Bibb-Jones County GaArchives Biographies.....Petty, Luke August 11, 1792 - February 23, 1865 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: andy petty ajpetty@cox.net July 19, 2006, 5:31 pm Author: Andy Petty LUKE PETTY-MARY COWARD Luke was born August 11, 1792 in Kershaw County (Craven), South Carolina (Luke’s Family Bible). His father is William Petty and his mother is unknown. At some point Luke moved with his family and neighbors to Georgia in an effort to acquire tracts from the land lotteries being held beginning in 1805. Luke is first mention as a tax defaulter in 1816 Tax Digest in Jones County Captain Wallers District along with his father William and Uncle Zachariah. We see him in the marriage lists the following year where he married Mary Coward on June 19, 1817 (Murray, 1991). Mary’s sister Nelly Coward married Luke’s brother George on July 10, 1817. The Cowards were neighbors of the Pettys in Kershaw County, South Carolina (State Plats Volume 15, pg. 199), and their father was Benjamin Coward and their mother was Millie Coward (Lancaster County, South Carolina Deed Book A, 1788). Luke appears in the Georgia 1821 Land Lottery where he was a fortunate drawer (Lucas, S.E., 1986). He obtained a 202˝ acre plot by paying a $19 fee for lot 226 section 3 in Monroe County. One year later Luke was forced to sell his lottery land winnings to satisfy two small executions in favor of Joel Rushin (Hartz and Hartz, 1992). Luke is in the 1830 Harris County Georgia census, and the county first opened up to settlement in 1828 (Barfield, 1991; Thomason, 1986). Along with Luke was his sister Susan Petty, who was married to Hezekiah Harmon, and sister-in-law Elizabeth Coward who married William Gardner. About 1833 Susan died, probably in childbirth. Luke moved his family back to Bibb County, (formerly Houston County) Georgia to be near his brother George. There he purchased land in 1833 from Millie Parks (Index to Deeds Grantees 1823-1919 Book D p. 67). He later sold that land, in 1841 to his nephew George Petty Jr. (Index to Deeds Grantors 1823-1919 Book G p. 403). Mary was a member of the Mt. Paron Primitive Baptist Church located at the county line with Bibb and Crawford Counties on the Echeconnee Creek near present day Lizzella, Georgia Hwy 80 near Bibb and Crawford County line. The Pettys must have lived close to this church, as travel was difficult. Mary was recorded as joining by letter on June 1, 1833 and was later dismissed by letter on August 3, 1844 after she moved to Pontotoc County, Mississippi (Taylor Co. Tracer, 2002). Family tradition tells of the Luke and Mary Petty family moving to Mississippi, arriving in the winter of 1842 (Coffey, 1986; Wilkerson letter, 1957). Other families that moved to Mississippi about this time included the Coward, Gardner, Singletarry, and Swinney families. The original destination was the independent nation of Texas but winter overtook the family at Pontotoc County, Mississippi and they settled there and in Lafayette County. The Petteys settled on the Tallahachie River in the Rockyford District. Rockyford, Mississippi changed its name to Etta, Mississippi and was placed in Union County, Mississippi in 1870. The principle crop of the area was cotton. The cotton was transported up river to Caswell and shipped by rail to either Abbeville or Memphis. The money from the sale of cotton was used to purchase clothing, shoes, flour, sugar, salt, and coffee (Coffey, 1997). Mary is listed as a member of the Laodicea Primitive Baptist Church in Pontotoc County, Mississippi. The only record of her in the minutes is an August 1855 entry where she returned from the Missionary Baptist split to rejoin the Primitive Baptist (Patterson, no date). This was a hard time for the Petty household where Lewis had died a few months earlier and George was to die in November of 1855. Apparently Mary was seeking comfort in the Lord. All of Luke and Mary’s children accompanied their parents to Mississippi. Cynthia Ann married Albert Garlington Maughan and later died in childbirth in 1859. Caroline Ellen married Andrew J. Draper (Draper Letter, 2001; Census 1850, Pontotoc, MS.). Both the Maughans and Drapers moved to Pike/Hot Springs County, Arkansas. Rebecca married Nate B. Hale and her sister Mary Duren married Nate’s brother Elijah Hale. Sarah Jane married John Waldrop and died in 1864 after five years of marriage. Frances Ann died at the age of 12 in 1843 about a year after the family arrived in Mississippi. Luke and Mary’s second son Lewis died in 1855 having only one son James William to carry on his line. A second son named Leonard was born to Lewis in 1853 but he died of unknown causes in 1857. The oldest son George died in 1855 without a son to carry on the family name. George had a daughter named Molly. This left the youngest son Andrew Jackson to preserve the family name. Jack was 24 years of age when he enlisted on March 13, 1862 in the Mississippi 34th Infantry Regiment, known as the Smith Rifles (Coffey, 1986). After being wounded in the foot during the battle of Chickamauga September 18, 1863, Jack was discharged from Marshall Hospital, Columbus, Georgia July 12, 1864. A cousin Littleton Petty of Newton County, Georgia tended him and latter hid him during his stay in Georgia (Wilkerson letter, 1957). He then trekked 400 miles on his crutch from Georgia back to Pontotoc County Mississippi. Within a year he buried both parents in the Old Covered Wagon cemetery in Lafayette county, Mississippi. Luke died February 23, 1865 and Mary was buried at his side on July 4, 1865. Jack married Harriet Jane Bonds in August 1865. The couple had sons Luther Joshua and George Luke to continue the family name in Mississippi. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/bibb/bios/petty890gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 6.2 Kb