John (John R.) Peele

John R. Peele is known for From North Carolina to Southern California Without a Ticket and How I Did It, a memoir first published in 1907. In the book, he recounts a long trip across the United States made with very little money, describing his experiences riding the rails, meeting strangers, and navigating unfamiliar places.

Project Gutenberg's edition notes that Peele was from Tarboro, North Carolina and was nineteen years old at the time the story was presented to readers. That youth gives the memoir much of its energy: it reads like the record of someone driven by restlessness, curiosity, and a willingness to take real risks.

Very little biographical information about Peele appears to be widely documented beyond this work. Even so, his memoir has lasted because it offers a vivid personal glimpse of travel, hardship, and adventure in the American South and West at the start of the twentieth century.