The David Franklin Peters family

Submitted June 1997 by Lisa E. Nash, Linden, Texas

David Franklin Peters was considered a pioneer leader, he led a group of approximately 37 people from Green County, Tennessee, and settled near Jacksonville, Arkansas. David Franklin was born September 15, 1842 in Cocke County, Tennessee, and married Catherine Delila Holt on October 24, 1865 in Caney Branch, Greene County, Tennessee. She was born March 26, 1848 in Caney Branch and was the daughter of Oliver Lee Holt and Mary Ann Blazer, who had married and settled in Caney Branch. David and Catherine were blessed with 9 children: Mary Magdalene, James Calvin, Samuel Alexander, Ulysses Jermia, William Larry, Luther Abraham, John Andrew (twins), Bruce Monroe, and Minnie Mae Peters.

David Franklin was the son of Abraham Peters Jr., who was born January 6, 1810 and married Mary Magdalena Ottinger. They attended St. James Lutheran Church in Caney Branch. Abraham Jr’s parents were Abraham Sr. and Christina who had settled in Caney Branch. Abraham Sr. was born June 26, 1768 and Christina was born 1773 in Pennsylvania. Their children were: Margaret Magdalena, Cathenne, Jacob, John, Abraham Jr. Both Jr. and Sr. are buried in the Old St. James Cemetery.

David Franklin was only 22 when he enlisted in Newport, Tennessee for active duty under William C. Allen’s Co A, 4th Regiment Tennessee Infantry for the Union in the Civil War. He had a fair complexion with blue eyes and dark hair and stood 5f 8”. He was wounded and became a POW to be discharged on August 2, 1865.

David and Catherine’s first 5 children were born in Caney Branch, Greene County, Tennessee. After moving to Arkansas he bought farmland and they had four more children near Jacksonville, Arkansas. The house he built still stands. David Franklin died May 8, 1907 and Catherine died July 9, 1929, they are buried in Bethel Cemetery near Jacksonville, Arkansas.

Their youngest daughter, Minnie Mae (born August 2, 1881), married her cousin, Joseph Madison Blazer (also from Caney Branch) January 4, 1903.Their children were: Joseph Coy, Fred Pierce and Dorothy Lucille. Madison died January 31, 1944 and Minnie Mae died October 20, 1965.

Dorothy Lucille married Robert Edward Brown Jr. on December 26, 1933 near Little Rock, Arkansas. Their only child Marilyn Sue married classmate James Edward Egner on September 17, 1960 in Little Rock, Arkansas. They have two children: Lisa Lynne and James Edward Egner.

(The Peters and Blazer families were full blooded Germans. The Peters name is spelled “PetrusJ in Lutheran Church documents Other related families were the Ottingers and Male’s in Greene County, Tennessee.)

Resources: St. James Lutheran Church Records, U.S. Census Records, Civil War pension and military records, Bethel Cemetery tombstone inscriptions, and interviews with Peters and Blazer family members.

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