CAPT. TERRY H. C. PEERYCAPTAIN TERRY H. C. PEERY, a prominent man of affairs at Seymour, Baylor county, has enjoyed a career of unusual individual success and prestige, and what he has effected in a public-spirited way in promoting the educational progress of Seymour will be felt as an influence for good through all succeeding generations of the town’s history. Captain Peery is a man of broad gauge, has large faculties and talents, has been aspiring in his endeavors, has experienced life as most men have not, and as a character is well rounded and influential and a man whose position in the world is elevating and helpful. He is a native of Maury county, Tennessee, where he was born in August, 1839. His parents were Robert and Margaret (Harrold) Peery, and his father, a native of Tennessee, and died in 1884 after attaining the advanced age of ninety years. Captain Peery was reared on a farm and received a good common school education. At the beginning of the rebellion he enlisted in Obion county, Tennessee, going out in Company C, Twenty-seventh Tennessee Infantry, of the Confederate army as a non-commissioned officer. After the battle of Shiloh he was commissioned first lieutenant, and at the battle of Murfreesboro was promoted to captain, and thence during the remainder of the war commanded Company C of the Twenty-seventh. In addition to the two battles mentioned he was in all the engagements participated in by the Army of the Tennessee, altogether forty-two in number, the most important being Shiloh, Perryville, Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge, the fighting at Atlanta and vicinity, and Franklin and Nashville. He was wounded at the battle of Shiloh. At the battle of Nashville he commanded the regiment, his superior officers having all been killed or wounded at Franklin. After that engagement his regiment was sent to North Carolina where it took part in the battle of Bentonville, and at the time of final surrender was at Greensboro. From an officer in the Confederate army he returned home and entered the mercantile business, which has been the principal object of his endeavors ever since. His store was at Wilsonville (now Hornbeak), where he was in partnership with his brother-in-law, E. A. Hornbeak. In 1876 he came out to Texas and located at Denton, where he continued his career as merchant with great success for thirteen years. He also owned a farm on the edge of that town. In the latter part of 1889 he became a resident of Seymour and began merchandising, at first individually and then in partnership with B. F. Smith, as Peery and Smith. They later sold out to the Seymour Commercial Company, of which firm Mr. Peery is still a stockholder although no longer actively engaged in the business. Captain Peery’s connection with public and political affairs began in Tennessee. He has always given much through to educational problems, and improvement in educational facilities was forced upon him as a burning question and need of the hour in his part of Tennessee after the war, interest in public education being at a low ebb for some time after the paralyzing storm and stress of civil conflict. In Denton he became a member of the board of aldermen, and as a member of the educational committee of that body took an active interest in promoting legislation whereby bonds could be issued for establishing a good public school system and a much-needed school building there. In 1900 Captain Peery was elected president of the school board of Seymour, and as the result of his efficient labors he deserves the title of father of the free public school system in this town. On his initiative bond for nine thousand dollars were voted and turned into cash, and form the proceeds the present public school building was completed two years ago. This structure is one of the splendid ornaments of the town and an honor and credit to the entire people. It is built of gray stone, and cost, with furnishings, between twenty-three and twenty-four thousand dollars. Its equipment is modern and will compare with that of any school in North Texas, and the entire educational system is such that Seymour has gained a most enviable reputation as a center of learning. The public school has eleven grades, and is known as the Seymour Free Public School. Previous to the establishment of the excellent institution Seymour had about as poor a school as could be found in the part of the state. In June, 1904, Captain Peery resigned his office as president of the board, having accomplished his object and one of the best works in life. Captain Peery served in two sessions of the state legislature, the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth, 1897-99, and while a member of the lawmaking body was chairman of the committee on stock and stock-raising and a member of the committees on revenue, taxation, irrigation, judiciary districts, and others. He made a good record as a legislator, and especially proved the practicality of his mind and a sincere desire for the best interests of the state as opposed to the theoretical and tentative measures whose effect was at best of uncertain value. He sided with the conservative element who advocated public expenditures only where money was actually needed and where it would be of permanent benefit. Captain Peery affiliates with the Masonic order. He has been a member of the Christian church for fity years. He was married in Tennessee to Miss Anna Hornbeak, of one of the old and highly respected families of that state. Her father, Hon. Pleasant Hornbeak, was a prominent Tennesseean, was a member of the state legislature during the thirties, and previous to that had been doorkeeper for that body when James K. Polk was one of the legislators. Captain and Mrs. Peery have four children: Terry E., who died in infancy; W. O. Peery, who is a newspaper man in Rolfe, Indian Territory; Mrs. Helen Briggs; and Miss Ethel Peery. B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), Vol. II, pp. 316-317. |
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