ETHA LUCINDA "ETHA" (MCMILLON) PETTIT
(January 17, 1845 - July 30, 1893)

(((((The old picture of the Pettit family was taken in 1893 in Wills Point, Van Zandt County, TX. Those pictured were: L-R; #1 Sallie (Pettit) Baker, #2 John Wesley Pettit, #3 Hiram Pettit, #4 Robert Scott Pettit, #5 Etha Lucinda (McMillon) Pettit, #6 Alvis Pettit, #7 Lucinda May (Pettit) Patterson, #8 Fanny (Pettit) Price & #9 Nannie (Pettit) Gilbert. If you enlarge and look closely, you can see numbers on the picture. It was taken in front of the Pettit homeplace, N. of town which is now covered over by a lake. John Wesley Pettit's children, Ben, Maggie, Mary Susan, Ollie, James R. & John H. are not pictured. Maggie, James R. & John H. died very, very young. Ben, Mary Suzi and Ollie would have already left home)))))

Etha Lucinda "Etha" (McMillon) Pettit was born January 17, 1845 in Tennessee.

Her father's name was William M. McMillon, and her mother's name was Lucinda (McDaniel) McMillon. Lucinda was born April 11, 1819 in Lincoln County, Tennessee. William and she married August 17, 1841 in Lincoln County, Tennessee. She died February 27, 1893 in Van Zandt County, Texas.

Etha Lucinda "Etha" (McMillon) Pettit and her brothers and sisters were Mary Jane (McMillon) Pettit-born February 11, 1843 in Tennessee, Etha Lucinda (McMillon) Pettit-born January 17, 1845 in Tennessee-died July 30, 1893 in Van Zandt County, TX, William P. McMillon-born in 1948 in Lauderdale County, Alabama, Wylie Reed McMillon-born July 4, 1852 in Lauderdale County, Alabama and James J. McMillon-born October 21, 1953 in Lauderdale County, Alabama-died December 30, 1934 Point, Point County, TX.

Etha Lucinda "Etha" McMillon's older sister of 2 years, Mary Jane McMillon married John Wesley Pettit December 3, 1860. They had two children, and then she died in 1868.

The names of the two (2) children who were born to J.W. Pettit and his first wife, Mary Jane (McMillon) Pettit, were Maggie Pettit-born January 7,1862 in Florence, Lauderdale County, Alabama and Benjamin Thomas "Ben" Pettit-born September 2, 1865 in Florence, Lauderdale County, Alabama (buried at Grove Hill Cemetery, Dallas County, TX). Maggie & Ben's mother, Mary Jane died when Ben was only 3 years old.

Etha Lucinda "Etha" McMillon married John Wesley "J. W." Pettit November 14, 1869 in Lauderdale County, Alabama, and they had all the other children.

The names of the eleven (11) children who were born to J. W. and Etha Pettit were Mary Susi (Pettit) McDonald-born December 30, 1870 in Texas, John Henry Pettit-born January 19, 1872-died very young (Cedar Grove Cemetery, Kaufman County, TX), James Reed Pettit-December 23, 1873-January 20, 1875-also died very young (Cedar Grove Cemetery, Kaufman County, TX), Ollie Pettit-born March 27, 1875, Sallie Laverna (Pettit) Baker-September 8, 1876 - October 14, 1931 (Valliant Cemetery, Valliant, McCurtain County, Oklahoma), Nanny (Pettit) Gilbert-born February 25, 1878, Robert Scott Pettit-July 18, 1880-August 18, 1949 (White Rose Cemetery, Van Zandt County, TX), Lucinda May (Pettit) Patterson-born November 18, 1882-buried in San Antonio, Texas-Fanny (Pettit) Price-born July 13, 1884 and died in 1918 (White Rose Cemetery, Van Zandt County, TX), Hiram Pettit-born December 8, 1886 and Alvis Pettit-born February 28, 1889.

One of John Wesley and Etha (McMillon) Pettit's daughters, Fanny (Pettit) Price died when she was only about 34 years old. One of Fanny's daughters told me that, after Fanny died, their father left home one day, and she and her siblings never saw nor heard from him again! Fanny's brother, Robert Scott Pettit and his wife, Clara finished raising her children. I understand that some of the children even took Pettit as their last name rather than Price.

ETHA LUCINDA "ETHA" (MCMILLON) PETTIT died in Wills Point, Van Zandt County, Texas on July 30, 1893 when she was only 48 years old. She must have passed away soon after the group picture on here was taken. I was told that the picture was taken in 1893. The picture was taken in front of J. W. and Etha Pettit's home place in Wills Point, TX. (You have to click on "photos" to see all the photos.) The property where the old home place was located in Wills Point, Texas has since been covered over by a man-made lake.

Both, Etha Lucinda (McMillon) Pettit and her husband, John Wesley Pettit were buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery, Kaufman County, Texas. There is a headstone for both, and hers is pictured on this findagrave memorial page. John Wesley Pettit's headstone is pictured on his findagrave memorial page.

I have have been told by different distant relatives, that Etha Lucinda's name was: Ethelinda or Ether Linda. My aunt who had a family bible told me that it was Etha Lucinda, and I believe that I would rather go by the family bible than a name written on a census report. You know how hard those are to read, and the names get butchered a lot. (Also, there are lot of other "Etha"s and "Lucinda"s in the families.)

(Contributed by Helen (Baker) Foglesong, a great granddaughter of Etha Lucinda "Etha" (McMillon) Pettit)