Bill Peach, born William Strickland Peach, is an accomplished author, philosopher, blogger, social activist, entrepreneur and preacher so sayeth the various biographies I found online. All true, I believe. But his day job for many, many years was that of a men’s clothier. He and his wife, Emily, owned the Pigg & Peach men’s clothing store which is located in the Historic Downtown part of Franklin, Tennessee.

The South Side of Boston is the second book of five he’s written according to his publisher’s website. It’s a charming childhood memoir of an eight-year-old Bill, set against the backdrop of rural Tennessee in the 1940s. One of my favorite passages – and there were many of them – is below.

“You can’t always tell when Mammy [his grandmother] is wondering and when she is thinking. She doesn’t talk much. Most of the time you have to listen to her with your eyes. She said you learned things when you were thinking, but when you were wondering you were thinking about things that maybe you weren’t supposed to know.”

The book is out of print but I was able to find it easily from used booksellers on Amazon.com.

I would not have known of Bill Peach, our common ancestry or his books had it not been for another Peachy cousin, John Harding Peach, a genealogist extraordinaire. But, I’ll save John Harding’s story for another entry.

Kenfolk: Tranthams
Relation: 5th cousin, 1x removed
Common ancestors: Bill is a descendant of John Peach and Sealey Trantham, a sister to my 4th great grandfather, Jesse Trantham (or Trentham if you live in Tennessee).

References:
Peach, B. (1995). The South Side of Boston. Franklin, TN: Hillsboro Press.