The best a serious family historian can do to seek out his ancestry is to follow every possible lead including data regarding brothers, sisters, their spouses, and their children. As obvious as this may seem to even the casual genealogist, it is a most overlooked technique that can lead to important findings pertinent to the discovery of direct ancestors.
Another rule is to keep an open mind particularly towards the spelling of names, the size of families, their possible activities, and in the acceptance of published data that is gathered in the research process.
Herein is this writer's experience during the search for the parents of Orrin Willis Pettit, born 7 July 1853, Manlius, Onondaga County, New York; married 28 August 1873 in Syracuse, Eliza Jane Walter, (widow of Charles M. Williams, who was killed in the Civil War); died 27 July 1911, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota.
The search began in the usual manner at home by reviewing the family photo album, other materials available in the way of letters, newsclips, address books, and then by consulting appropriate family members to determine how much information was already known.
A profile developed:
Orrin W. Pettit, the great-grandfather of the writer, apparently had several sisters, and one older brother. Their father was called Isaac, and he probably came from Canada. As a young man, Orrin worked on the Williams' farm in nearby Oran (Pompey Township).
Prior to the Civil War, Mr. Williams had pre-empted land in Iowa, and had planned to move there with his wife and two children. His untimely death at the Battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia, altered the lives of his family. The Widow Williams married the young farm hand, who was much her junior. They went on to Cresco, Howard County, Iowa, to develop the land that she received from her first husband's Estate. They raised the Williams children and four children of their own, but found farming there difficult and ultimately removed to Minneapolis, by 1886. The Pettit children, all born in Cresco, were: Mable Adell, born 19 December 1874, Caroline (Carrie) Viroqua, born 15 September 1876, Leander (Leon) O., born 5 January 1878, and Eva Blanche, born 22 July 1882.
Thus, was the nucleus of the Pettit family group.
It seemed too early to begin looking at Canada, since there was no knowledge of what area to look, or for that matter, what time period to search. Much more data would have to be discovered before any research could start there.
The initial trip to Sutro Library in San Francisco, California, revealed major pieces of information.
The family appeared on line 280/283 of page 180 in the 1860 Federal Census enumerated 22 day of June, 1860 in the Township of Manlius, Onondaga County, New York, as such:
Isaac Pettit 50 m Papermaker Canada Nancy " 48 f " Gideon " 17 m Apprentice " Phebe A. " 15 f " Sophia " 10 f " Mary E. " 8 f " Orrin W. " 7 f NY Caroline M. " 3 f " Nancy Elsworth 87 f Pauper "From this it could be determined when the family came from Canada, or so it seemed. It also seemed apparent that this was the extent of the family, and also that the last person listed was a candidate for mother-in-law, but this was cautiously accepted as a possibility. The death certificate for Orrin Willis Pettit eventually proved the latter to be true, even though it lists her as Ellworth.
During this visit to Sutro, it was learned that Pettits settled in America during colonization, some later migrated to New Jersey, and that some of these eventually left to join the U.E.L. in Canada. It seemed most likely that the writer's branch of the Pettits could have been among these dissenters, but Canada was still too large, and too little was yet known about Isaac and Nancy's family.
History seemed to be the next arena for learning. The writer reviewed historically oriented documents, including an atlas of Onondaga County during the 1870's, and several books (with indexes!). Only one Pettet [sic] listed in the index appeared on page 355 of Onondaga's Centennial: Gleanings of a Century, edited by Dwight H. Bruce, The Boston History Company, 1896. It was the find of a genealogist's dream! In the appendix under "Family Sketches" was the following, herein verbatim:
Pettet, William Nelson, Manlius, was born in Canada, March 30, 1837. Isaac Pettet, his father, was also a native of Canada and came to New York in 1847. He was a wagonmaker by trade and was employed by different wagonmakers in Manlius for a number of years. He was a member of the Methodist church. He died May 4, 1882, aged 69 years. His wife, Nancy Ellsworth, was also a native of Canada. She died July 12, 1884. Of this union seven children were born, four of whom are now living. William N., the oldest son, was educated in the common schools. After leaving school he engaged in farming, which occupation he has always followed. Aug. 26, 1862, he enlisted in Co. F, 149th Regt. N.Y. Vols, and served until the battle of Resaca, when he received a wound that incapacitated him from further service. In 1866 he bought a farm of 38 acres on lot 100, where he has since conducted a general line of farming. In 1856 Mr. Pettet married Sarah A. Keeling, of English ancestry, by whom he had six children: Cora, wife of Fred Suiter of Rochester; Charles, a mechanic of Cortland; James, living at home; Ida, wife of John Call, a farmer, of Manlius; Albert, a farmer; and Clarence, also living at home. A grandson, Floyd Pettet, forms a part of the family.
