The James Hoke Peacock Family

Facts by Jerry Peacock Shinalt

James Hoke Peacock, who entered the manufacturing business the year before Jacksonville celebrated its Golden Jubilee, spent the next 40 years contributing toward the building of a better community and a better Jacksonville. His family carries on in the same tradition.

Born in Rusk on December 21, 1887, he quit school in the seventh grade to help support an ailing father and mother, and five brothers and sisters. He later enrolled in Rusk College and studied arithmetic and English.

Frances Inez Lester, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. A. O. Lester of Rusk, was born September 10, 1886. On August 20, 1911, Hoke Peacock and Inez Lester were married. At the time, Hoke was working on the State Railroad making a run from Rusk to Palestine. They made their home in Rusk and here James, their first son, was born. They moved to Palestine and while living there, Philip, their second son, was born. Still working for the State Railroad, they returned to live in Rusk. Their only daughter, Jerry, was born in 1920.

In 1921, Hoke Peacock bought an interest in a factory owned by his brother-in-law, W. W. Slover. One year later, he purchased the remaining interest. Located in Turney, where he had moved his family, the factory made four-basket crates, used to pack tomatoes. In 1926, the factory started the manufacture of bushel baskets. At that time, Hoke Peacock had traveled no further from Rusk than his railroad job had taken him. When, in 1948, the basket plant burned, Mr. Peacock retired from that business and devoted his time to oil interests.

After the fire, Mr. Peacock's son-in-law, F. A. Shinalt, rebuilt on the same site, and began the manufacture of covers for fruit and vegetable containers. A new plant for Peacock Crate Factory was built in Jacksonville by his sons, James and Philip. It is located on Tena Street just off South Jackson.

In the meantime, Mr. and Mrs. Peacock and their children had moved into their spacious home, built in 1932 on Myrtle Drive. In 1937, their daughter, Jerry, was queen of Jacksonville's famous Tomato Festival.

James Lester Peacock (October 19, 1914-January 6, 1970) married Virginia Speedy of Crystal City. They became parents of seven children. James Hoke Peacock, II, married Lou Ann Walker of Dallas, and they live in Beaumont with their three sons, James Hoke, III, Lester Walker and Mitchell Hamilton. Anthony Nicholas Peacock and Joe Lester Peacock and his family live in Jacksonville; Joe married Lana Thomas of Dallas, and they have a son, James Lester, III. Richard Speedy Peacock married Rusty Conroy of Houston, and they are living in Austin. Katherine Bell is a junior student at The University of Texas at Austin, Jane Elizabeth attends Lon Morris College, and Mary Virginia is in East Side Elementary School.

Philip Hamilton Peacock, born Christmas Day, 1915, married Frances Fuller, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Fuller, October 21, 1939. They have two sons and a daughter.

Philip Dexter Peacock and his wife, the former Sara Beth Walker of Austin, live in Houston with their young son, Philip Hamilton, II. Dr. Frank Hamilton Peacock, a captain in the United States Army, is stationed in Denver, Colorado. Lucy Conn Peacock presently resides in West Berlin, Germany, where she is a performing artist with the West Berlin Opera Company.

Jerry Hoke Peacock and F. A. Shin-alt of Indianapolis, Indiana, were married December 4, 1942. Their two sons reside in Jacksonville. James Hoke Shinalt married Ann Crane of Jacksonville. Philip Arvine Shinalt married Nanette Newburn, also of Jacksonville, and they are parents of a son, Philip Lee, born June 13, 1971.

Mr. Peacock died August 15, 1961; Mrs. Peacock survived until 1968. Hoke and Inez Peacock not only shared their good fortune with their family, but with many others—rich and poor.

Family gathering, 1946, at Peacock Lake House at Pinecrest Lake.

James Hoke Peacock

Inez Lester Peacock

Friends of the Peacock family—older and younger—enjoyed the hospitality extended them in the spacious Peacock home, built on Myrtle Drive in 1932.