Augusta County
Biographies
"P"

Peyton Family
     The Peyton family is of high antiquity in the mother country. According to Camden, Du Moulin, and other historians and antiquarians, the founder was William de Malet, one of the great barons who accompanied William I to the conquest of England, and obtained from that monarch many grants of manors and lordships as a recompense for his military services. Among these lordships were Sibton and Peyton Halls, in Norfolk, from the latter of which, Reginald, a nephew of William de Malet, assumed the surname of Peyton, in accordance with the usage of the times.
     The name is also one of the earliest connected with the colony of Va. Sir Henry Peyton was knighted by James I, and was gentleman of the Privy Chamber of Prince Henry, 1610, was a member of the London Company to whom King James, May 23d, 1609, granted a charter "to deduce a colony and make habitation in that part of America commonly called Va." Sir Henry Peyton was the fourth son of the Right Hon. Sir Thomas Peyton, M. P. for Dunwich in 1557, and Customer of Plymouth, by his wife, Lady Cecilia Bouchier, daughter of John, second Earl of Bath. He m Lady Mary, d of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset His nephew, son of his brother, Robert, namely: John Peyton, is supposed to have been the first who made the voyage to Va., circa 1622, when in his 26th year, and to have settled in the colony 1644. He m Ellen Pakington, of London, and left two sons: I. Henry Peyton, of Acquia, Westmoreland county, Va.;
II. Valentine Peyton, of Nominy, Westmoreland county, Va., a colonel in the British army.
     The descendants of the two are scattered through Va. and the South and West. From Valentine was descended the gallant and patriotic CoL Harry Peyton, of Revolutionary fame, who, when he heard that his last son, Yelverton, had been killed at the siege of Charleston, S. C , 1780, by a cannon ball from the enemy's fleet, exclaimed: " Would to God I had another to put in his place." Frances Peyton was a daughter of Col. Harry P., and m the late Judge John Brown, of the Staunton Circuit, and left issue:
I. Judge Jas. E. Brown, of Wytheville, uncle by marriage of Gen. J. E. B. Stuart.
II. Martha Steele, who m Judge B. G. Baldwin, father of Col. J. B. Baldwin, Mrs. A. H. H. Stuart, Mrs. James M. Ranson, and Mrs. Chapman J. Stuart.
III. Margaret Brown m William S. Eskridge, and left issue: Mrs. John Towles, of La., and Mrs. R. T. W. Duke, of Albemarle
     From the elder brother, Henry Peyton, of Acquia, was descended from Balie Peyton, of Tenn., a distinguished lawyer, soldier and statesman. He served as M. C. for Tenn., 1833-37, as colonel of 5th Louisiana regiment in the Mexican war, 1845-48, and was Minister Plenipotentiary to Chili, 1848-1852; Hon Jos Peyton, M. C. for Tenn.; Hon. Francis Peyton, an influential and patriotic member of the H. of D. of Va. from 1777 to 1785, also a member of the Convention of 1776 to frame a Constitution for Va.; Hon. E. G Peyton, late Chief Justice of the Supreme Court A Miss.; Col. Robert L. Y. Peyton, late Confederate States Senator for Missouri; Hon. Samuel O. Peyton, M C. for Ky., and others. Velveteen Peyton, when shot, fell into the arms of the late Gen. Ro. Porterfield, of Augusta, who was standing by his side.
     Another branch of the original stock of Peytons settled in Va. circa 1765, namely: Robert Peyton, a grandson of Sir Edward Peyton, Baronet Isleham co., of Camb. He took up large tracts of land in Gloucester, he made his home at Isleham, in the present county of Matthews. From these early settlers have sprung a numerous progeny settled in almost every part of the U. S., from N. Y. to Georgia and from Minnesota to Texas and California. The earliest Peyton connected with Augusta was Henry J. Peyton, who came up from Prince William to Winchester, and hence to Augusta about 1796. In 1802 he was appointed Clerk of the Lancery Court of this district, and served with great satisfaction to the public until 1814. The second who came to the county was John Howe Peyton, of Montgomery Hall, who settled in Staunton in 1809, on receiving the appointment of Attorney for the Commonwealth. He was the son John R. Peyton, of Stony Hill, Stafford, who was known and acknowledged in his day as a man of gifted intellect and penetrating good sense. He lived in the seclusion of the country, devoted to rural pursuits and the cultivation of social happiness. He died in 1798, in his 45th year, and he sleeps under the solemn trees of Stony Hill Cemetery side by side with his fathers. " He was one of many thousand such that die betimes, whose story is a fragment, known to few." His father, John Peyton, was a tan who combined within himself every noble and generous quality, of home one of his contemporaries said: " It would require no common sense to depict the undeviating rectitude of his conduct, the unshaken existancy of his friendship, the unwearied activity of his benevolence and invariable warmth of his affections, the untarnished purity of his habits, nd the unabated fervor of his piety." John H. Peyton inherited in a remarkable manner these moral qualities, and was, says Mr. Bezer Blundell, . S. A.: "A wise and good man, eminent alike for his leaping and ability as a jurist, and for the purity of his private morals. Trained in the best principles, and early imbued with a veneration for the noblest characters of antiquity, Mr. Jno. H. Peyton did not seek public favor by courting the opulence, or his reputation might have been more extended. His virtue as of another complexion. Content with his profession, and with his own consciousness of rectitude, he always sought to be in reality what he appeared, and might have changed his family motto,' Patior-Potior, for iat of the late Lord Somers: ' Esse quam videri.' He was noticeable, so, as a fine specimen, doubtless much over the average, of the upper class of our Colonial gentry, at a period when Virginia flourished nrst ader the direct influence of monarchy, and subsequently as a republic, It a republic whose institutions were * tempered, and so to speak, toned ^wn by traditionary influences, which still refined, though they no longer mtrolled them." John H. Peyton m first Susan Madison, d of Wm. trother Madison, a relative of Bishop Madison, by whom he left issue, ie son, the late Col. Wm. M. Peyton, of Roanoke, who m Sally, a d of idge Allen Taylor, by whom he left issue a large family, of whom there e now living: Mrs. Walter Preston, of Abingdon, whose eldest daughter m idge Geo. W. Ward; 2. Capt. Wm. M. Peyton, of Kanawha, W. Va., who Miss Mann, of Gloucester co., Va., and has a large family. 3. Sally, who T. C. Reed, and left one child, Betty, who married Dr. Wm. Berkeley, of Roanoke, a relative of Lord Botetourt, once Gov. of the colony; 4. Beridine, who married Lewellyn, Esq., of Albemarle, who has a large family. Col. Wm. M. Peyton died in 1868 deeply regretted by a numerous circle friends throughout the State and country. He was a man of ability and learning, a ripe scholar, possessing all the essentials of a great writer. His mind was "broad, his power of dramatic description remarkable, and in his analysis of character, elaborate and distinct. With his dear, vivid and eloquent style, and love of literature, he would doubtless have risen to the first distinction as a writer, but for a physical malady (vertigo), causing partial paralysis, which early interfered with his labors, and finally put an end to his life. He served at different times in the General Assembly and in other public positions, and was universally respected for the purity of his life, the activity of his benevolence, and the rectitude of his conduct John H. Peyton m secondly Ann Montgomery, d of Maj. John Lewis, of the Sweet Springs, by whom he left issue at his death at Montgomery Hall in 1847.
I. John Lewis Peyton, who married Henrietta E. C, daughter of Col. J. C. Washington, of N. C, by whom he has issue: one son, Lawrence W. H.
II. Yelverton, unmarried, a resident of Texas.
III. Susan Madison married Col J. B Baldwin; no issue.
IV. Ann Montgomery, d unmarried.
V. Mary Preston married Robt. Gray, and has issue: 1. Robert; 2. Peyton; 3 Preston; 4. Susan; 5. Isabella.
VI. Lucy Garnett married Judge Jno. N. Hendren, and has issue: one son, Samuel, and two daughters, Annie M. and Lucy Peyton.
VII. Elizabeth, married Wm. Boys Telfair, of Ohio, and they have issue: 1. William ; 2. John; 3. Susan.
VIII. Margaret Lynn married Capt. Geo. M. Cochran, of Staunton, and they have issue: 1. Susan ; 2. Maria; 3. George; 4. Ann; 5. John; 6. Margaret; 7. Peyton.
IX. Virginia, married Col. Jos. F. Kent, of Wythe, and they have issue: 1. Joseph F.; 2. Susan; 3. Mary.
X. Cornelia married first Dr. Thos. Brown, and at his death he left issue: two sons, 1. Baldwin; and 2. Peyton. Mrs. Brown married secondly Wm. H. Greene, of Augusta, but they have no living issue.
Source: "History of Augusta County, Virginia"by J. LEWIS PEYTON 1882 Submitted by: Barb Ziegenmeyer

