Jonathan J. Pettit, son of Joab Pettit and Nancy Thomas, was born in Loudoun County, Virginia, November 9, 1806. His mother lived to the great age of ninety-nine, her death then being the result of an accident. She was walking on a stone floor, when her cane slipped, and she fell, breaking her hip. She has always been a very active woman, was highly esteemed by all who knew her, and had been a member of the Methodist Church for over sixty years. Mr. Pettit was married in Middletown, in 1844, to Susan Bridge, who was born in this county, in 1811. She is the daughter of William Bridge and Rebecca Grimes, who came to this county in 1804, and settled in Middletown. James Grimes, the grandfather of Susan Bridge, was a local Methodist Episcopal preacher, the first Methodist sermon that was ever preached in Middletown being delivered in his house, that being used as the church for a number of years. In this part of the county he was a cabinet maker, and used to make the coffins, and then go and preach the funeral sermon. The house mentioned was located on what is now known as East Fourth Street, but was then known as East Green Street. He died at the age of eighty-seven, in March, 1845. Mr. Pettit's grandfather was in the War of 1812. Jonathan J. Pettit came to Middletown in 1843. He is a builder and brickmaker and layer. He has been a member of the Methodist Church for over fifty-four years, having joined in 1828.