth land which had been inherited by Elizabeth Ann was finally passed on to her daughter Euphemia Sarah Salsbury and her husband Rev. James D. Peddy.

Rev. James D. Peddy was a Baptist minister and an educated man. When he and his wife Euphemia moved to Burkeville, Texas, he immediately saw the need of a school so he preached on Sundays, but during the week he taught school in the one he had established. This school of James Peddy soon became well known.

My Grandfather, James D. Brown (son of Rodolphus Augustus Brown) and a native of the Hathorne Community of what is now Vernon Parish (before 1871 a part of Sabine Parish, La.) was seven years old at the beginning of the Civil War (1861-1865). That means he was eleven, or near eleven, at the close of the war.

His father, Rodolphus Augustus Brown, was determined that his children should have some education. Sometime, after the close of the war, and after the Peddy School had been established at Burkeville, Texas, he enrolled his son, James D., in this school. I do not know the date, or the year, that James D. was enrolled but he remained there long enough to get a reasonably good education for that day and age. After his marriage, he operated stores at Leesville, Zwolle, and Anacoco, Louisiana. He always did his own bookkeeping and a remark was made to my Grandmother by someone who was extra good in bookkeeping that James D. was one of the best. James D. Brown also served as a Police Juror man of Ward Two, Vernon Parish, Louisiana, from 1896 to 1900.

The following excerpts are from "A History of the Baptist of Louisiana from the Earliest Times to the Present" by Rev. William Edward Paxton, St Louis: C.A. Barnes Publishing Company 1888:

"Page 604: Elder A.J. Peddy--was born in Jones County, Georgia, June 17th, 1830. He came to Louisiana in 1849, and settled in Jackson Parish. He was baptized in September, 1844, by Dr. Moodie of Alabama. He was licensed to preach by Bethesda Church, Jackson Parish, in 1853. He was ordained in 1855, by John L. Mays and Jonathan Neyman. He labored chiefly in Union, Jackson, and Ouachita parishes, until 1l872, when he first removed to Arkansas and thence to Texas. He now resides in Sabine County. He has done much Missionary labor across the line in Sabine Associations. He has charge of Beulah Church in Louisiana.

"Page 262: A.J. Peddy: Report of Concord Association, New Hope Church in Ouachita Parish.

"Page 270: A.J. Peddy: Spearsville Church, Union Parish, October 2, 1867, Elected Clerk, Concord Association; preached the Introductory.

"Page 330: A.J. Peddy: (1871) Met with Carolina Church, Bienville Parish, September 23, 1871. Listed as from Vernon Church. Record of Red River Association.

"Page 416: Mentioned again

"Page 422: A.J. Peddy: (1878) Report of Calcasieu Association. Brushy Creek Church. "I notice the presence at this meeting of Elder A.J. Peddy, who had recently moved into this region."

Andrew married Euphemia Sarah SALSBURY, daughter of John S. SALSBURY and Elizabeth Ann SUDDUTH, on 18 Dec 1856 in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana. (Euphemia Sarah SALSBURY was born on 24 Feb 1838 in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana.)