Henry Petitt (spelled as he signed his name) was born 26 February 1834 in New York. He was the 9th child of the dozen or so children of Noah and Elizabeth "Betsey" (Tibbetts) Petitt who were living in Genesse county that year. The family left New York some time after the birth of Henry's younger brother, Noah, in 1836. Perhaps this move was prompted by the death of the wife and mother of the home, Betsey Tibbets Petitt. However it was, Noah, the father, had a goodly supply of older daughters to tend the younger children and do the women's work as they set out to first visit relatives in Pennsylvania on their westward trek. The oldest brother and sister of Henry had each married and established homes in New York.
Henry's other older sisters soon began to marry and leave their father and siblings. First, there was Mary, who when she was 21, became the bride of Ira F. Jacques on 1 January 1839. Then Catherine was married 4 February 1841 in Lackiwanick, Mercer county, Pennsylvania to Josiah Ward Gilbert when she was 21. The family was in Portage County, Ohio, by the time Eunice, at 18, was married there on 20 December 1841 to Martin J. Stroud.
In 1842, when Henry was eight years old, he got his one and only little sister. Noah, his father, had found a need to fill the vacancy in the household which his elder daughters had left. He had taken another wife, Mary, b. 1800 Penn., who gave birth to Henry's baby sister, Ruth, that year in Ohio.
The family migrated farther west to Illinois when Henry was a teenager and were in Winnebago county, Rockton township when the 1850 Federal Census was taken. Henry, who was 16, was helping his Dad farm as well as were his brothers Irwin 23, John 18 and Noah 14. The only girl left at home by then was little sister, Ruth, who was 8.
Henry was a resident of Illinois and twenty years old when he was married on 9 April 1854 at Newark, Rock County, Wisconsin to Sarah Mariah "Sally" Ames who was 18 and lived there. She had been born 19 May 1836 in Sullivan county, Pennsylvania. They went to live with Henry's dad, Noah, and stepmother, where their first two children were born: David Erwin in 1859 and Joseph N. 6 Sept. 1860. By this time, Henry was the only one of his father's children still at home in Shirland twp, Winnebago County. They heard, about this time also, that their daughter and sister, Catherine, her husband J.W. Gilbert and their children had arrived safely in Nebraska where they were nicely settled in Cass County.
In 1862, Capt. Jonathan H. Douglass organized Co. D 74th Illinois Regiment of Foot Volunteers in Winnebago county. Henry was 28 and he and his relatives (brother-in-law & nephew Martin & Miles Stroud) and his friends (James G. Luce, William H. Williams etc.) joined up! Henry had a slight build at 5'9", a dark complexion, hair, and eyes, when he left a tearful wife Sally and two small sons at home with his father at Rockton as he marched off to war on 7 August 1862.
Henry's first 3 months of service proved to be uneventful. However, on the march to Nashville in November, Henry was attacked. Not by a southern Reb, wild animal, or an Indian, but by a bout of rheumatism! It was so severe that he was sent home on the 26th December 1862 where he remained until 30 April 1863. When he returned to the army, he was hospitalized at Nashville where his condition was very serious. He had been a hale and hearty man when he entered the service and when he was on the mend in the hospital, had to go about on a crutch and cane.
Henry received a Disability Discharge (by surgeon's certificate) from the army on 26 May 1863 at Louisville, Kentucky. He had been hospitalized the entire previous month and the medical reason for discharge was "valvular disease of the heart." He went back home to Winnebago County and his family.
Sally gave birth to their first daughter on 25 January 1865 on their farm in Winnebago County. They named her Elizabeth M. and called her Lizzie. Another son, Horatio Oscar was born there two years later on 2 January 1867.
They were still in Winnebago County when the Illinois Federal Census was taken in 1870 but were living in the town of Pecatonica where Henry was a farm laborer. Two more sons and a daughter were born to complete their family of seven children: Frederick on 23 March 1872, Charles 7 August 1874, and Nellie 30 May 1877.
It was during this time that the above picture was taken at Beloit, Wisconsin by H.P. Dailey. Perhaps it was taken because Eunice was moving west or because they were gathered for their father's funeral. Whatever the reason, it's very nice to have a visual memento of them.
Henry began to suffer from chronic rheumatism which "affected his back, hips, and all over thought no part of his body was exempt from it" as stated by his family doctor's affidavit when Henry applied for a pension in 1882 due to his army service. The doctor added that Henry had been suffering with this disease for over five years.
