Introduction

Biography

John was the son of Reu­ben Peas­lee and Har­ri­et At­wood Wil­letts, and hus­band of Loui­se W. Wright (mar­ried 1878).

He gra­du­at­ed from Dart­mouth Col­lege in 1863, and short­ly there­af­ter be­came prin­ci­pal of a gram­mar school in Co­lum­bus, Ohio.

He moved to Cin­cin­na­ti the next year, where he re­mained in the edu­ca­tion field, ev­en­tu­al­ly be­com­ing Su­per­in­ten­dent of Schools in 1874. Dur­ing this pe­ri­od, he a­lso stu­died law and gra­du­at­ed from the Cin­cin­na­ti Law School.

He held nu­mer­ous po­si­tions, in­clud­ing pre­si­dent of the Ohio state board of ex­am­in­ers for teach­ers; trust­ee of Mi­ami Uni­ver­si­ty, Ox­ford, Ohio; and di­rect­or of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Cin­cin­na­ti.

Works

• Occasional Vers­es and Sac­red Songs (Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio: Jen­nings & Gra­ham, 1905)