PORTERFIELD FAMILY
     The first of this family emigrated from England early in the 18th century, and settled in Penn. Thence two of his sons removed to Va. and settled in Jefferson, namely: Robert and Charles. A third son removed to the West and became a citizen of Ky. Both Robert and Charles were officers during the war of the Revolution, and Charles died unm., from wounds received during the war. After the war, about 1782, Col. Robert Porterfield removed to Augusta and settled on South river, on a farm which he called " Soldiers Retreat" He married Rebecca Farrar, of Amelia co., by whom he had issue: 1. Charles, who died unmarred.; 2. Polly; 3. John; 4. Rebecca. Polly married Lewis Wayland, of Augusta, and left a large family, who have removed to Ky. John Porterfield married Betsy McCue, a sister of John and Col. Franklin McCue, and had only one child, Robert Porterfield, who married a daughter of John Wayt, and left one son, Robert Porterfield, of Lewisburg, Greenbrier co., W Va., who married Miss McClung, of Greenbrier and they have three children, namely: Mattie, Herbert and Annie. Rebecca Porterfield married William Kinney, Esq., of Staunton, and they left issue, nine children, viz: 1. Mary, married Alfred Chapman, of Orange, and they have a large family; 2. Jane, who married E. M. Taylor, of N. Y., and they have eight children; 3. Robert Porterfield, who married Isabella, daughter of L. L. Stevenson, and they have a large family; 4 Rebecca, who married S. A. Richardson, of Mass., and they have three children; 5. William Kinney, M. D., who died unmarried.; 6, Annie Maria, who married Maj. H. M. Bell, a lawyer of Staunton, and they have three children: 1. Richard P.; 2. Annie; and 6.. Henderson M., jr.; 7. Eliza, unmarried.; 8. Charles N., who died unmarried.; 9. John C, died unmarried. Gen. Porterfield had two sisters: 1. Rebecca, who died unmarried.; 2. Eleanor, who married Mr. Heath, Attorney-Gen, of Ky., and they left no issue. He was a man of high character, strong sense and martial spirit.

Preston Family

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