Pettit Family Genealogy and History
Pettit Family History, Genealogy, Message Board, Research Papers and Blog
The Valentine family was decimated by smallpox in the late winter of 1766. Two minor Pettit grandchildren were named as heirs. The Valentine, Baker, Osborn and Pettit families lived very near each other in the Stony Hill and Scotch Plains area near the Green Brook.
The reason Joshua Pettit’s petition cannot be found in the record books of the Court of Common Pleas is because he was not a free man. He was in one of the jails in Essex County for the “crime” of being an insolvent debtor.
Joshua Pettit traveled the South Branch, VA area and stopped in at the Steenbergen Ordinary at various times in 1767, 1768 and 1770. This Joshua Pettit was there in 1768 at the same time as Richard Pearis.