The Pettit Research Project

History and Genealogy Message Board

Welcome to the Pettit Family History and Genealogy Forum!

You are currently viewing the Pettit Family History and Genealogy Forum. For more more genealogy resources visit THE PETTIT RESEARCH PROJECT.

Henry Pettit, Essex, England

Doug Pettit

With the results of the YDNA testing last year, it was determined that I am a descendant of Henry Pettit b 1572 Essex, England. Eventually I get to Joshua of Spartanburg, but I will be going to England next month and wanted to see if I can find something related to Henry Pettit. Essex is comparable to a state to us, with towns and villages, so I'm wondering if anyone has done any research on where in Essex Henry was from. I have a rental car for a day from London and will make an attempt to go there on the trip. Thanks for any help anyone can offer.

Brandon

Hey Doug,

I can't speak to the link between Joshua Pettit of Spartanburg and Henry of Essex, England because I have not researched that far. However, I do know there is supposed to be a Henrie Pettit and an Ann Pettit buried somewhere at the St Margaret of Antioch Churchyard in Toppesfield, Braintree District, Essex, England. The church is less than 2 hours from Heathrow Airport. Ann supposedly died in 1605 and Henry in 1635. That's about all I know. Maybe someone else with more info will chime in. If you could find them and photograph the gravestones that would be amazing as I do not think anyone has done that yet. I'd be more than happy to post anything you find on pettitresearch.com.

Doug Pettit

Hey Brandon! Those dates line up with what I have. I obviously misspelled the Henrie and your spelling would be more appropriate given the premise that our Pettit's came to England from France, probably during the Norman Invasion. I have a rental car for one day in London and will make this my mission for that day. I'll report back what I find. This is going to be a real ancestry trip for me. I'm already planning to see a date stone in Scotland with my 7xGGparents initials from 1691. We're also going to Paris, so if anyone has information on any family related people or places there, they can send them to me and I'll make an effort. We don't have a rental car in Paris, so we'll be limited in travel.

By the way, I have made contact with the daughter of Roger Birch who owns the property in Cow Pens where the Pettit cemetery is located. Had to do some detective work but she gave me his number and invited me to call him. I haven't yet, but will soon. I'd like to go up there in late May.

Thanks again for the info.

Brandon

I'm very excited about this, Doug and look forward to hearing about your findings. I also hear you may have made contact with some of the Georgia Pettits who are headed to Cowpens next weekend for a cemetery cleanup. Its starting to sound like there may be quite a few cousins meeting there!

Doug Pettit

Brandon Yes!! Before I could contact Mr. Birch I got a text from John Pettit and I intend to go to Cowpens on the 21st with my rake and shovel and chainsaw and hedge trimmer and do some work cleaning up the cemetery. I am beyond excited! This has been a bucket list item for me to many years so I'm really glad John reached out to include me. We'll get lots of pictures and I'll get them posted.

Doug Pettit

Brandon - just wanted to update you on some of my pre-trip research. I have been in touch with the Churchwardens at St. Margaret of Antioch church in Essex and yesterday found the Parish records online. Given all this, I am no closer to connecting Thomas (1609 Windford) with Henry than you mentioned before. It doesn't appear the town of Windford exists any longer. There is a "Winsford" but it's much farther north and all the records seem to indicate that most of the activity was in the Essex area. From my review of the Parish records, it appears Ann Pettit was likely Henry's grandmother. In 1605 at her burial the records state "she was an ancient woman 100 years old". Pretty good for that time. I believe that Henry was married to Sarah. There are records of baptisms and marriages and she is recorded as being buried in St. Margaret cemetery. They had many children, including a child Thomas, but the dates don't add up to the Thomas we need. I was going to attempt to look at other parish records for churches in Essex, but there seems to be more than 30 churches considered "historic" in Essex. Best thing to do with probably be to contact the national and area archives to pursue the information. I'll work on that in the next few days.

Brandon

Doug Pettit Doug! Thank you for the update and details of your finding thus far. I am amazed you were able to get in contact with the churchwardens so quickly. We'll be looking forward to an update on what you find.

Doug Pettit

Brandon - after two days of trying to find the connection between Thomas and Henry, and after reviewing a ton of information....Janet Wood, yours, comments on the Thomas Pettit Wiki page.......I have decided that many people far smarter than me have been looking for far longer than I have with no luck. As I said before, I am far less enthusiastic about going to visit the Henry Pettit cemetery than I was before I realized he many not be in our line. That being said, I offer my services for one day in England to go research anything you think might be useful in trying to solve the mystery of where Thomas came from. So if that means going somewhere else for the day, let me know what might be helpful. I have the rental car for one day, so can get out of London if there is somewhere I could go to look for information or records. If you have nothing, I may still go to Toppesfield in case we ever get to a point of connecting Henry to our line. I have also told Janet that I will do everything I can to encourage any Pettit I find to do the YDNA test. That seems to be one way to clear some of the roadblock.

Brandon

Doug Pettit Doug, I sense some exasperation in your voice but I commend you for bringing yourself up to speed on the challenges we have with the often repeated, never proven, lineages in England. Its been said, its not what you don't know that is the problem, its what you know that ain't so. There is a lot of work to do to find our ancestors over there but at least we know what we have to do.

Offering a day on a trip overseas to do family research is quite generous and something I hope I can help make worthwhile. I am currently finishing up a research paper on one of Joshua and Rachel's sons (Nathan Pettit) which should be done in a couple of days. After that I should be able to be of more help in figuring out a plan of attack for the British front. I am glad you made contact with Janet and I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to bring her in for advise and direction as she is very astute. I think I will look for record repositories in England with a specific focus on things that are only available locally.

Remind me again, what is the timeline of your trip?

Doug Pettit

We arrive in England the afternoon of April 1st and leave April 6. We have reservations for tours a couple days and April 5 is Easter, so nothing will be open. I have the rental car on April 3.

Doug Pettit

You have to say I'm persistent!! In researching tonight I came across an record for Thomas I (married to Christian) that indicates his father was Henri from Saffron Walden, Essex. That Henri had a bit of a different birth year than the Henry at Toppesfield (1584 vs 1572) and given the number of Henry's and Thomas' running around England at that time it would not be unheard of that these were different people. I went to the Essex Records Office in Chelmsford site and registered tonight. The churchwarden who responded previously had recommended searching there. While the towns are close, they are different and for that time they were considered far apart. The dates also indicate two different people. I sent an inquiry to the Essex Records office tonight and if I get a response, I may go there on my research day rather than Toppesfield.

The Pettit Research Project

Welcome to the Pettit Family History and Genealogy Forum!

You are currently viewing the forum. For more Pettit family genealogy please visit the main website at: THE PETTIT RESEARCH PROJECT.

You are currently viewing the forum.
For more Pettit family genealogy please visit the main website at:

THE PETTIT RESEARCH PROJECT.