Wakulla County FlArchives History .....Pelt Family Homestead History ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/fl/flfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Brenda Pelt McCarthy bmccarth@mailer.fsu.edu September 20, 2006, 3:14 pm History of the Pelt Family Homestead Brenda Pelt McCarthy Crawfordville, Florida Durant John Pelt was born to Jonathan Van Pelt and Susannah Gwaltney Van Pelt on January 6, 1818 in Craven County, North Carolina. Jonathan and Susannah Van Pelt’s children, Durant, Caroline, and Henry, used the surname Pelt instead of “Van Pelt.” Caroline married a Gwaltney and remained in North Carolina until her death in 1900. Henry is listed in the 1860 Putnam County, Florida census. Confederate service records indicate that Henry was born in North Carolina, enlisted in 1861 and died of disease in Richmond on July 29, 1864. Durant Pelt moved to Wakulla County circa 1848. He told his son G.W. Bostic Pelt that he came from North Carolina to Florida with a wagon, a mule and a feather bed. More than likely he traveled with some of his Gwaltney relatives. The Gwaltney name appears in several historical accounts of the time. A store in Arran, Florida was run by a family of Gwaltneys. After arriving in Wakulla County, Durant married Melvina Posey, daughter of Noah and Feribay Shepherd Posey, on March 16, 1855. The 1860 Wakulla County census lists Durant, age 43, and Melvina, age 23, living with their three children, ages five, three and seven months. It appears that they were living on the Posey property at the time of the census. The baby did not reach one year of age and is buried in the Pelt family cemetery. Durant enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1864 in the Captain John Tupperville Company, First Regiment of Florida Reserves. The regiment was detailed to retrieve lumber from the swamp to build barrels. In 1863, Noah Posey transferred to his daughter Melvina 190 plus or minus acres of land. On January 1, 1867, Noah conveyed to Melvina and her heirs another 190 plus or minus acres “in consideration of love and affection, as well as $5,” witnessed by J. L. Crawford. Later in l867, Melvina bought 160 acres from John Beard. Durant and Melvina’s descendants are still living on this property, which is west of Crawfordville. Durant and Melvina had nine children: Henry Ellis, who married Sallie Giles; Columbus Crawford, who married Mary Elizabeth Lawhon; Shoalt, who died before one year of age; Andrew Jackson, who married Mary Frances Stevens; Virginia, who married James Coleman; Noah Jackson, who married Theodocia Lawhon; Peter, who married Emma Eubanks; Melvina Adelia, who married William Everett Whaley; and George Washington Bostic, who married Emma Ruth Pigott. The original house was built up the road from the present site where Janice Pelt Brown now lives. The house was given to the youngest male child (George Washington Bostic) as was the custom in the family. Bostic married Emma Ruth Pigott in 1898, and they had ten children who were raised in this house. Their children were Senia, who married Calhoun Taff; John Durant, who married Ethel Vause; Noah Bostic, who married Mary Morris; Emma Lee, who married Henry Green; Andrew Jackson, who married Elva Tucker; George Cajer, who married Debra Council; Oma Lee, who married Halley Lawhon; Carmel, who married Etta Mae Council; Harry, who married Carolyn Knight; and Mary Ruth, who married Elmo White. The house was taken apart and moved to the present location some time around 1920 or 1921. When my father, Carmel, was a very young child, he recalled riding on the wagon with his baby brother, Harry, and his sister, Oma Lee, who was holding her doll. It is the belief that the home site was relocated for better farm land. After the death of his mother, Emma Ruth Pigott Pelt, Carmel and his wife Etta Mae lived in the family home and raised six children: Berlin, who married Ellen Bruce; Etta Jo, who married Ralph Oliver; Willie, who married Janis Wester; Vera; Brenda who married Gene McCarthy; and Carmen, who married Broward Sapp. The house was built out of heart pine, and it has gone through numerous renovations over its 140 plus years of life. Three generations of Pelts have lived in this house. Our mother, Etta Mae, who is now 88, still lives in the Pelt House. It is not a grand old house, just a typical Florida Cracker house that has sheltered many babies, children, young and old people of the Pelt family. Many of life’s lessons have been taught in this old house. Honesty, being kind to your neighbor, and having a good name are but a few. Perhaps the most important lesson the people of this house were taught was to be proud of our Southern heritage and to love and honor God. The house has been a home to the Pelt family and their heirs who are now living all over the world. ______________ Pelt, Michael and Pelt, Malcolm. (2004). Van Pelt Genealogy, North Carolina Origins, Volumes 1 and 2. Salem, Massachusetts: Higginson Book Company. Pelt, Chester H., Sr. (1992). A Genealogy History of the Pelt Family Branch of the Van Pelt Family Tree. Salem, Massachusetts: Higginson Book Company. Florida State Archives File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/fl/wakulla/history/other/peltfami2nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/flfiles/ File size: 5.7 Kb