You can imagine the celebration even though not all details meshed with data already acquired, but the important stuff was there - enough to follow up on the Civil War lead. An application was immediately fired off to the National Archives for the file on William Nelson Pettet. Other items were examined. A plat map of landowners in the atlas showed W.N. Pettet's lot neighboring on the Williams' in Pompey. A later census enumerated grandson Floyd as a son. William lost his first wife around 1912 and remarried by 1915. You just cannot accept data to be conclusive.
In the meantime, a trip to Onondaga County included verification of the Methodist Episcopal church connection with most of the Pettits / Pettets registered as members of Christ Church in Manlius, as well as a check at the cemetery for the burials for most of the family members that stayed in Manlius. Tombstone inscriptions revealed:
William Pettet's birth as 1835.
Isaac Pettit, d. 1 May 1882 ae. 69 yrs.
Nancy, h/w d. 25 July 1883, ae. 69 yrs. 10 mo.
n.b.: A quick calculation marks the latter's birth to be circa 1813.
A stop at the Surrogate Court Clerk's Office to examine Nancy Pettit's Will
added fodder to the Canadian research program. Incidentally, documents in
her Will file give her death date variously as either 28 or 29 July 1883.
She named grown children in her Will, unknown to date, that indicated that
most of them still lived in Canada. Some in Wentworth, and others in Prince
Edward, both counties being in Ontario. The area to do Canadian research was
dwindling rapidly to only one Province!
Once home, a quick check to the library revealed that Pettits were generally living in two areas of Ontario: in particular at Grimsby, Lincoln County, on the Niagara Isthmus, where the well established U.E.L. Pettits of New Jersey settled, and at Hallowell, Prince Edward County. Again, histories and atlases were the order of the day. The two counties were examined, and the following was gleaned:
Prince Edward County was settled primarily by U.E.L. families that came from New York, by sailing north up to the St. Lawrence River, and then on to the Lake Ontario perimeter. Part of this area was struck off from Sophiasburgh and Marysburgh and called Hallowell. Eventually the whole of the area took on the name Picton.
In the course of the Canadian research at this level, even without yet knowing the actual location from which the family removed, it became too tempting to peruse several The Ontario Registers. The piece following was discovered on page 222 of Volume 1, Number 4, October 1968:
Isaac Pettit, Private of the Prince Edward Militia died on 17 March 1813 as the result of an illness contracted while on duty. The guardian of his children was Sophia Nelson. The children were: Grace born 26 Jan 1811 and Isaac born 18 May 1813. n.b.: This being among a list drawn up about 1818 or shortly thereafter. It was formerly a part of the Record Branch, Department of the Secretary of State of Canada. It can now be found in the "C" series at the Public Archives of Canada in Ottawa, (R G 8, I, m v. 703-C).
Additionally, Rev. Donald A. McKenzie's More Notices from the Methodist Papers 1830-1857, a Hunterdon House Publication, Lamberville, N.J., 1986 (LDS - Oakland Family History Center) states on page 130:
Plumpton, William of Hallowell, [married] to Sophia Nelson of Marysburgh, by Rev. William E. Norman, December 4, 1849.
Notwithstanding the father's name, the fact that the first child of Nancy and Isaac Pettit was named William Nelson, and that one of their first daughters was named Sophia, and a Grace appears in a more recent generation, leaves the writer with great hope of the possible discovery of the next generation of Pettits!
In The Ontario Register, volume 4, page 205, there appears:
An Assessment for the Township of Hollowell [sic] this Eighteenth of July, 1798 which mentions Caleb Ellsworth as an Assessor.
A chapter in the History of the Settlement of Upper Canada, (Ontario) with special reference to The Bay Quinte, by William Canniff, Dudley & Burns, Printers, Toronto, 1869, on page 479, lists the earliest settlers in the township of Hallowell, "on the first day of January 1800," among them:
Caleb and George Elsworth
(Digression is a disease of Genealogists!)
William Nelson Pettet's Civil War file finally arrived. It accurately identifies him and intermittently spells his surname as either Pettet or Pettit. Generally the earlier records use the "i" version. To this writer it seems to be a possible indication that there might have been some sort of estrangement from the family that he attempted to create. One wonders. But the data regarding his birth has brought the final clue to the most likely origin of the parents. In William's file:
The Declaration for Pension Application dated 25 May 1912 names:
William N. Pettit, . . . . . born March 30th, 1837, at Hallowell Canada West
and, another document dated 1 April, 1915 answers
Date and place of birth? March 31st, 1835 Ha Picton. Prince Edw Ont. Canada n.b.: He started to write Hallowell and crossed it out, as the town has since been renamed.
This file became the final piece of evidence that places Nancy Elsworth and Isaac Pettit in a specific location in Canada. Orrin Willis Pettit's parents have been identified and work has already begun to prove earlier Pettits and the allied lines as inferred above. But this is another chapter on the Picton Pettits.
n.b.: Those interested in corresponding with the compiler may write Cornelia L. Taylor, c/o Contract Printing, 120 - Eighth Street, San Francisco, CA 94103