Re: Can you please help?
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In reply to:
Can you please help?
Leanna Jones 3/26/02
Leanna, Pyett is just one of a variety of spellings. The first one here was René Piat,
from France to NJ about 1670. The family spread
out from NJ, to PA, then to NC, changing the
spelling: Pyatt, Pyeatte, Pyett, etc. In NC,
we find the first slave-owners (c. 1735/50).
The slaves travelled with the household to SC,
KY, TN, finally, AR. Peter Pyeatt, of Charleston,
SC, owned over 100 slaves, while the folks in AR
had 1 or 2 (fewer than 10 , as though that makes it okay.) The 1830 census for Washington Co., AR
lists five households, only 1 slave. In 1840, the
census lists 4 households, 4 slaves The 1850
list has 8 households, no slaves (possibly because slaves were no longer being counted.)
The northern branch (NY, NJ, PA, IL, MI, etc.)
spelled the name"Piatt", and owned no slaves.
After Emancipation, most blacks took their owner's name as their own. Some children had
white "Pyeatt" blood, in addition to the name.
Who knows which ancestor we share, from how many
generations back? I know, from having seen them
on the TV, that there are black Pyeatts still
in the Carolinas (one, Sam Pyeatt, is a SC hwy.
patrolman, for instance.) I wish you luck in
looking for your connections. Keep on looking;
you never know when something important,and
informative may turn up. And welcome to the clan.
Nobody can take this away from you, so make it
your own. We left TX in '66 and came to CA,first
in Sacramento, then SF, now 22 years in Oakland,
and I think we're here to stay. So, there are
Pyeatts (Piatt, Pyett, etc.) spread out across
the country, beginniing in NJ, 1670. The search goes on, and so do we. . .
Ed