The Peays from Cuckooville, Virginia (Louisa Co)
Austin Peay II with his second wife, Annie Lewis, Harry Wesley Watts, Annie Pendleton Peay, Austin Peay IV (IV was the son of II, older brother Austin III died as infant), and Cornelia Frances Peay. The Picture was taken about 1885 near Garrettsburg in Christian Co, KY.
I began this endeavor in 1996 knowing the Peay family genealogy back only as far as Gov. Austin Peay’s(IV) grandfather. That is as far back as the family Bible had recorded. (Mrs. Anne Peay Rudolph Cunningham has the Bible.) All I knew was that the Peay’s came to Christian Co, KY in the early 1800s from Virginia or the Carolinas. I supposed that I would go to the library, send a few emails, and have the family traced back to England, or wherever it may have began, and then I would be finished. As of yet, England is not in sight, and there is never an end to the research. If you think it is a small world now, travel back in time a couple of hundred years and see how small it gets; we are related to everyone!
Austin Peay I and his wife Maria Anne Pendleton moved their family from Louisa Co, VA, near the town of Cuckoo (sometimes called Cuckooville), to Christian Co Ky, and settled near Garrettsburg in 1835 according to Perrins History of Christian Co. (1884). At about the same time, Austin’s parents Anthony and Barbara (Babby) Peay moved, along with some of their other children including George Peay, to Pike Co, Missouri. The land in Virginia was becoming over-populated and over- farmed. Louisa Co had a population of 16,151 in 1830 according to the census of the day; in 1998 the population is estimated to be only about 24,000. Folks began moving west in search of fertile lands, and as families found good property west, they relayed the word back to friends and relatives.
In the early 1800’s, there were numerous Pendletons in Christian Co, I have discovered in my research, many of which were born in Virginia. It is likely that these Pendletons were relatives of Maria Anne Pendleton Peay, and when Anthony and family went to MO, son Austin and his wife Maria stopped in Kentucky to be near Maria’s family. I have not had time to pursue this theory, but based on the number of Pendleton’s in the county in the early 1800’s, I would bet on it.
Once in Kentucky, Austin devoted his life to farming and was a man of substantial worth to the community according the History of Christian Co, 1884. He died of typhoid fever at the age of 45. His son, Austin II, prepared to enter the University of Virginia, but at age 17 he enlisted in the First Kentucky Confederate Calvary, and served one year. He then went with his company and one other ,the Second KY Cal, where he served for the balance of the war, receiving a slight wound in Wheelers attack at Ft. Donelson. Upon return, he resumed farming his farm, "The Oaks." For twelve years he was Magistrate for Garrettsburg, and was elected to the State Legislature in 1880 as a Democrat. In 1882, he received the nomination for State Senate, and was unopposed. He attended Salem Baptist church.
Meanwhile in Pike Co Mo, Anthony's son George was supporting the Union Army . A family story relayed to me by Marilyn Fisher of Thompson, Ohio, says that during the civil war several bands of outlaws were traveling around MO raiding the countryside. When George would hear that they were in the area he would send his daughters and slaves to the cornfield to hide with the family valuables. Another story is that George sent one of his sons to take some mules to the Union army. It seems every time he would take the mules, they would never reach the Union army, but instead be given to the Rebels. This son was wounded (how is unclear) and when he was brought home George would not let him on the property until he swore allegiance to the North. Ms. Fisher believes the son involved was Robert.
I have determined Anthony to be the father of Austin Peay I through circumstantial, but compelling evidence as found in my report, Descendants of John Peay. Beyond Anthony Peay, the information gets quite sketchy as many old Virginia records have been claimed by fire. I believe that Anthony’s father was John Peay, Jr, who was married to Mildred Waddy of Louisa Co. ( Included in this booklet is a report on the Waddy’s of Louisa Co. which goes into much detail, but finds few conclusions due to the frequently repeating given names in the Waddy and Winston families. ) Logic says that John Jr.’s father would be John Peay, and there was one living in Louisa Co in 1800 according to the Manuscript Return of the Census of 1800, and John Jr. was living there as well. Anthony was born in about 1776, his father John Jr was at least 45 years old in 1800 according to census, so John Jr’s father John would be 20-30 years older, thus born ca 1725-1735.
