Henry E. Peebles
Henry E. Peebles, born in Virginia in 1812, began his practice of medicine in Rushville, Ohio, after studying with a local doctor. An itinerant dentist interested him in dentistry, so Peebles began the study and practice of dentistry as well. In 1842 Peebles moved his family to Lexington, Missouri, where he practiced for fourteen years. He then moved to St. Louis and quickly became a leading dentist in the city. Peebles was a charter member of the St. Louis Dental Society, founded in December 1856, and its president in 1859-60.
Peebles is credited as being the founder of the Missouri State Dental Association in 1865, having started corresponding with dentists throughout the state the previous year lobbying for the creation of a state organization and inviting their participation. Peebles served as the second president of the statewide group. He was also influential in the organization of the Missouri Dental College in 1866, serving as its first professor of Surgical and Operative Dentistry, and in the establishment of the Missouri Dental Journal in 1869.
In 1850 both the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery and the Ohio College of Dental Surgery conferred upon Peebles the honorary degree of D.D.S. Peebles was an active member of the Mississippi Valley Society of Dental Surgeons, the Western Dental Society, and the Southern Dental Association. He died in February 1871 of erysipelas and typhoid fever.