The following info has documentation. If anyone would like copies, please contact me. I am the GGG-Granddaughter of John Sitton. Patricia Dacus

John Sitton married Frances Halbert (daughter of John Hill Halbert and Margaret Harper), on Jan 1, 1815 in Pendleton, SC.

Feb 15, 1827 John Sitton received a patent for the invention of the Wheel-wright's Assistant. He lived in Pendleton, SC.

Feb 28, 1831 John and his wife Frances lost their young son. The Pendleton Messenger printed on March 9, 1831, " "Died on the 28th ult., in Pickens District, John Halbert Sitton, son of John Sitton Jr., aged 9 months and 14 days - the youngest and only brother to seven sisters."

1838/1839 - John and Frances Sitton travelled to MS on a wagon train that included a number of family members. Frances's parents had moved to MS in 1818. Frances gave birth to a son in MS in 1839 and she died on Nov 24, 1839. The following was printed in the Greenville Mountaineer South Carolina newspaper on Dec 20, 1839. ""Departed this life on the 24th of November last in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, Mrs. Frances Sitton, consort of John Sitton Esq., formerly of Pickens District, S.C., leaving a doting husband, nine daughters and an infant son to mourn their irreparable loss."

1840 Census in Oktibbeha County, MS., page 17 - The following people in this order: Percival P Halbert (Frances's brother), Lemuel W Dakus (Dacus) who was married to John & Frances's daughter Margaret, Anderson Austin who was married to Lemuel Dacus's sister Martha, skip a few lines down to Arthur C
Halbert (Frances's brother), John Sitton. On the following page were Hamilton Burdine who was married to John & Frances's daughter Frances Caroline and William Yeager who was married to John & Frances's daughter Martha Jane.

1850 Census in Oktibbeha County, MS - John Sitton with 13 year old daughter Susan and 11 year old son William.

June 14, 1851, Dec 25, 1852 and April 9, 1853 - The Southern Standard newspaper in Columbus, MS printed articles about John Sitton, the inventor, who lived in Columbus. The 1851 article says he was working on an important new invention along with other gentlemen in Columbus. The 1852 article says he lives in Columbus, MS and was the inventor of the Wheel-wright's Assistant. The 1853 article stated that John Sitton had made arrangements to exhibit his Wheel-wright's Assistant at the New York World's Fair.

John Halbert died on July 7, 1854. His Last Will & Testament was probated in Lowndes County, MS in Aug 1854. In the will he lists each of his children. The following reference is to his deceased daughter Frances and her children. "My daughter Frances Sitton deceased, her children which are Elvira Looper of S.C., Margarit Ducas, Francis Burdine (now dead her children to have their mother's part), Sarah Maulding, Martha Yager, Elizabeth Miller, Septema Bartlet, Octivea Spencer, Susan Sitton, William Arthur Sitton, have their part that would have fallen to their deceased parent Francis."

By 1855 John had moved back to South Carolina where he married the widowed Elizabeth Ann Cochran Bell. They had a daughter, Ella, born Aug 26, 1856. Baby Ella died in 1857 and is buried in Big Creek Cemetery.

Aug 1, 1856, the Abbeville Press and Banner in Abbeville, SC printed an article about the village of Williamston, Anderson County, SC. John Sitton was mentioned as an inventor who lived in the town. The following is a quote, "Mr. Sitton is one of those men whose genius is of no common character."

Oct 14, 1856 - The United States Patent Office – John Sitton of Williamston, SC – Wheelwright's Machine – Patent No. 15901. Be it known that I, John Sitton, of Williamston, in the county of Anderson and state of
South Carolina, have invented new and useful improvements upon a machine for making carriage wheels, secured to me by Letters Patent of the United States bearing date February 15, 1827.

Dec 5, 1856 - The Charleston Daily Courier in Charleston, SC printed an article. "Awards by the Board of Directors of the South Carolina Institute - John Sitton, Williamston SC, - For machine for making Wheel Felloes, apparently a valuable and useful invention – a silver medal."

1860 Census in Williamston, Anderson County, SC - John Sitton and his wife Elizabeth Ann and their baby daughter Mary Jane who was born in 1860.

Dec 4, 1865 John Sitton wrote his Last Will & Testament. He left everything to his wife and at her death to their daughter Mary. He stated he felt he had already provided for his other children. Two of the witnesses were B. F. Mauldin who was the Baptist preacher in Williamston and R. W. Todd who was a neighbor (he was on the same 1860 census page). The will was probated in May 1866 in Anderson County, SC. John died sometime between Dec 4, 1865 and May 1866.

John and Frances's children: 1) Mary Elvira Looper died in 1891. She and her husband, Rev. Thomas
Looper, are buried in Dacusville, SC. 2) Margaret Dacus died after 1900 although we have not discovered the exact year. She is buried in Milligan Springs Cemetery in Webster County, MS. 3) Frances Caroline Burdine died on Sept. 16, 1848 in Choctaw County, MS. Her husband Hamilton Burdine remarried and returned to SC. His son by his 2nd wife, George Mullinax Burdine, came to MS and married Dixie Dacus, the daughter of Lemuel and Margaret Dacus. 4) Sarah Anne Mauldin died in 1871. She and her husband, Ransom Mauldin, are buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Water Valley, MS. 5) Martha Yeager died around 1900. She and her husband William Franklin Yeager are buried in Odd Fellows Cemetery
in Starkville, MS. 6) Harriet Octavia married twice. The 1st husband was James Spencer who died when she was 29 and had 3 children, and the 2nd husband was Shackleford Carden who died in the Civil War in 1862 when she was 37, leaving her with 2 more children. She died in 1896 in MS but it is unknown where she is buried. 7) Elizabeth Miller died in 1897 at the home of her daughter in Biloxi and is buried in Biloxi City Cemetery. 8) Eliza Septema Bartlett died in 1888 and she and her husband Joshua Bartlett are buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Water Valley. 9) We do not have any information on Susan Sitton after she was mentioned in John Hill Halbert's will in 1854. 10) William Arthur Sitton moved to Texas where he was a carriage maker. He had a daughter who died in 1948 in Brownwood, TX. He was issued a patent in 1877 for a carriage axle box. We believe he died in the 1880's when he lived in Cleburne, TX.

John Sitton's youngest daughter Mary, by his wife Elizabeth Ann, moved to Houston, TX with her mother after John died. She married Charles Griffin and had a son, but after the birth of her son in 1880 there is no other information on her. Either she had died by 1891 when her husband remarried or they were divorced.

Patricia Dacus, GGG-Granddaughter of John Sitton, can provide copies of documents to anyone who requests them.