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Belgians in the Civil War

Emigrants arrival

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BELGIANS IN AMERICA:    Biographies of Belgian settlers  

Peter Petit, president of the North Aurora CreameryCompany of North Aurora. Illinois, was born August 14, 2862 in the city of Aurora, unto the marriage of Michael and Catharine (De Villie) Petit, the former a native of Luxemburg, Germany, and the latter of Belgium. The paternal grandfather, Peter Petit, always wrote his name Pety, for it was originally French and that spelling indicated the French pronunciation. He married Catharine Molitor, and died in 1856, at the age of fifty-six years.

The family numbered seven children, including Michael Petit, who through his entire life followed the occupation of farming. He came to America in the summer of 1851, and established his home in what was known as "the big wood" in Aurora township. He was at that time seventeen years of age and had made the voyage to the United States in company with his parents who purchased sixty acres of land and improved a farm there. Michael Petit remained at home until after his father's death. He was married in 1860 and then took charge of his father's farm. At that time he began buying land, adding to the original tract until it comprised ninety-five acres. He lived upon the farm from 1851 until 1894, after which he put aside the active and arduous work of the fields and took up his abode in Aurora, where both he and his wife arc now living retired. They are members of the Catholic church and Mr. Petit gives his political support to the democratic party. Mrs. Petit was a daughter of Nicholas DeVille, a native of Luxemburg, Belgium, who on coming to America in 1854 settled at or near Osceola, Wisconsin, and about fourteen miles from Fond du Lac. Mrs. DeVille died very suddenly there in 1869, while Mr. DeVille passed away a number of years later at an old age. Their family numbered seven daughters.

Source : Joslyn, R. Waite : History of Kane County, Ill.; Chicago: Pioneer Pub. Co., 1908, 1786 pgs.