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Austin S Pettit

EStevens

I am researching a DNA cluster that has a large number of matches that are descendants of Joshua Pettit and Rachel Monroe. A small group are descendants of Austin S Pettit (Oct 1828 Spartanburg County, South Carolina to 1 Aug 1912 Polk, Arkansas) who appears to have been married to Mary Ann "Mollie" Clem (9 Oct 1837 Paris, Edgar, Illinois to 24 Jul 1920 Mena, Polk, Arkansas). I am stuck in trying to find Austin Pettit's parents to see how this cluster comes together. Is there a tree of the Spartanburg Pettits that might have Austin's name on it? I greatly appreciate any clarification that can be provided. Elizabeth

Census records show Austin Pettit located:
1850 Oxford, Butler, Ohio as a carpenter living with his sister Nancy Pettit Van Hons? (Van Horn?). Nancy was born about 1812 in South Carolina. So Austin and Nancy Pettit were children of ?? Pettit in Spartanburg, SC.

1860 Simms, Edgar, Illinois (Post office: Paris)
1870 Symmes, Edgar, Illinois as a carpenter
1880 Atlas, Pike, Illinois as a carpenter
1900 Big Fork, Polk, Arkansas as a renter of a farm
1910 Rockbridge, Greene, Illinois as a carpenter living with their son-in-law William Mefford

Austin's middle initial is either S or A.

Brandon

Hello. Thanks for the question and the helpful information.

I do not have Austin Pettit in my tree for the descendants of Joshua and Rachel Pettit. There is a possibility he is unaccounted for though. Let's see if we can narrow things down a little.

First let me ask, do you know if any male Pettit descendants of Austin Pettit have participated in a Y-DNA test? This would be the fastest way to get a conclusive answer for you. Descendants of each son of Joshua and Rachel Pettit have taken Y-DNA tests and enabled researchers at the Pettit Pilgrim DNA group to identify the unique profile of each of Joshua's sons. Please contact me if you know someone who would like to do a Y-DNA test if this hasn't been done.

If Austin Pettit is from Spartanburg County, SC and was born in 1828 he is likely going to be the grandson of Henry Pettit (b1763) Joshua Pettit Jr, Benjamin Pettit (b1769), John Pettit (b1771) or Nathan Pettit (b1775).

Henry Pettit Sr's line has been thoroughly worked out and it is not likely Austin is from his family.

Benjamin's family has also been documented pretty well but I would say there is still a small chance Austin could be one of his grandsons. And I mean a very small chance.

John Pettit's family is still being researched and documented. There is ample room for Austin here, though there is no evidence that I am aware of to suggest this is where he belongs. Moving to Ohio is also not consistent with John's descendants migration patterns.

Nathan Pettit is the only son that moved north and west. All the others stayed in the south. Nathan moved to IL, MO and back to IL. His male lines are thought to have died out.

However, there was one grandson unaccounted for when his estate was settled who was thought to be living in Ohio. His father, Thomas, had died and he moved to Ohio with his mother. His name was Oscar which sounds a bit like Austin. The estate record says "one or two heirs in Ohio." If you say Austin has a sister there with him then this is very intriguing. In light of this, I think we should focus on Nathan Pettit as the possible grandfather of Austin Pettit.

I have quite a bit of info on Nathan that I have not published. I have also spent a fair amount of time looking for his lost grandchild but I was looking under the name Oscar. I will look through my records tonight and report back. Please let me know your thoughts.

EStevens

Thank you for your thoughtful response. I've not worked with the Y-DNA test before. For it to be useful, does the descendant being tested need to be a male Pettit with a straight line of male Pettits back to Austin Pettit? So far the descendants I see are descended from Austin's daughter. I'll work down from his sons to see if I can find any DNA matches. The sons I see for Austin Pettit:
Hiram F Pettit (1858- before1900) Born Illinois. Lived in Missouri.
Benjamin Riley Pettit (1863-1951) Born Illinois. Died Missouri. He has a few sons.
William Austin Pettit (1864-1948) Born Illinois. Died California. Looks like 1 son.
Charles Alfred Pettit (1869-1938) Born Missouri. Died Missouri.
Clem Pettit (1872-1951) Born Arkansas. Died Missouri. Looks like 1 son.