The whole family was together as a unit when the 1880 Illinois Federal Census was taken and still living in Winnebago county though now in Harrison township. They had moved to Rockton in Winnebago when Henry applied for an invalid pension because "he was suffering from rheumatism and that said disability is of a permanent character, and is not the result of vicious habits, and that it incapacitates him from the performance of manual labor in such a degree as to render him unable to earn a support......" on 18 July 1890 at age 56!
They were living in Beloit, Rock County, Wisconsin when Henry became ill. He suffered about a year before he died on 8 March 1902 of nephritis and heart disease. He was 68y 10d old and was buried at Shirland, Winnebago, Ill. On 25 March that year, Sally applied for a widow's pension. She was 66. Nellie & Levi Briggs, her daughter and son-in-law, witnessed her application.
Sally applied for an increase in her pension on 29 September 1916 while still living at Beloit on 1060 Forest Ave. when she was 80 years old. She filled in the paper in her own handwriting and had a very clear, steady penmanship! She had been granted the pension increase and was receiving $25 per month when her death occurred on 5 August 1918 in Beloit.
Henry's brothers and sisters were: 1. male/female? 2. male/female? 3. Mary b 1818 N.Y. 1893 NE 4. Catherine 1820 N.Y. 1887 NE 5. Eunice 1823 N.Y. 1911 NE 6. Irwin 1827 N.Y. 7. Phebe/Phoebe 1828 N.Y. 8. John 1832 N.Y. 9. Henry 1834 N.Y. 1902 Wis. 10. Noah 1836 N.Y. or Penn?, all by first wife and 11. Ruth 1842 Ohio by Noah and 2nd wife, Mary.
POSTSCRIPT:
Eunice Pettit b 1823 New York, died 11 March 1911 Hastings, Nebraska; md Martin Stroud 20 December 1841 Portage Co., Ohio. He was born 1820 N.Y. They migrated to Nebraska in the 1870's and celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in Omaha where Martin died just three weeks later. They are buried in the beautiful GAR section of Forest Lawn Cemetery in Omaha. Martin served in the same regiment with Henry during the Civil War.
THE THREE CHILDREN OF EUNICE PETTIT & MARTIN STROUD:
| 1. | Miles Martin Stroud b 1842 Akron, Ohio died 1 April 1911 Little Rock, AK. He had three wives: 1st, Flora Betts who had children Fred, Almira, & Evan R. 2nd was Melissa Bowen who had one son Ray and third was Arminda Loftin and they had two children, Georgia and Charles Washington. |
| 2. | Amelia E. Stroud (the one standing in picture in the left back) b 1847 Wis and died 13 March 1936 Omaha, NE; md Nathaniel Drake and they had a son Wilbur and daughters Laura and Amy. When Millie was alone at nights on the wild frontier, she would bolt the door, put the children on pallets on the floor, then sit up all night in a chair watching for Indians! |
| 3. | James Frank Stroud b 12 Feb 1860 Ill, d 16 Nov 1942 Wichita, KS; md Jennie M. Drake in 1889 and they had four daughters: Lola Pearl b 1891, Letha Louella b 1893 and twins Faith Irene & Ruth Geraldine b 1906. |
Phebe/Phoebe may have married Robert Will ca 1845 in Ohio and was living next door to Noah and family in the 1850 Illinois Winnebago County census. The husband was 33 b Vt., she was 22 b N.Y. and two little girls were also listed, Elizabeth age 4 b Ohio and Amanda aged 4/12 b Ill.
Ruth Petitt -- nothing further is known of her.
REFERENCES:
1820 New York Fed Census Genesse Co., Perry twp p 242
1830 New York Fed Census Genesse co Castile twp p 151
1840 This particular family is unaccounted for in this census!
1850 Ill Fed Census Winnebago Co Rockton twp De #21
1860 Ill Fed Census Winnebago Co Shirland twp p 623 & 624
1870 Ill Fed Census Winnebago Co. t/o Pecatonica De #47
1880 Ill Fed Census Soundex--Winnebago Co. Harrison twp.
Henry Petitt Pension file #339565, National Archives, Wash D.C. Salley (Ames) Pettit Widow's Pension File #538563, National Archives, Wash D.C.
| Family records of | Pat Vandemeer, 18265 Trower Ct., Fountain Valley, CA 92709 Marianne Montgomery, 4106 N. 27th St., Tacoma, WA 98407 Mary E. Anders, 1717 Avenue B, Scottsbluff, NE 69361 |
Note: Eunice is the ancestress of Pat & Marianne, Catherine is the ancestress of Mary.