Place:Peeltown, Kaufman, Texas, United States

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

Peeltown is an inhabited place. As of May 2007, Peeltown is part of Kemp Texas. Both are in Kaufman County.

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PEELTOWN, TEXAS.

Peeltown is a rural community located off Farm Road 3094 & 4072 about thirteen miles southwest of Kaufman and about one mile east of the Trinity River in southwestern Kaufman County. The Peel family arrived from Mississippi and settled in the area in the 1860s. Peeltown was named for landowner Monroe Peel. 

The Peel Family Cemetery, was established, and the oldest marked grave is that of J. T. Peel who died in 1876. A large gin was constructed in the community in 1910. By the 1930s the village had a church, school, the gin, and numerous homes and farms. By the second half of the twentieth century the school was closed. No population figures were available. In 2007 the gin was still standing but the cemetery was abandoned

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Peeltown is now formally part of Kemp, Texas.  Peeltown is a small community of about 120- 150 people. There is no gas station or grocery store anymore. The Indian Oaks Golf Course and Tree Farm is in Peeltown. Indian Oaks has seen thousands of golfers over the years and numerous charity events. Owner Ken Andrews envisioned Indian Oaks in the late 1980's when he dreamed of a course where the average golfer could play and enjoy in an economical environment for an all time good round. Also, he built the course out of love for his late father, who died 11 days before it opened, I am told. 

Downtown Peeltown is on the corner of County Road 3094 and County Road 4072. It consists of The Memorial Baptist Church, The little Peeltown Grocery (no longer open) and, the Peeltown Cotton gin. The school was on this same corner. It no longer exists.  It burned down. However, the playground is still there. It consists of two pieces of equipment, metal slide and merry-go-round. This farming community has held together and enjoys this way of life.  

A grandfather always told the story like this. There were so many moon-shiners in Peeltown, when the people from Kemp would come on Fridays, that by the time they got there they were pretty lively. I don't think that was true, but there were a lot of moonshine in Peeltown, and he grew up there. Thus, the little town of Lively Texas, a few miles away, began. They said that after visiting with the moon-shiners in Peeltown things would get right lively on a Friday night. Thus the beginnings of Lively Texas, located in Kaufman County, according to the Texas Index of Landmarks and Vanished Communities.

Lively is a populated place with an elevation of 430 feet. Lively was the location of a natural gas pipeline explosion in August 1996 that killed two men. It is reported to be small, is between Peeltown and Kemp, and there is one cemetery there and it has two graves;  (1) Amanda Elizabeth Lively 1830-1896, (2) Rev. Louis P. Lively 1819-1906.

PEELTOWN CEMETERY

This Peel family cemetery is located 1/2 mile south of the Kaufman-Henderson County line, south of the Old Peeltown Community.  It is accessible only on foot as there is a very large & deep creek bed that must be crossed to reach it.  It is about 3/4 acre in size, completely fenced & is on the south bank of the creek.  It is overgrown in brush, weeds & cactus.  In very poor shape, yet location is probably responsible for it's preservation. 

                                                ENUMERATION: 

B Frank Bishop 1833 - 1882 Delphia A Bishop 1841 - 1932

Herbert Temple Brewer 29 Jan 1902 - 11 Mar 1903 S/o J D & Carrie James Floyd Brewer 1899 - 1938 Sibble Dorothy Brewer Died 31 Mar 1905 Age 7 Yrs, 11 Mos, 4 Dys d/o J D & Carrie

Eunicey Elston 14 Feb 1853 - 13 Apr 1904 - (This, is Sarah Eunice Peel)

M A Frost 9 Dec 1889 - 28 Nov 1896 - d/o E W & M E Frost N L Frost 18 Jun 1891 - 5 Dec 1896 - d/o E W & M E Frost Van Buren Frost 24 Mar 1898 - 15 Jul 1899 - s/o - E W & M A Frost

Gladys Mae Haun 1910 - 1968

Freddie W Lewis 14 Jul 1879 - 30 Mar 1898 Son of T C & M E Lewis

James E Moore 16 Dec 1865 - 17 Jan 1920… W O W, A large marker, now laying flat on ground. Texanna Moore 5 May 1873 - 5 Aug 1968 (this is Mary Texanna Hicks- md 15 Jan 1890)

A B Morse 28 Sep 1899 - 3 Feb 1901 Son of K O & Jane Morse

Dudley Odell Peel 9 Feb 1908 - 29 Feb 1908 Son of R T Peel & S E Conner Eugenia Peel (handmade stone-unreadable) Gladys Celeste Peel 7 May 1901 - 22 May 1901 Dau of R T Peel & S E Conner Honor Lovell Peel 11 Jan 1905 - 20 Apr 1905 Dau of R T Peel & S E Conner J M Peel 10 Aug 1839 - 30 Oct 1904 J T Peel 189 Sep 1814 - 13 Sep 1876 Aged 61 Yrs, 11 Mo, 24 Days James Clark Peel 4 Oct 1909 - 21 Apr 1910 Son of W B Peel & Edna Bullock John F Peel 28 Jun 1885 - 5 Jul 1885 Son of J M & S A Peel Martha Peel Died June 5, 1883 - Aged 85 Years Wife of J T Peel Nora Hester Peel 16 Jan 1877 - 13 May 1878 Dau of J M & S A Peel Rufus Leonard Peel 1906-1961 Rufus Turner Peel 21 Mar 1875 - 25 Dec 1915

