The following excerpts from "The Children of Levi Peacock" published in September 1979 by John J. Pierce, Peacock Family Historian are respectfully submitted by this list member (with permission to copy) in reference to what was going on in Drew County in the 1850s. If there is any interest in other excerpts from this chapter, I will post more of this interesting history of many families of Drew County. *************************** It was on May 5, 1857, that Rev. Jesse Peacock sold his plantation in Wilkinson County, Ga., to James C. Bower, for $1,800. Bower was a prominent attorney, afterwards elected as ordinary (probate) judge of the county. A native of Wilkinson County, Bower (born in 1815) had gone with his father, Isaac Bower (1783-1840s), to Arkansas during the 1820s. Isaac Bower settled at Big Creek, Phillips County. James C. Bower returned to Gerogia in 1847, after his father's death, and his accounts of Arkansas could have aroused Jesse Peacock's interest in opportunities there. The deed of sale to Bower was recorded May 23 by George W. Tarpley, clerk of the Superior Court, and has a detailed description of the boundaries of the 300-acre (more or less) tract, which was bounded by the properties of Jesse's son, Pearson Peacock; his son-in-law, James Hoover; and E. J. Gilbert, old free Charles (evidently a manumitted slave), Edward J. Tarpley (who rebuilt Poplar Springs Church in 1859), Nathaniel C. Hughs and William s. Chambers. Although, as noted above, James C. Bower may have provided some inspiration, the migration by Jesse Peacock and his kin to Arkansas appears to have been -- at least in part --a church-related enterprise. Leader of the expedition was the Rev. John Harden Breedlove (1802 - Jan. 6, 1870), whose daughter Eliza Ann had married Dr. Jesse Arnold Peacock in 1850. Breedlove was wagonmaster of what must have been a substantial wagon train -- it included not only the families of the Peacocks and their in-laws, the James Hoover, JohnTilghman Hoover and James H. Bush families, but at least one other Hoover family not related by marriage to the Peacocks, at least one other Breedlove family, and an undetermined number of Hayes, Naugher, Ballard and perhaps other Georgia families. The wagon train made its journey in 1858, according to surviving accounts --probably during the Spring, in order for the settlers to be able to bring in crops that year. One of Jesse Peacock's grandsons, Erastus McRaeny Peacock, was born in Georgia -- on April 12, 1858, according to family records. If the date is correct (the 1900 census shows 1857), the Peacocks were still in Wilkinson County, or had just started on their journey to Arkanss, at that time. But by June 5, when Jesse Peacock registered as an elder of the Methodist Church in Arkansas, the family had arrived -- thus, the journey most likely took place in May. By Sept. 16, Jesse's son Pearson was able to sign an affidavit for purchase of federal land at a reduced price as an "acutal settler or cultivator" farming adjacent land evidently purchased on the private market. The most direct route from Irwinton, Ga., to Florence, Ark., passes near Grenada, Miss., and it is not unlikely that Jesse Peacock and his family visited Lovic Pierce Peacock and his clan along the way -- the two branches of the Peacocks were acquainted with each other. And the Breedlove wagon train may have been just one part of a larger migration to Arkansa about the same time that involved other Peacocks. John Lewis and George Washington Peacock both moved to Ashley County, Ark., in 1857 or 1858. They too were Methodists, sons of Wasington Hamilton Peacok, who was himself the son of John Peacock, Levi's brother. Washington Hamilton Peacock had moved to Henry County, Ala., about 1821 from Washington County, Ga. Ashley County, Ark., is next to Drew County -- where Jesse Peacock's clan established itself; -- it seems more than coincidence that two Peacock families moved to adjacent counties at the same time. In 1858, when the Peacocks and other members of the Breedlove expedition arrived at Florence, Ark., the area was still part of Desha county, which took in Township 11S in Ranges four through six west, and Townships 9S and 10S all the way to what is now the Cleveland County line. A military road, formerly an Indian trail, led from Gaines Landing on the Mississippi river through Florence to Pine Bluff, and this was probably the route followed by the Breedlove wagon train on the final leg of its journey. ************************ By the way, Jann is a descendant of these Hayes and Sammy Mullis and my husband are descendants of Jesse Peacock. Lots of you in the Valley are probably related to these Hayes also. Carolyn