PEYTON, Balie, congressman, born in Sumner county, Tennessee, 26 November, 1803; died in Gallatin, Tennessee, 19 August, 1878. He was educated at a private school, adopted the profession of law, was a representative to congress in 1833-'7, having been elected as a Whig, and in 1837 removed to Louisiana, where he was United States district attorney. In 1841 he declined the secretaryship of war During the Mexican war he served on the staff of General William J. Worth. He was United States minister to Chili in 1849-'53, and subsequently went to California, in which state he resumed practice, he returned to Tennessee in 1859, was a presidential elector in 1860 on the Bell-Everett ticket, and was an ardent Unionist, throughout the war consistently throwing his influence on the national side He resumed his profession in 1865, served in the state senate, and was an unsuccessful candidate for congress. His brother, Joseph H., was a member of congress in 1843-'5.--His cousin, Ephraim Geoffrey, jurist, born near Elizabethtown, Kentucky, 29 October, 1802; died in Jackson, Mississippi, 5 September, 1876, was educated at Gallatin college, Tennessee, but left before graduation to emigrate to Mississippi. After many hardships he found employment in a printing office, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1824. He subsequently settled in Gallatin, Mississippi, served one term in the legislature, became district attorney in 1839, and after several years returned to his profession. He bitterly opposed secession, and after the civil war joined the Republican party He was appointed a judge of the state supreme court in 1868, and was chief justice from 1870 till his retirement in 1875.