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BENJAMIN ORR PEERS

This sentence is found in the Minutes of the Session of the Paris Church for September 3, 1820:

"Benjamin Peers dismissed by certificate, Aug. 27, 1820."

(p. 43) "Rev. Benjamin Orr Peers, one of the most distinguished ministers in Kentucky, was born at Green Hill, Loudon Co., Va., April 20, 1800; and died in Louisville, Aug. 20, 1842-aged 42 years. His father, Major Valentine Peers, of an influential Scotch-Irish family, emigrated from the north of Ireland to Scotland, and thence to Loudon County, Virginia; and Sept. 11, 1777, when only 21 years old, was a brigade-major on the staff of Brig. Gen. Geo. Weedon, at the battle of Brandywine (or Chad's Ford, Delaware), where his officers and soldiers were so handsomely complimented in the published orders of Gen. George Washington and Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Greene. His name appears also, as an officer of the day, in the order issued by Gen. Washington, Sept. 28, 1777, congratulating the army on the victory of Gen. Gates over Burgoyne at Stillwater, N.Y., Sept. 19, 1777. He emigrated to the Lower Blue Lick springs, Nicholas Co., Ky., March 1803, and engaged extensively in manufacturing salt; and, some years later at Paris and Maysville established cotton factories; was a judge of the court of quarter sessions at Paris; a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church for many years; and died at Maysville, June 1830, aged 74." (Collins History of Kentucky Vol. 1, page 442. 1924 edition).
Benjamin Peers graduated at Transylvania University and later studied at Princeton Seminary 1822-23, for the Presbyterian ministry but changing his views on church government he was ordained in the Protestant Episcopal Church, where he became one of the ablest ministers in that denomination. He was President of Transylvania University, 1832-1834.

GEORGE GILL PORTER

graduated from Transylvania College, studied at Princeton University, and became President of Transylvania College)

Benjamin Orr PEERS. Born on April 20, 1800 in Greenhill, London County, Virginia. Benjamin Orr died in Louisville, Kentucky on August 20, 1842; he was 42.

BENJAMIN ORR PEERS [3]

This sentence is found in the Minutes of the Session of the Paris Church for September 3, 1820:

"Benjamin Peers dismissed by certificate, Aug. 27, 1820."

"Rev. Benjamin Orr Peers, one of the most distinguished ministers in Kentucky, was born at Green Hill, Loudon Co., Va., April 20, 1800; and died in Louisville, Aug. 20, 1842-aged 42 years. His father, Major Valentine Peers, of an influential Scotch-Irish family, emigrated from the north of Ireland to Scotland, and thence to Loudon County, Virginia; and Sept. 11, 1777, when only 21 years old, was a brigade-major on the staff of Brig. Gen. Geo. Weedon, at the battle of Brandywine (or Chad's Ford, Delaware), where his officers and soldiers were so handsomely complimented in the published orders of Gen. George Washington and Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Greene. His name appears also, as an officer of the day, in the order issued by Gen. Washington, Sept. 28, 1777, congratulating the army on the victory of Gen. Gates over Burgoyne at Stillwater, N.Y., Sept. 19, 1777. He emigrated to the Lower Blue Lick springs, Nicholas Co., Ky., March 1803, and engaged extensively in manufacturing salt; and, some years later at Paris and Maysville established cotton factories; was a judge of the court of quarter sessions at Paris; a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church for many years; and died at Maysville, June 1830, aged 74." (Collins History of Kentucky Vol. 1, page 442. 1924 edition).

Benjamin Peers graduated at Transylvania University and later studied at Princeton Seminary 1822-23, for the Presbyterian ministry but changing his views on church government he was ordained in the Protestant Episcopal Church, where he became one of the ablest ministers in that denomination. He was President of Transylvania University, 1832-1834.

Benjamin Orr first married Mary Ann BELL. Born on March 31, 1806 in Belfast, Ireland. Mary Ann died in Louisville, Kentucky on September 8, 1835; she was 29.

They had the following children:
27i.Mary Ann (1829-)
ii.William Alice. Born on January 20, 1831. William Alice died on October 16, 1849; he was 18.
iii.Arabella Bell Spencer. Born on May 20, 1832.
iv.Samuel Murdock. Born on January 18, 1834. Samuel Murdock died in 1848; he was 13.
v.Benjamin Anderson. Born on September 5, 1835. Benjamin Anderson died on November 3, 1856; he was 21.

In March 1839 when Benjamin Orr was 38, he second married Catherine C. HEYLIN, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Catherine C. died on August 16, 1866 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

They had one child:
i.Valentine Height. Born in 1841. Valentine Height died in 1842; he was 1.
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY, by Lewis Collins, and J.A. & U.P. James, published
1847. Reprinted by Henry Clay Press, Lexington, Ky., 1968, pp. 123.
[Jefferson county].

THE REV. BENJAMIN ORR PEERS was born in Loudon county, Virginia, in the year 1800. His father, the late Major Valentine Peers, of Maysville, (a soldier of the revolutionary army) emigrated to Kentucky in 1803, when the subject of this brief notice was only three years old. Mr. Peers received the first rudiments of an academical education in the Bourbon academy, and completed his scholastic course at Transylvania university, while under the administration of Dr. Holley. He studied theology at
Princeton. After completing his course in that institution, he connected himself with the Episcopal church, having previously belonged to the Presbyterian. He located in Lexington, where he established the Eclectic Institute, which became, under his supervision, one of the most valuable institutions of learning in the west. During the time he as at the head of the Eclectic Institute, and subsequently, he spent much time, labor, and money in the cause of common school education, and was instrumental in arousing the public attention to the importance of the subject - the present common school system of Kentucky being the result of the popular will thus brought to bear upon the question.
Mr. Peers, while at the head of the Eclectic Institute, was chosen president of Transylvania university, which position he accepted, in opposition to the advice of many warm friends, and which he held but a very brief period. At the time of his decease, in the year 1842, in Louisville, he was editor of the Episcopal Sunday School Magazine in New York, and, also, editor of the Sunday School publications of the church. He was distinguished not only for his zealous devotion to the cause of
general education, but for his sound learning and ardent piety. His published writings were not extensive - the work on Christian Education appears to have been his favorite. He fell early, but fell at the post of duty.

Holley Peers
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