Re: Walkers, Freemans, and Pettuses
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In reply to:
Re: Walkers, Freemans, and Pettuses
William Pettus 4/01/07
Mr. Pettus,
Thanks for both of your replies. Yes, I will be glad to meet with you when you are in Richmond. I am usually free on weekends. I hope to take part in the many festivities surrounding the Jamestown celebration this year, but doubt anything is planned in the Kingsmill vicinity. I grew up mainly in Newport News and graduated from William and Mary in 1996 with a B.A. in History, another reason I am attached to that area. But now I am a high school math teacher in Richmond Public Schools, having finished a more marketable degree in Math/Statistics at VCU since then.
James, Henry, and David Walker are all believed to be sons of Alexander Walker, Jr., whose wife is assumed to be Jane Freeman, daughter of Bridges Freeman, Jr. The DNA tests prove that descendants of James and David were related.
I've been curious as to whether there were descendants of James Bray, as I descend from a Bray family of Camden Co., NC, on my paternal side, going back to a William Bray in the early 1700s.
In regard to your other reply, my grandmother, Ella Pearson Overstreet of Newport News, VA, was born and raised at the "Mount Vernon" farm on Route 15 at Briery in Prince Edward Co., VA, which her father purchased in 1911 and where he lived until his death in 1944. Her father, Joseph Lazarus Pearson, and his first wife and eldest son are buried at Ash Camp. I never knew why they were buried there, as they were Methodists, but maybe that was the closest cemetery they could find when my great-grandfather's first wife died in 1917, six years after moving to Virginia from Goldsboro, NC. My grandmother's family never knew it, but in spite of her parents being first-generation residents of that area, she is distantly related to the Haley-Hailey and the Pettus families there, many of whom are buried at Ash Camp. Last year I visited the grandson of one of my grandmother's half-sisters, who lives on his family property and knows the Pettuses well. He wanted me to meet Ms. P.K. Pettus, but she was not home that day. At that time I did not know their exact connection, but have since found Overton Pettus' family on the Internet. I was impressed by all the genealogical details on the Pettus graves at Ash Camp, in particular the Bertha Pettus marker.
Here is my descent from the Pettuses:
Col. Thomas Pettus
Capt. Thomas Pettus
John (or Dabney) Pettus m Anne Overton
Anne Pettus m Joseph Eggleston
Elizabeth Eggleston m William Wyatt
Ann Wyatt m Humphrey Haley
Joseph Eggleston Haley m Frances Tunstall
Capt. Archibald Haley m Martha Brown
Elizabeth Tunstall Haley m Robert Benjamin Walker
Ella Tunstall Walker m William Adolphus Perrow
Virginia Alexander Perrow m Joseph Lazarus Pearson
Ella Perrow Pearson m Melvin Ray Overstreet
Janet Lee Overstreet m (1) Gilbert Wayne Godfrey
Bryan Scott Godfrey b 1973
Robert Benjamin Walker above was a great-great-grandson of David and Mary Munford Walker, and David was likely a son of Alexander Walker, Jr. and Jane Freeman.
Interestingly, six years ago I met with an African-American descendant of the Eggleston family, about whom a newspaper article had been written in 1999.
I did go to Grub Hill Episcopal Church in Amelia County last summer to see the graves of Joseph Eggleston, Jr. and his son Major Joseph Eggleston, and also saw the Egglestetton plantation near there.
As you probably know, the Eggleston descendants of the Pettus family are numerous and very well-traced in several websites and books. I can help contribute any material you may want to include in your book, but I certainly understand if you find it necessary to limit it to the Pettus descendants in the direct male line.
I've been wanting to confirm the earlier sketchy information about whether John and Dabney Pettus were the same or different people, and whether Ann Pettus was their daughter. Also, I have seen some websites which hint at a royal or noble ancestry for the Pettuses in Norwich and wonder whether they are valid; it was through the Gleane line, I believe.
Thanks again,
Bryan
More Replies:
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Re: Walkers, Freemans, and Pettuses
William Pettus 4/01/07