Hairston, Peter Wilson, 1819-1886

Peter Wilson Hairston (1819-1886), tobacco planter of southwestern Virginia and north central North Carolina, Confederate soldier, and commission merchant. Other prominent family members include Peter Wilson Hairston's great- grandfather, Major Peter Hairston (1752-1832); his grandmother, Ruth Stovall Hairston (1784-1869); his stepgrandfather, Robert Hairston (1782-1852); and his second wife, Frances McCoy Caldwell Hairston (1835-1907). Through his first wife, Columbia Stuart Hairston (d. ca. 1858), Hairston was also related to Jeb Stuart (1833-1864), under whom he served in the Civil War.

Peter Wilson Hairston (1819-1886), tobacco planter of southwestern Virginia and north central North Carolina, Confederate soldier, and post Civil War commission merchant of Baltimore, grew up on Oak Hill Plantation in Pittsylvania County, Va. The son of Samuel Hairston (1788-1875) and Agnes John Peter Wilson (1801-1880), he received an A.B. in 1837 from the University of North Carolina before inheriting several plantations from his great-grandfather, Major Peter Hairston; his grandparents, Robert and Ruth Stovall Hairston; and other relatives. Hairston first married Columbia Stuart, who died circa 1858, leaving him two children, Elizabeth and Samuel. A year later he married Frances McCoy Caldwell (1835-1907) of Salisbury, N.C. Together they had five children: Samuel (1850-1867); Peter W. (1871-1943); Francis Caldwell (1862-1902); Agnes Wilson (1860-1914); and Ruth Wilson (1869-1947).

In the early 1840s, Hairston lived in Pittsylvania County. By the late 1850s, he had taken up residence at Cooleemee Hill Plantation in Davie County, N.C. In addition to growing tobacco, he operated a mill on the Yadkin River. During the Civil War, he served as an aide to his former brother-in-law, Jeb Stuart, in the 1st Regiment of the Virginia Cavalry Volunteers, and to Jubal Anderson Early in the Army of Northern Virginia. After the war, he moved to Baltimore, where he started a commission merchant business, Herbert & Hairston.

Peter Wilson Hairston's great-grandfather Major Peter Hairston (1752-1832) was a tobacco planter in Stokes, Surry, and Davie counties, N.C. Educated at the University of Virginia, he rose to the rank of major during the Revolution. In 1786, Hairston took up tobacco planting at Sauratown Hill Plantation in Stokes County. In 1817, he purchased Cooleemee Hill Plantation. Hairston married Alcey Perkins, daughter of Peter Perkins, and had one daughter, Ruth Stovall Hairston (1784-1869). Upon his death in 1832, he left the bulk of his lands to Ruth. Ruth's first marriage was to Peter Wilson, by whom she had one daughter, Agnes John Peter Wilson, who was the mother of Peter Wilson Hairston. After Peter Wilson's death, Ruth married her father's nephew, Robert Hairston, a tobacco planter of Henry County, Va., who also grew cotton in Columbus, Miss.

Peter Wilson Hairston (1871-1943) married Margaret George (1884-1963) and had two sons, Peter Wilson Jr. (born in 1913) and Nelson George (born in 1917). They lived at Cooleemee (Hill) Plantation. Peter W. Hairston Jr. attended the University of North Carolina School of Law and served as a judge in North Carolina. Nelson G. Hairston attended the University of North Carolina as an undergraduate, and worked in the World Health Organization. He also taught as a professor in the Department of Commerce (later called the Kenan-Flagler Business School) at the University of North Carolina. Both sons fought in World War II.