From ministry to the lecture circuit
Born in Vermont in 1822, Peebles trained for the ministry and preached as a Universalist. He became a lecturer for Spiritualism and travelled extensively, addressing audiences and collecting accounts of religious practice. By 1871 his contemporary Joseph Osgood Barrett had already published a book-length biography presenting him as a spiritual pilgrim.
Peebles also wrote about health, diet and longevity. The business attached to his claims about healing attracted official scrutiny: in 1903 the chief US post-office inspector referred to the Dr Peebles Institute of Health as an earlier fraud case. Peebles lived until 1922.
A dedication to an unseen correspondent
Seers of the Ages opens by addressing Aaron Nite, whom Peebles regarded as a spirit. From that personal dedication he moves outward to examples drawn from older religious traditions, interpreting them through his own belief that human personalities survive death. The library holds the third edition. His later discussion of spirit obsession and his book on keeping young apply the same conviction to distress and ageing; their explanations belong to his historical system of belief.
