Peyton Guyn Hale was born in Elk Creek, Virginia, on June 29, 1821, served as a member of the House of Delegates from 1874 to 1877 and of the state Senate from 1879 to 1882, was one of the “Big Four,” a group that resisted many proposals of the Readjusters, and died in Elk Creek on December 25, 1885.