JOSEPH H. PEALOR, a substantial farmer, proprietor of a busy gin at Terral, and a householder and citizen of sterling worth, is a representative of that fine type of Oklahoma settler who, over the rough path of adversity, has mounted to a firm foothold of independence.. He was born in Drew county, Arkansas, February 16, 1859, his father (with his family) moving to Austin, Texas, during the period of the Civil war. In that city Joseph H. was reared and received his education, first in its public schools and then at the GermanAmerican Academy. Later he became a carpenter, and when twenty years of age he accompanied his parents to Bastrop county, Texas, where the real work of his life commenced. For eleven years he was employed as a, gin man on Elm creek, and then removed to Ford county, that state, to engage in wheat raising, then extensively prosecuted in that section of Texas. On account of successive drouths, however, the four years there spent were so unprofitable that on his return, stopping at Belcherville, just twenty dollars remained in his pocket of all his worldly possessions. With this as a basis for a "new start," he bargained for some old machinery and erected a little gin on Red creek, east of Terral, running it for three years with indifferent results. He then moved his plant to town, and operated it until it burned uninsured, his obligations now consisting not only of the undischarged portion of indebtedness incurred by the purchase of the plant, but the added loss by fire. Encouraged by his creditors, who had unshaken faith in him, he made contracts for new machinery and erected another plant. This he has since thoroughly modernized, having now five seventy-saw Munger gins with Lumpkins air blast. When it is unseasonable for ginning operations, Mr. Pealor cultivates his leased farm of 1,100 acres. He also owns a comfortable home in Terral and a small farm near town, so that he is now classed as one of the well-to-do, progressive settlers of the locality.
     The first of the family to come to the United States was a Frenchman, known as Pealore orPelow, one of the patriots who accompanied Lafayette to this country to assist the American cause. After the Revolutionary war, in which he played a good part, he founded a home near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where one of his sons married Margaret Miller and became a well known millwright of that section. They had two children, of whom Joseph, the first born, became the father of our subject; the daughter, Ann, married aMr. Wingard, moved to Ohio with her husband, and in that state the family spent their lives. Joseph Pealor weddedNancy A. Jane Red, daughter of Robert Red, of Edgefield district, South Carolina, whither the husband had migrated from Pennsylvania. During the Civil war be removed to Texas, his first location being in Wharton county, whence, after a residence of three years, he went to Austin, the state capital. There, for some time, he followed his trade as a cabinet maker. Before mastering this vocation he had pursued a course in dentistry in one of the Philadelphia institutions, and practiced the profession in Arkansas and Texas until after the Rebellion, when he resumed his trade as a means of livelihood. On leaving Austin, Texas, he took his family to Bastrop county, built a small gin there, and after being thus occupied for five years died in 1884. He was sixty-nine years of age at the time of his decease, having been born in Philadelphia in the year 1815. Joseph H. Pealor, the son, was married in Bastrop counTexas, to Viola Perry, daughter of Dr. J. F. and Martha (Edward) Perry. They came from Kansas to the Lone Star state, and the children of their union were W. Frank and Viola Virginia (Mrs. Pealor). The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Pealor is James Perry Pealor, a native of Ford county.