DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, straight from the record in Dallas County. John C. Pelt came into this world in 1877, born over in Ellis County.
But life shifted on him early — his father died in 1880, when John was just a small boy, and his mother Sarah, who'd been a Seymour before her marriage, remarried and moved on. So young John headed to Duncanville, to live with his paternal Aunt Anna and her husband, Charles Barker. Now, a lot of people might've let that kind of uprooting define them.
John Pelt apparently decided to define Duncanville instead. By 1896, he'd married Lee Olah Grounds — born in 1879, and she'd outlive him by a wide margin, passing in 1964 — and together they raised several children. The man kept busy.
He worked as the county road overseers commissioner, and somewhere along the way he picked up a hammer and didn't put it down, becoming a carpenter and builder. He constructed numerous homes and buildings right there in Duncanville. One of them is still standing today as Central Elementary School.
In 1927, he built the family home right here on this very site. And if building a school and raising a family and holding public office weren't enough, Pelt was deep in the fabric of community life — local politics, the Christian Church, the Lion's Club, the Masonic lodge. That last one, the Masonic lodge, was named for him after his death in 1948.
Not a bad legacy for a boy who once had to find his footing in somebody else's house.
What the marker says
John C. Pelt (1877-1948) was born in Ellis County. After his father's death in 1880, his mother, Sarah (Seymour) remarried. He moved to Duncanville to live with his paternal Aunt Anna and her husband, Charles Barker. In 1896, he wed Lee Olah Grounds (1879-1964) with whom he had several children. He worked as the county road overseers commissioner and became a carpenter and builder, constructing numerous homes and buildings in Duncanville, including what is now Central Elementary School. Pelt built his family home at this site in 1927. He led an active life, participating in local politics, the Christian Church, the Lion's Club, and the Masonic lodge, named for him after his death. (2005)