Sixty-Two Years of Married Life Enjoyed by Mr. and Mrs. John G. Peebles
That Rare Anniversary was celebrated at Pine Grove Furnace Thursday
Fifty Enjoyed Dinner Served in a Beautiful Grove Overlooking the Former Home of Mr. and Mrs. Peebles – An Engagement Announced – Incidents of a Delightful Event
The Daily Times, Portsmouth, Ohio 11 June 1897
Fifty people celebrated at Pine Grove Furnace, Lawrence county, Thursday afternoon, an anniversary as interesting as it is rare. It was a sixty-second wedding anniversary, and the central figures were Mr. and Mrs. John G. Peebles, who was married just that many years before – June 10, 1835.
He received this photograph from Arthur S. Kiefer of Columbus, Ohio, the date of the original ca. 1920-1935 collection.
Wilbur Stout/Blast Furnaces Collection from Ohio Memory website
The scene of the celebration is an ideal country place. Rich in the favors of Nature and sacred from its treasure of varied memories and hallowed associations, it was a particularly happy selection for this gathering. Every feature of the landscape revived some memory, and every face renewed some pleasant association of the past – associations which circumstances may suspend but never terminate.
The Portsmouth contingent left here on the N & W at 10:55 and was met at Hanging Rock by carriages and driven to Pine Grove, five miles away. The beautiful drive terminated at a charming grove on a hill overlooking the Furnace.
The guests had a wide view from this picnic ground in all directions. In the valley at the foot of the hill was the house where the aged couple lived over three decades ago. In its rear is the orchard planted by Mr. Peebles, and on all sides are the old Furnace buildings and pretty landscapes so familiar to most of the party.
In the center of the grove, the tables were spread in the shape of a cross, and a most elegant and elaborate dinner was enjoyed. At each plate was a card bearing the name of the guest assigned there, and on the reverse side, the following:
“In honor of the
Sixty-Second wedding anniversary of
Mr. and Mrs. Jno. G. Peebles
and announcing
the engagement of
Miss Martha Steele Peebles
and
Mr. Elmer Clayton Dover
June 10, 1897
Pine Grove Furnace.”
At each plate was also a neat souvenir of the day.
After dinner, the company was photographed by Mr. Willis, of Portsmouth. Rustic seats, swings, etc., were provided for the day, and the afternoon was spent most delightfully.
Among the guests were the five children of Mr. and Mrs. Peebles and sixteen grandchildren, one being absent. The former were all reared at this place, and the visit to the old home was particularly enjoyable to them.
It was an impressive event, most impressive in the reflections suggested. It must have been particularly so to Mr. and Mrs. Peebles. The guests’ impressive reflections suggest which was the best and happiest in their lives. Few are given the privilege of looking back over more than four score years of a well-spent life, and fewer are given the rare pleasure of reflecting on the blessings that over three score years of happy married life may bring.
Any reflection which embraces such a period is impressive. It spans a chasm between and a new one, an era of darkness in the various branches of science and learning and an age of marvelous development, wonderful achievements, and unexcelled discoveries. In their own elegant home in Portsmouth, they see on every hand some evidence of a luxury or comfort of the left, which the world did not know sixty-two years ago.
In the discharge of every duty or pleasure of the day, there is called into use some agency made to serve man since they first saw the light of day in the century’s infancy or since they lighted their truth in its youth.
Mr. Peebles was born near Chillicothe, [Ohio], Nov. 30, 1813, and Mrs. Peebles, nee Martha Steele, at Philadelphia, [PA], May 29, 1816. After their marriage, they lived in this city and on the West Side until 1842, when they moved to Pine Grove Furnace, the scene of Thursday’s celebration. Here their children grew into young manhood and womanhood, and she laid the foundation for the success that has followed them ever since.
Mr. Peebles, while in Portsmouth, conducted a store, but upon removal to Lawrence County, Ohio, became manager of Pine Grove Furnace. It was one of the pioneer furnaces of the West and a notable successful enterprise. Mr. Peebles was an apt, all-around man. He soon became a partner with his brother-in-law, Robert Hamilton, under the firm name of Hamilton, Peebles & Co. He remained there until May 1864, when they removed to Ironton, which city they left in August 1865, coming back to Portsmouth, where they have since resided.
He soon became president of the Portsmouth National Bank, which he has occupied continuously up to this date. He is also extensively interested in numerous other business enterprises, to which he still pays attention. In all of them, he is an active factor and an invaluable counselor.
Success has followed Mr. and Mrs. Peebles throughout life, and they have enjoyed every blessing attending honest success. Both are among the most prominent church workers in this city. Although they identified with the First Presbyterian Church, which they joined shortly after their marriage, every church in the city has benefited from their generosity.
They have traveled extensively in various parts of the world and have profited from the privileges with which Fortune has favored them. Neither public life nor society has drawn either from home or detracted from the enjoyment of quiet domesticity.
The following were the guests present:
- Mr. and Mrs. Jno. G. Peebles, Misses Margaret J. and Mary E. Peebles, of Portsmouth.
- Mr. and Mrs. Rob’t Peebles and children, Coles, Charlie, Richard, Harriet, marguerite, Ruth, and Ina, of Ashland, Ky.
- Mr. and Mrs. Jno. Peebles and children, Martha, Mariam, and Joseph, of Portsmouth.
- Mr. and Mrs. Richard R. Peebles and children, John, William, Elizabeth, Margaret, Robert, and Richard, of Henly.
- W. H. Pebbles, Portsmouth.
- Mr. and Mrs. Charles Krotzenbarger, Cincinnati.
- Mrs. Thomas Meredith, Dwarte, California.
- Mrs. Elizabeth Ferguson and Miss Mattie Wood, Huntington, WV.
- Misses Libbie, Bell and Anna Coles, Ashland, Ky.
- Mrs. Ella Lloyd, Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Stewart, Misses Adella and Venetia Ramsey, Elmer Dover, Portsmouth.
- Rev. J. M. Boal, Los Angeles, California.
- Rev. W. C. Condit, D.D., Ashland, Ky.
- Mr. McIntosh, Pine Grove.
Thanks for sharing this interesting article from the past! John G. Peebles was my great-great grandfather and I have shared this with relatives.