Sallie Peel -5 Jun 1842 - 9 Feb 1908 Wife of J M Peel (Sallie Ann) William Monroe Peel 18 Jan 1895 - 8 Feb 1896 Son of W B & C E Peel Infant s/o J D & Carrie Brewer 08 Jun 1895 Infant d/o R T Peel & Stella Conner

11 Jun 1908 - 16 Jun 1908 

Infant - s/o W H & S E Peel 1880

Known burials at Peel Cemetery: Bennett Peel - born & d 1868, Son of – Wm. Henry Peel & Sarah Ellen Grissom Cleo V Snipes 1904-1969 (was listed on earlier enumeration, but grave not located in 1999) Dave Elias Elston - Husband of S E Peel (buried next to Eunicey Elston) Della Peel 1874-1880 - d/o W H & S E Peel Stella Peel 1874-1881 - d/o W H & S E Peel Sally Peel 1870-1873 - d/o W H & S E Peel (Information from a descendant of Peel-James Collins)

Unknown burials: Broken tombstone under large bush-unreadable & in pieces- appears stone was soft & eroded from exposure to the elements Brick outlining grave Two graves marked with what appears to be two old Iron hitching posts Two graves marked with large rocks next to J T Peel Wooden stake (appears to have once been a Cross) Rusted temp Marker near barbed wire fence on south side of cemetery Rusted Temp marker entangled in brush & vines near a fence at north end of cemetery One large stone slab turned face down near Elston grave

Large group of iris growing near north fence Large group of iris near south fence Three broken clay pots under mesquite tree where land is sunken in (appears to be grave)

I do have a Photo of Peel Family Cemetery, If you are interested drop me a note. I also have a picture of the Peelton Cotton Gin, Built in 1910, as the largest gin in southern Kaufman County for many years !

Some interesting tid bits…………………………………………

Kaufman Sun 28 Jan 1898 W P Newton of Forney, shot and killed Jim Peel after Peel shot George Hammond. Peel and Hammond were tenants on the Newton place. Both Newton and Hammond were sentenced to 5 years in the penitentiary

         I thought to include this information on Jim Peel. 

Peel, James Monroe 10 Aug 1839 MS 30 Oct 1904 Peel Family Co E 20th TX Cavalry

Interesting Tidbit:

TIGER - An early name for the Peeltown community as James M. Peel applied for post office with the name Tiger November 8,1902. By May 31, 1905 the mail was transferred to Styx. The post office was replaced by rural delivery from Kemp on February 15, 1908.

Peeltown Civil War Vets.

The State of Texas } County of Kaufman } I Wm.H Brnes, Clerk of the County Court of Kaufman County do hereby certify the foregoing muster roll and certificate was filed in my office June 27th 1861 and duly recorded in Book Ii, pages 55 & 56 of Records of Kaufman County.

                       Given under my hand and seal of office at Kaufman
                                                    July 1st 1861
                                                                                       Wm H Barnes

Capt. A M K Sowell's Company of Cavalry - Precinct No. 2 NAMES RANK A M K Sowell Captain J R Daugherty 1st Lieutenant H H Sowell 2nd " Jno Price 3rd " Sam Daugherty 1st Sgt G W Daugherty 2nd " J D Hurst 3rd " P W Gray 4th " J D Hess 1st Corporal James Williams 2nd " E J Hendrix Bugler T H Daugherty 2nd Bugler Baley Daugherty Treas S S Sanders D M PRIVATES Wm __ Boles G W Daugherty Wm Jackson W J Blackburn J C Jackson N N Daugherty T B Peel J B Daugherty John Hagerdy W C Daugherty

John Luce

G W Jackson S L Brinley S W Sheltman W D McIlyea J P Dugherty H C Alvice A J Daugherty

James Pike

M C Akin

E__ Sowell

W E Akin

H Bird

A A Love J G Brooks W W Price __ MCCaw ____ Shaw A _ Paschall T J Wallis James Daugherty J B Bounds James Dodd J H Dodd Roster of the 6th Texas Cavalry, Co Aby Justin M. Sanders Peel, William J.

John Haggerty & wife, Mary Jane Peel Married in Kaufman TX - 23 Aug 1860 Photo made during the Civil War. I have this photo and would be glad to email to you. He in his Confederate uniform - she is dressed in her finest John born 1824 in Ireland - died 1901 in Kaufman TX

  Please keep in mind that I do not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of this information, so use with care. I encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, especially tales and stories from the old school folks, ALL and ANY related pictures would be great. I will include them here. This is a work in progress and made with lots of love.

Please don't hesitate to drop me a line at: jantoo1@gmail.com Please Put PEELTOWN in the subject line.

--Jantoo1 22:52, 20 July 2007 (MDT)