D. FRANK PEFFLEY

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      D. FRANK PEFFLEY was born near the little town of Bainbridge, Putnam county, Indiana, on May 5. 1854.  His father owned a sawmill and a small farm, and in work in anil on these possessions, the youthful days of our subject were spent.  Peffley Pere believed in the strenuous life for hoys and followed his theories rather severely.

      At the age of seventeen, Frank quit the parental roof and began life for himself.  He did various work and then learned the carpenter trade.  Having always been inclined toward books, he began work in earnest to acquire a good education, and sought it until he was the proud possessor of his first certificate tor teaching. Then he taught, went to school, and did private studying for some years.

      In the spring of 1880, he turned his face westward for the last time, having previously sojourned in trans-Mississippi territory and returned each time to his native place.  Location was made in Bourbon county, Kansas, and the following sixteen years were spent in or near Fort Scott, with the exception of one and one-half years in New Mexico. He taught but gradually relinquished his hold on that profession for newspaper work, taking up reportorial and editorial labors on the Fort Scott dailies.  Later he mastered the mechanical portion of the business.  He also had some of the unusual experiences of the novice as publisher of a weekly. In the spring of 1896, he left Fort Scott, which for years had been the scene of his labors and hardships, together with some degree of success.  He engaged in teaching and in newspaper work in Iowa until the fall of 1899, when he journeyed on west to Lincoln county.  Locating near Wilbur, he took up teaching for a year and then went to Creston, where he filled the principal's chair for one year.

      In August. 1901, Mr. Peffley began the publication of the Creston News, a venture of his own.

      Mr. Peffley was married in 1883, at Fort Scott, Miss Susan Martin becoming his bride.  Two daughters have been born to this union, Louise and Sara, now grown to womanhood.

      Mr. Peffley has written much of a literary character, both in verse and prose, besides numerous contributions to school journals and on political and other topics.  He handles the pen with ease and fluency and many of his productions have received the recognition of competent literary people.  But he has never had the ambition to write for money and has made no effort to get before more than his own little world in letters.