At some point I ran across something that Austin Pettit's parents may have been Benjamin F Pettit (South Carolina) and Nancy Colvin (South Carolina) but I have nothing to back that up or validate this.

What I'm researching is a cluster of 123 DNA matches, most of whom I've built trees for in hopes of identifying the connection to my 90 year old 2C1R's tree. His great great grandfather is unknown. Mr. X would be my 3x great. This cluster of 123 has a large group of descendants from Joshua and Rachel Pettit. Another subgroup are descendants of Annatje Hannah Westfall and George Osborne. And the surname Preisch is coming up as well. I mention this just in case any of those names might have meaning.

In the meantime, I'll drill down into Austin's sons to see if any DNA matches that could be tested.

Brandon

Hi Elizabeth,

Yes, for YDNA to be useful it must be a male Pettit descended directly down the male line from Austin. If a tester could be found meeting this criteria we could significantly narrow down his list of parental candidates through either process of elimination or a direct match.

The fact that he has a son named Hiram and one named Benjamin is curious. Joshua 1734 and Rachel had a son named Benjamin born in 1769. He had son name Hiram 1805-1880. This Hiram moved with his sister's family to Bartow Co., GA. I have no record of him ever marrying or having children. The similar usage of names (Benjamin/Hiram) may be just a coincidence.

I have quite a number of Benjamin F Pettits in the Spartanburg clan but do not recognize a Nancy Colvin.

Regarding that 1850 census in Oxford, OH you mentioned... Are you confident Nancy Pettit VanHorn is his sister? She is just barely old enough to be his mother. If this were the case she may have remarried after her Pettit husband died.

EStevens

Good point. I was assuming Austin went to Ohio under the protection of a big sister, but that Nancy could well have been his very young mother. Austin may have gone with his mother and two younger half sisters. Might this even be the Nancy Colvin? I'm going to explore further.

Yesterday I made a spreadsheet listing DNA matches in this cluster that are offspring of each of Joshua 1734 & Rachel Pettit's children. The Y-DNA research may well have contributed as the initial groups are all descended from their sons. The largest group of matches are descendants of Joshua Pettit Jr (1773). The descendants of Henry 1763 and Benjamin 1769 are each half the amount of their brother. So far I'm not showing for the other children but I'm still working on DNA matches to see if I can find a Pettit connection. It looks like I may have DNA matches going back to older generations of Pettit e.g. Joshua 1734's parents, etc. Thank you for mentioning the use of names Hiram and Benjamin. Coincidence or tradition... we'll see.

Brandon

Had the chance to do a little work on this mystery this afternoon. Right now I'm just compiling information on Austin and his family. I note that, according to a marriage license, Nancy VanHorn's prior name in 1837 was Nancy Pettit. She married James A VanHorn on April 11, 1837.

I also note that she has a 24 year old Benjamin F. Pettit living in her household in 1860 in Edgar, IL. He would have been born about 1836. My initial thought is this is likely a brother of Austin Pettit. If this is the case, then Austin's father was still in the picture in around 1836 but was gone by April 11, 1837 when Nancy remarried. I don't yet know if he died or if they divorced but I think 1836 is a good year to focus some research.

Also, on the agenda is running down this Benjamin F. Pettit to see what info he may be hiding.

Brandon

I have ran across some information that may prove this Austin Pettit was indeed the grandson of Nathan Pettit 1775. Austin Pettit is mentioned in a chancery suit along with several other children and grandchildren of Nathan Pettit.

If he is indeed a descendant of Nathan Pettit this is a wonderful discovery. This line was thought to be extinct. I hope to be able to put an article together on this soon.

If at all possible, we need to find a male Pettit who is a descendant of Austin and/or Benjamin F to do a YDNA test. The cost of the test will be fully covered by The Pettit Research Project.

EStevens

YES! I had just pegged Benjamin as potential brother of Austin, and was looking at timeline of marriages. I so appreciate your help and hope this generates information that expands knowledge of the Pettit family history.

EStevens

I likely only have partial information.
Was Nathan Pettit 1775 married to Levina McCollum?
Sons of Nathan that I have:
Joseph Pettit 1810 Spartanburg - 1868 Walker Twp, Hancock, Illinois
Nathan Pettit 1815 Illinois - ?
Daughter:
Keziah Pettit 1803 S Carolina married Anthony Wells

Does any of this mesh with what you're finding? Could Joseph or Nathan or another son be Austin's father?

