Peyton, Jesse Enlaws, an American patriot; born in Mayesville, Ky., Nov. 10, 1815. He assisted in the liquidation of Henry Clay's debts; was a founder of the Constitutional Union Party in 1860; was sent by President Lincoln on a mission to Kentucky to dissuade that state from seceding; and during the Civil War organized at his own expense
three regiments for the Union army. He was instrumental in promoting the centennial celebration of Independence Day, Bunker Hill Day, Yorktown (Va.) Day, and of the inauguration of American constitutional government, and at the time of his death was organizing an international celebration of the birth of Christ to be held in Jerusalem in 1900. He died in Haddonfield, N.J., April 28, 1897. He was popularly known as "the father of celebrations."
Entry from Everybody's Cyclopedia, 1912.