Biography of John M. Pettigrew, Franklin Co, AR

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        Date: 16 Aug 1998
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SOURCE: History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford,
Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago: The Goodspeed
Publishing Co., 1889.

Hon. John M. Pettigrew, a prominent farmer and stock raiser of
Franklin County, was born in Hempstead County, Ark., December 15,
1827, and is a son of George A. and Sarah (Matthews) Pettigrew. The
father was born in Georgia in 1789, and was the son of George
Pettigrew, who was a native of Charleston, N. C., and was descended
from the Huguenots of France who came to the colonies. George
Pettigrew held a commission in the Revolutionary War under Gen.
Marion. From North Carolina he moved to Georgia, and from there to
Ste. Genevieve County, Mo., where he was engaged in farming until his
death. He had a family of six children, of whom George A. was eighteen
years of age when his parents located in Missouri. In 1817 he settled
on a farm in Hempstead County, Ark., from which place, in 1832, he
went to Washington County and purchased a farm near Cane Hill. He
served one term as a representative in the Legislature in 1840, and
was an active church worker; his death occurred in 1852. Mrs. Sarah
Pettigrew was born in Madison County, Mo., in 1794, and was a daughter
of one of the pioneer settlers of that county; she was the mother of
six children: Elizabeth (deceased), Zebulan, George H. (deceased),
John M., James R. (deceased) and Hugh L. The mother died in 1880. John
M. Pettigrew received his education at the Arkansas College at
Fayetteville, where he graduated July 4, 1854, having been professor
of mathematics in the above college in 1851-52-53. He taught school in
Washington County from 1854 to 1856, when he was engaged to fill a
position as teacher in Franklin County, where he taught continuously
until 1861. At the outbreak of the late war he enlisted in the
Confederate army, and was, actively engaged in service until 1865,
when he surrendered at Marshall, Tex. He then returned to his home and
resumed teaching. In 1870 he was elected representative to the State
Legislature, and the following year was appointed county surveyor; in
1884 he was elected to the State Senate for one term. In 1854 Mr.
Pettigrew married Helen Aldridge, who [p.1271] was born near
Tuscumbia, Ala., in 1833, and who died October 4, 1881, leaving two
children: Thomas A. and Lenora (wife of A. C. Bessy). Mr. Pettigrew
subsequently married Mrs. Kate S. Burt, nee Spencer, by whom he had
four children, viz.: John B., Robert G., George and Nannie B.
(deceased). Mr. and Mrs. Pettigrew are members of the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church, and he is also a member of the A. F. & A. M. and
R. A. M. of Charleston. Mr. Pettigrew is one of the live and
enterprising men of the county, and 200 acres of his fine farm are
under cultivation, well improved and well stocked. He has probably
done more surveying than any other man in the county.