John Pettyjohn

It was ordered the "Capt. William Jones should have the disposition of John Pettyjohn, the son of James Pettyjohn, deceased, either to take it into his custody or leave it in the custody of John Cole for the bringing of it up". The children of James and Isabel Pettyjohn continued to live in Northampton County, and must have grown to adulthood there.

July 29, 1680, John petitioned the court to leave John Coe and choose John Satchell to be his guardian. The court ordered this be so until he was twenty-one years of age "unless the court finds cause to the contrary". John Cole was to make payment to Mr. Satchell of 3034 pounds of tabacco and caske for John Pettyjohn's use.

John Satchell was the son of William Satchel who had been the guardian of William Pettyjohn. William Satchell died in 1680. Something must have happened to change John's mind; in November 1680, he petitioned to be discharged from John Satchell. His petition as denied.

He was not given the opportunity for schooling as the court had directed his guardian; this may have been the reason for his discontent. John did not learn to read or write. When he signed his will, he had to sign with his mark. However, he might have just wanted to join his brother William in Accomac County.

He must have come of age around May of 1682; he petitioned the court to be released from his bond, having formerly been bound to his good behavior. He was. He was living in Accomac County at this time.

1692 Moved family to Broadkill Hundred area in Delaware land grant, Sussex County, approx 1350 acres; called himself a yeoman-- freeholder of a class below gentry

Worshipped at the Church of St. John the Baptist; Reverend was William Becket

John left his grandchildren-- Rachel Reed, George Dodd, and Isabell Pettyjohn-- each one shilling sterling money of Great Britain. Evidently each one of the grandchildren had lost a parent. John left the rest of his estate, both real and personal, to his four sons; James, John, William and Richard. The last two were the executors of the will.

The burial place of John and Sara is unknown, but it is probable they were buried on Pettyjohn land, in what they had set aside as their family burial ground.

His will was written in October 26, 1733 and recorded November 05, 1733

Among the children of James (1) was a son John (2), who, being a minor at the time of his father's death, was placed under the guardianship of Capt. Wm. Jones, who later resigned and turned the task over to one John Cole, an innkeeper. This Pettyjohn (2) appears in the lists of the tithables of Accomac County, Virginia, in the 1680's, and in 1692 he removed with his wife, Sara, and family to Sussex County, Delaware, where, in 1721, he was executor of the estate of his son Thomas (2), whose will left all his property (except a bay mare to his brother Richard (46)) to his wife and an only child, Isabel Pettyijohn. 

JOHN PETTYJOHN 2-1, born about 1662; died about Nov. 14, 1733; married in Virginia about 1685, his wife's name being unknown. Their children: James; John; William; Richard; Joseph; (There is some doubt about this Joseph. From family tradition and records in the possession of Mrs. Lena B. (Crump) Hughes, Portland, Ore., it appears that there was living in Virginia at this time a Joseph Pettyjohn, who had, probably among others, two brothers, John and William. It appears quite unlikely that there could have been any other family at that time in that locality showing three brothers names John, William and Joseph. This seems to justify the conclusion, although it is not free from doubt, that this Joseph was a son of John. There were also two daughters, names unknown, one of whom married Reed and had a daughter Rachel, and the other who married Dodd and had a son George. There was another son of John named Thomas who was married, his wife's name being unknown, who left a daughter Isabel who was mentioned in the will of her grandfather John. 

Among the children of John (2), son of James (1), was a son, William (5), and various land transfers of record show that he (William) and his brothers, as well as their father before them, dealt heavily in land in Sussex County, Delaware, where he died, his will being probated February 2, 1750. This William (5) had a son William (6) who, likewise, had a son William (7), and according to the "Dawes History," after the death of the first William (5), his son and grandson of the same name removed from Delaware to Virginia where William (6), a land surveyor, served in the Virginia Assembly in 1785 and 1786. 

As is shown in the Genealogical List, members of the family were in Virginia and Delaware in the early 1600's, and seem to have remained more or less in that part of the country until after the Revolutionary War, when many of them joined the westward tide of emigration, several families going to Ohio, some to Tennessee, others to Missouri, Texas, Minnesota and Indiana. The story has been told that Davy Crockett's wife was a daughter of a Samuel Pettijohn. Be that as it may, all who have been contacted, regardless of how much or how little they may know of their ancestors, agree on one count. They all hark back to Virginia and Delaware and claim a common ancestor who was an immigrant from either Wales or France. (last 4 paragraphs, source: Pettyjohn.net) 

When John Pettyjohn was born in 1662, in Hungars Point, Northampton, Virginia, British Colonial America, his father, James Pettijohn, was 27 and his mother, Isabelle Heath, was 26. He married Sara Long in 1685, in Accomack, Virginia, British Colonial America. They were the parents of at least 6 sons and 5 daughters. He died on 14 November 1733, in Sussex, Delaware, British Colonial America, at the age of 71, and was buried in The Plantations, Sussex, Delaware, United States. (FamilySearch.org)

*When Sara Long was born in 1666, in Northampton, Virginia, British Colonial America, her father, John Long, was 27 and her mother, Sarah Pottenger, was 25. She married John Pettyjohn in 1685, in Accomack, Virginia, British Colonial America. They were the parents of at least 6 sons and 5 daughters. She died in 1733, in Sussex, Delaware, British Colonial America, at the age of 67, and was buried in Pettyjohn Family Cemetery, The Plantations, Sussex, Delaware, United States. (FamilySearch.org)