The Waddy family apparently moved in high social circles in Virginia. Though too distantly removed to diagram, the Waddy family was related to the Meriwether and Lewis families, as well as George Washington’s family, according to Michelle Ule’s report, Wading through the Waddys.
While our Peays were marrying Waddys, Sims, and Pendletons in Louisa Co, there was in 1741 born an Austin Peay who married Mildred Turner. This family was in King William Co and Caroline Co, VA, and the couple had 13 children, none of which seems to tie into our Peay family. Austin died in Caroline Co in 1796, at which time has family moved to Jefferson Co, KY. The male children were named George, Nicholas, Austin, John, Turner, Nicholas. This information comes from the bible of John and Mildred Lightfoot Peay, which was among the furnishings of "Farmington" home in Louisville, KY. The bible was located and chronicled by Gordon Miltenberger. Farmington was the home of John and Mildred's son, Austin Lightfoot Peay and his wife Peachy Speed.
And yet another Peay line surfaces: There was an Austin Ford Peay (born Camden, SC, June 29, 1777), whose parents cannot be ascertained. Some people believe they were Nicholas and wife Martha Ford, although Nicholas is believed to have been born in 1760 meaning he was only 17 when he fathered Austin Ford. Martha is believed to have been born 1765. These Peays apparently spring from the line of Claiborne Peay.
Logic dictates that there was a common ancestor that binds these three groups of Peays together, perhaps a single Peay in Colonial Virginia that sprung these lines. Very likely an Austin, George, or John, as those names permeate each Peay line. The loss of records from this era makes it difficult to link these 3 main lines; that is the goal, which has not yet been attained, and may never be attained.
As stated earlier, our Peay’s came from Louisa County, Va. According to a deed (see Descendants of John Peay) John Peay bought property on Cub Creek in 1784. This property is about ½ mile south of present day Hwy 33, near Cuckoo. A CSA map of Louisa Co from 1863 names land owners, as was customary in that era, and though the land is no longer owned by a Peay, there are Waltons, Sims, Pendletons, and Smiths abound.
The Smiths, it seems, were told by the Peays who moved to Christian Co in 1835, how good the land was (This is conjecture on my part.) Dabney Smith moved his family to Todd Co KY in 1837, and they settled about halfway between Trenton and Mt. Zion, west of the Clarksville Highway. There they built a log cabin, then a small house, and finally in 1850 two-story frame house, still standing in 1999. They house is on Seay Rd near Trenton, and is stilled owned by descendants of Dabney Smith. The graveyard is about 200 yards northeast of the house on a wooded ridge.
On September 19, 1895, Dabney Smith’s great granddaughter Sallie Hurst married Austin Peay IV. These families were neighbors on Cub Creek in Louisa Co 60 years earlier, and they undoubtedly kept in contact. Their courtship may have even been arranged by relatives, as Austin was living in Christian Co, and had just been admitted to the KY bar at age 19 when he met Sallie, who lived in Clarksville, Tenn.
In 1922, Austin was elected Governor of Tennessee (Democrat), and was later re-elected for two more terms. He was known as a statistician concerned more with facts and figures than politics. He was responsible for increasing the length of the school-year, shrinking and reorganizing state government, road building, the establishment of the Smoky Mountains Park (now a National Park,) reducing property tax, and initiating the tobacco tax. Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee is named in his honor. On January 1, 2000 Gov. Austin Peay was named the most influential public figure of the millennium by The Leaf Chronicle, Clarksville's daily newspaper. Austin IV died in 1927 while in office.
If you are researching the Peay family or Smith family, or any of the other families outlined in these reports, I would love to hear from you, and perhaps exchange information. You can Email me at epeay@charter.net