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THE PEAVEY STORY IOWA & MINNESOTA   �Condensed and Edited by Hallie June Peavey for this site� �rags to riches�
Frank Hutchinson Peavey was born, 18 Jan. 1850, in Eastport, ME., son of Albert Daniel Peavey and Mary Drew. His father, a merchant, died when he was nine years old, so he sold newspapers and did various other jobs. In 1865, after the Civil War when he was 15 years old, he set out West, arriving in Chicago, IL, as his meager supply of money was exhausted. He ate free meals in a tavern that served food to bring in the drinkers. They threw him out when they got wise to him. He secured a job as a messenger and clerk with Chicago Grain Firm of Hinkley, Handy and Company, until he got hired as bookkeeper for North Western Bank. In 1867, after just two years working in Chicago, he got hired in Sioux City, Iowa as a bookkeeper for a wholesale grocery firm known as Booge and Company. He borrowed $50.00 to hire a stagecoach to get there. It took three days and nights to go the 500 miles. In 1868, he persuaded his boss and friend to form a firm called, Booge, Smith & Peavey Farm implements. Peavey was in charge of management. In 1869, uninsured fire wiped them out; he spent all of his savings and still owed $1,800.00 as his part to the creditors. In 1870, he got a new silent partner to pay off the $1800.00 and became Peavey and Evans. He was just out of debt on that $1800.00 when his family came from Maine. In 1871, he welcomed his mother, sister and brother, James Fulton Peavey from Maine who all moved to Sioux City, Iowa to work with Frank in a Peavey partnership. The new firm was known as Peavey Brothers as he took in his brother, James as a partner. In 1872, he selected and married Miss Mary Dibble Wright, daughter of Senator George G. Wright. In 1873, he was considered very prominent in selling around Sioux City. Their first child Lucia Louise Peavey was born 7th Aug. 1873 in Sioux City, Iowa. In 1874, he solved the problem of why the farm implements were not selling. There was no ready market for the farmers to sell their grain. With their capitol they built a 6,000 bushel capacity blind horse elevator at Sioux City, Iowa, and built other elevators all along the old Dakota Southern Railway to Minneapolis, MN. They got contracts from all four of the millers to buy from Peavey, who contracted to supply. He then informed all the farmers that they had a market if they would just buy the farm implements on time, he would take their payments in grain. Frank was still only twenty-four years old. �Partner, James Fulton Peavey is the one who scribbled the PV within a red diamond which became their logo.� In 1875, second child Mary Drew Peavey was born March 24th at Sioux City, Iowa. In 1877, Frank�s son George Wright Peavey was born May 10th at Sioux City, Iowa. In 1884, with business booming, the brothers moved the partnership, home, and business to Minneapolis. In 1887, the two Peavey brothers bought controlling interest in the Sioux City, Iowa Railway Company. They were switching to electric power from mules. They also helped build the Peavey Grand Opera House in Sioux City, Iowa, capacity 1800 seats. In 1890, Charles T. Peavey, and a lot of the closely related Maine relatives were involved with the Peavey Brothers. Charles T. Peavey was sent to Kansas City and St. Louis Missouri to run their big elevators, but a flood ruined 10,000 car loads of corn. (NOTE) lineage of Charles T. Peavey is: (John Peverely, 1. Rev. Thomas Peverel - Peverly, 2. Thomas Jr. Pevey, 3. Abiel Pevey-i, 4. Abiel Pevey- Peavey ii, 5. Hutson Peavey, 6. James Peavey, 7. Charles Peavey, 8. Charles J. Peavey, 9. Charles T Peavey, 10. In 1896, Frank Hutchinson Peavey became the hero who single - handedly, most likely saved our free nation. This is his crowning glory. They were even then attempting to make our currency worthless by forsaking the gold standard. Regardless of lost time and money Frank sent a personal letter on July 25th separately to all of his over 100 employees with orders to immediately canvas ALL the farmers, which was practically every household then. Result was the gold standard was re-affirmed by the voters. This was a terrible blow to the one world planners. The Peaveys were high up in the Republican Party. In 1897, Frank built the town of Peavey in Alaska, and the Peavey Library in Eastport, Maine, both in memory of his father Albert Daniel Peavey. In 1898, he gave $5,000.00 for a hospital in Sioux City, Iowa. He already had built Highcroft for the family palatial home near Lake Minnetonka in MN. When his daughters married he used his railroad cars to transport the guests to Highcroft. Frank also owned a piano company, ships, barges, and had jumped the gun on all his competition by building elevators along where the railroad was going to be before the rails were laid, so when the train got there the elevators were operating and ready for the grain. He had a genius, intuitive, progressive mind, and was often ask to speak. In one speech he expressed that the market was all tied up on grain, and that more expansion of acres was needed. He stated, �I believe that what is now known as the arid west will by artificial means be made a garden. Snake River if irrigated would produce millions of bushels of grain for the orient, we need more acres.� (this came true after his death when two dams were built and irrigation made one of the most beautiful gardens you will ever see, all along the Columbia and Snake Rivers). Our farmers found that up on the cooler prairies we could grow grain so we did, and the grain still pours into his elevators out west. He also said, �The canyons of Co. will become reservoirs for irrigation.� (Right now California is stealing water from Nevada). In 1898, Peavey was out of acres and built elevators in the elevator cartel in existence in Chicago, IL. He had his brother James Fulton Peavey in charge of the Chicago office. The very bitter Chicago competitors there first started to fight back with a price war and thought that Peavey Company should respect their first come rights and stay in their own territory. In 1899, to save money F. H. Peavey built the first concrete elevator because he had a bad fire in a wooden elevator formerly causing the insurance to be so high it was eating up the profits. The elevator was a success and he cancelled the insurance and saved a lot. In 1900, he built the huge Duluth concrete elevators with 4,750,000 bushel capacity. He was now known as the �Elevator King of the World�. He had all the married in lines also in the Company; Wright, Hefflefinger, and Wells. In 1901, he expanded on the Great Lakes with four steamships each 450� long, capacity each of 6,600 gross tons. His namesake, the Frank H. Peavey, was launched at Loraine, Ohio. The others owned were: the Frank T. Hefflefinger, The F. B. Wells, and the George W. Peavey. In 1901, he took out a million dollar insurance policy and made the first payment of $48,390.00. In December he went to Chicago Christmas shopping and even though he packed two heavy coats, he wore neither. He was hospitalized and died of pneumonia. In his will he instructed his heirs to incorporate the Peavey Company with the life insurance money; which they did. His heirs were the first in the world to ever collect on a million dollar life insurance policy. After 1901, the heirs expanded into Canada and built a chain of Peavey Mart stores across that nation. They assisted in increasing the crop yields by utilizing their already existing chemical labs. They had been fighting rust and fungus. They found what they called �amine 24D� would kill all the broad leafed plants but let the wheat grow so they introduced that along with fertilizers. Finally the huge International Food cartel controlling 1/5th of the supply of food for the world named Con Agra foods persuaded the Peavey Corporation to merge with them as they needed their assets and massive ships and barges. notes by Hallie June Peavey Con Agra Foods was originally started by Frank and Everett Haskell with their Beatrice creamery and foods. These Haskell�s are related to our Prive��Peavey cousins, who through the female blood lines married and are also related. |