My 5 year project has been trying to identify the unknown father of Armstrong Willoughby b. 1840 in southern Indiana. Unfortunately there's no living direct male ancestor of Armstrong so a Y-DNA test wasn't feasible. Armstrong Willoughby's mother, Ann Willoughby, was born in 1808 Pennsylvania. She and her parents travelled by wagon train to Warren County, Ohio, where they lived for a while, and then they moved south to the Spencer, Owen, Indiana area. She was 32 when Armstrong was born. It seems Austin's father might be in the same age group as Ann. Austin's parents appear to have split up? about 1836. Armstrong was born in 1840. Austin's daughter Amanda's second husband was Elijah Will Willoughby who appears to be part of the East Coast Willoughbys. Armstrong Willoughby's son had a place in Everton, Arkansas. Austin Pettit is buried in Mena, Arkansas. This DNA cluster I'm working on has descendents of Joshua Pettit's 1734 sons: Henry, Benjamin, Joshua Jr 1773, and now maybe Nathan. I've been unable to connect this DNA cluster to my tree after 5 years and building hundreds of trees. Maybe just several coincidences, or Austin's father may be who I'm looking for?

EStevens

Is there a reliable tree, or listing of documented children and grandchildren of Joshua Pettit & Rachel Monroe, that you can point me to? I'm in the process of showing how a large group of DNA matches are descendants.

Janet Wood

EStevens https://pettitresearch.com/familyhistory/2021/01/02/the-full-list-of-children-of-joshua-pettit-b1734-and-rachel-pettit-of-spartanburg-sc-based-on-the-best-supporting-documentation-available/

Brandon

After sorting through a lot of confusing records, I think the father of Austin and Benjamin F Pettit and husband of Nancy is Thomas Pettit, son of Nathan Pettit 1775 of Spartanburg Co., SC. Thomas was born in 1800.

It looks like Thomas Pettit moved to Butler Co., OH between 1828 and 1830. (His father Nathan also moved in this time frame to IL)

Thomas was living in Butler Co., OH in 1830 when the census was taken. The 1830 census shows only one child, a male, under age 5 which would probably be Austin.

Thomas probably died sometime before 1837 when Nancy Pettit remairred James Vanhorn in Butler Co., OH.

I am not sure what became of James Vanhorn but by 1850 he was out of the picture.

Nancy Vanhorn was found in Butler Co., OH in 1850 with Austin Pettit in her home.

Benjamin F. Pettit was in Butler Co., in 1850 in the home of Dr. Fithian.

Nancy, Austin and Benjamin F moved to Edgar IL by the time of the 1860 census.

The 1858 chancery suit involving the heirs of Nathan Pettit said that they were all living in IL at the time the case was advertised in the newspaper. The suit lists Austin Pettit as the heir of Thomas Pettit who was deceased. Other papers in Nathan Pettit's will box indicate Thomas Pettit left "one or two heirs in Ohio". This was probably before Austin and Benjamin F Pettit moved from Ohio to IL.

The Benjamin Pettit and Nancy Vanhorn who married in 1825 in Lewis Co., KY is probably unrelated. This Benjamin Pettit was in Green township, OH in the 1830 census. They seemed to stay in Green Township, OH and they're probably a different group. Green township is across the border from Lewis Co., KY where he was married.

This means Nathan Pettit's line is NOT extinct as previously thought and I would be VERY interested in finding a male Pettit from both the Austin and Benjamin F lines to do a Y-DNA test so we can compare them to the other sons of Joshua and Rachel.

EStevens

If I run across male Pettit descendants I'll definitely let you know. Fingers crossed that one can be found to test. I really appreciate the information you've shared.

Janet Wood

EStevens There are definitely male Pettitt's living who descend from this man:https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/66667307/benjamin_riley-pettit
Many of them are in Hannibal Co., MO but I think there's plenty of other's in different places. I've found a few on Facebook and sent messages. Sometimes I hear back, sometimes not. Lot's of people are fearful of replying due to scammers.

EStevens

Janet Wood Thank you for sharing this link!

EStevens

Brandon, I've found a direct male descendant of Austin Pettit. What's the best way to put you two in contact re doing a Y-DNA test?

Brandon

EStevens

Great news, Elizabeth! I will email you shortly.

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