JOHN WESLEY (J. W.) PETTIT
(September 8, 1838 - January 12, 1897)
John Wesley (J. W.) Pettit/Silas Pettit and Mary Ann Pettit

(((((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 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.)))))

John Wesley "J. W." Pettit was born September 8, 1838 in Alabama. His father was Silas Pettit, born May 20, 1807 in South Carolina-died May 28, 1853, and his mother was Mary Ann Pettit-born January 8, 1805 in Ireland and died July 24, 1856.

He first married Mary Jane McMillon December 3, 1860, in Lauderdale County, Alabama and had two children by her. The children were Maggie Pettit-born January 7, 1862 in Florence, Alabama (Maggie only lived abt 3 mos) and Benjamin Thomas "Ben" Pettit-born September 2, 1865 in Florence, Alabama. Then, Mary Jane passed away in 1868.

After John Wesley Pettit's first wife, Mary Jane died, he then remarried to Etha Lucinda McMillon who was born in Tennessee. Etha Lucinda was a sister to Mary Jane, John Wesley's first wife. They, together, had the rest of the children. John Wesley Pettit and Etha Lucinda (McMillon) Pettit had eleven (11) children together, and he had two (2) by his first wife, Mary Jane, so there were thirteen (13) children altogether.

In 1866, John Wesley Pettit and his family moved to Wills Point, Van Zandt County, Texas.

All thirteen (13) children were Maggie Pettit-born January 7, 1862 in Florence, Alabama, Benjamin Thomas "Ben" Pettit-born September 2, 1865 in Florence, Alabama, Mary Susi (Pettit) McDonald-born December 30, 1870 in Texas, John Henry Pettit-born January 19, 1872-died when abt two years old, James Reed Pettit-born December 23, 1873-died very young, Ollie Pettit-born March 27, 1875, Sallie Laverna (Pettit) Baker-September 8, 1876-October 14, 1931 (Valliant Cemetery-Valliant, McCurtain County, Oklahoma), Nannie (Pettit) Gilbert-born February 25, 1878, Robert Scott Pettit-July 18, 1880-August 18, 1949, Lucinda May (Pettit) Patterson-born November 18,1882, Fannie (Pettit) Price-born July 13, 1884, Hiram Pettit-born December 8, 1886 and Alvis Pettit-born February 28, 1889.

John Wesley Pettit's first son, Ben Pettit was buried at Grove Hill Cemetery, Dallas, Dallas County, TX. Robert Scott Pettit and Fannie (Pettit) Price were buried at White Rose Cemetery, Wills Point, Van Zandt County, Texas.

Ben Pettit's only child, Lena Maria (Pettit) Hickman-1894-1994, who was born in Waxahachie, Ellis County, Texas, lived to be 100 years old. In 1915, she married Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, Judge John E. Hickman. In 1935, they resided in Austin, Texas, behind the Commodore Perry Estate. She was buried at Texas State Cemetery in Austin, Travis County, Texas.

JOHN WESLEY "J. W." PETTIT died January 12, 1897 in Wills Point, TX at 58 years old (4 years after Etha died), and both were buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery, Kaufman County, Texas. There is a headstone, which is pictured on here.

(Contributed by Helen (Baker) Foglesong, a great granddaughter of John Wesley (J. W.) Pettit)