Thomas Pettit born circa 1598 and died in the spring of 1663.
born the 12th of 17 children; fathered by Thomas Pettit, Esq., b. 9-17-1552, d. 1620,
mother Cecily, d. 1641, the daughter of Wm. King, Esq. of Hempstead, Norfolk.

He was known as Col. Thomas Pettit of "Littletown", James City, VA.

Thomas Pettit came to America about 1637; he married Katherine, daughter of Major George & Eleanor Morris before 1643. Besides his daughter Dorothy, Thomas and Katherine had a son, Capt. Thomas Pettit "born posthumously in the Spring after the death of his father vizt. April or May 1664. [confirmed below]

p. 344 KNOW ALL MEN that I KATHERINE PETTIT of the County of Rappa. Widdow do give & make over from ... (missing) day of the the date hereof unto my Son THOMAS PETTIT one black heiffer comonly called Marton & now about fifteen months old marked with two swallow forks & a nick under each ear together with all femal increase from this time forwads until my sd Son shall be twelve years old & after he shall be of the aforesd age of twelve years I do hereby give unto my sd Son the increase both maile & female to him & his heirs for ever in Testimony I set my hand this 3 of June 1665 (OLD RAPPAHANNOCK COUNTY DEED BOOK 1656-1664 PART II.
KATHERINE (her mark) PETTIT
Test: THO. GOODRICH
ROBERT BEVERLY
recog in Cur Com Rappa 7 die Junii 1665
Source: Virginia County Court Records - Deed Abstracts of Old Rappahannock County, Virginia (Part II of 1656-1664 Transcript)
Records, Deeds, Wils and Setttlements of Estates (Part II) 3 July 162 to 3 May 1665

Following the death of Thomas Pettit, Sr., Katherine (Morris) Pettit married (2) John Longe of King and Queen county. Child of this marriage was Catherine Longe born circa 1668.

The will of Thomas Pettit of Farnham Parish, Rappahannock was dated September 23, 1663 and proved January 7, 1664. This will mentions his wife Katherine and daughter Dorothy. This will was originally recorded in a record book now missing but was re-recorded at the request of Thomas Games (Gaines) on March 11, 1694. Thomas Games (Gaines) married Katherine (Morris) Pettit Long as her third husband. Child of this marriage was Ann Games (Gaines) born circa 1678.

REFERENCE
Editor's note: Information below is thought to be referring to Col. Thomas Pettit

Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Volume I - III
Colonial Councillors of State first appears in the Virginia records as included in the commission to the councillors at the beginning of Berkeley's administration, Aug. 9, 1641. He probably came to the colony about that time. He was present at meetings as late as 1651, but in this year seems to have lost his seat on the arrival of the parliamentary commissioners. The House of Burgesses, however, elected him a councillor in 1652 and reflected him a number of times afterwards. Upon Berkeley's reappointment to the governorship at the time of the restoration, in 1660, the King again commissioned Pettus a councillor. Colonel Pettus made his home at "Littletown" on the James river, not far below Jamestown. The date of his death is not known.

APPOINTED POSITIONS
[Col. Thomas sat on the Council of the Grand Assembly ordered by the Governor from 1640 through 1660}

pg. 408, Att a Grand Assembly, Held att James Citty (sic), March 31, 1655. Ordered the Governour and Councill be as followeth:

• Capt. John West,
• Coll. Bridges ffreeman,
• Coll. Sam. Mathewes,
• Coll. Edward Hill,
• Coll. Argoll Yardly,
• Coll. Wm. Taylor,
• Coll. Thomas Pettus,
• Coll. Tho. Dew,
• Coll. Humphrey Higgison,
• L't. Coll. Obed Robins,
• Coll. George Ludlow,
• Leift. Coll. Mathews,
• Coll, Will'm. Bernard,
• Capt. Henry Perry,
• Capt. Wm. Gooch.

pg. 414, At a Grand Assembly, Held at James Citty by Prorogation from the 10th of March, 1655 to this Instant, First of December, 1656, Wherein was Inacted as followeth.
FIRST in respect of divers member being some dead, some chosen sherriffs, these underwritten were elected, admitted and according to order have subscribed.

LAND
VIRGINIA COLONIAL ABSTRACTS Vol. 1
Lancaster County, Record Book #2 1654-1666 pages 1-394
p. 102
Inventory of Est. of Wm. Ireland. All personal items. Total 199 tob.
signed Tho Pettitt        Clemnell Trush (Clement)
"The praisers of this Estate hath been deposed before me Andrew Jellson"
Rec. 6th June 1655
p. 112
Francis Goare sells 280 acres to Thomas Pettit
Mr. Andrew Gilson        Mr. George Taylor
Rec. 23 June 1656
** Land left to Dorothy her father's will dated 23 September 1663

VIRGINIANS ALONG AND NEAR THE LOWER RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER 1607-1799
John Otto Yurecho
pg 59       Clark
1658 James Clerke transported, re a grant to Colonel Thomas Pettus of 1,000 acres northerly upon Patomeck Creek in Westmoreland (Stafford or King George Co.) 15 Mar 1658 [6/389]

pg 154       Moore
1652 James Moore transported, re a grant of 1,000 acres to Colonel Thomas Pettus in Westmoreland Co. northerly upon Patomeck Creek [King George Co.,?] 15 March 1658 [6/389]

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WILL
Recorded in the Wills of Rappahannock County, Virginia, 1656 - 1692
page 157 - 158

Pettit, Thomas* - 23 September 1663; 7 June 1665
transcribed exactly as printed
September ye. 23th in ye year of our Lord 1663

I Thomas Pettit of ye County of Rappa. and in ye parish of ffarnham being in a Weak Estate of body but in perfect mind & Memory make this my last Will & Testament, first I bequeath my soul unto Almighty God & my body unto ye ground to be buried with assured belief of the Resurection and that after this life my Soul & body shall be united in one & enjoy that Eternall bliss where my Redemer liveth, First I give and bequeath unto my Daughter Dorothy** three ffemale Cattle, one Cow name Cherry, and two heifers Comonly called by ye name of Goodluck, & Slow them & their Increase, I give unto my aforesd, Daughter & her heirs for Ever but ye Male to remaine to those that look after them until she come of age I do also give and bequeath all my Land yt is Really mine yt is to say a pattent of one hundred acres adjoinging to ye Land I now live on ye which Land encludes two hundred & Eighty acres by conveyance specified this Land heretofore mentioned my aforesaid Daughter Dorothy** is to have when she cometh to age for her & her heirs for Ever, and in case of ye death of my aforesd. Daughter Dorothy before she cometh to Enjoy this Land according to ye term of my will then the sd Land here given unto my Daughter to my Wife Katherine for her & her heirs for Ever & in ye meantime untill my Daughter be of age as aforesd. my wife Katherine to inherit & enjoy for her use in every kind whatsoever not destroying any timber nor to make sale nor diminsh any more than what shall go for ye use of her own housing and Cropps & likewise I doe also include that in case my wife Katherine aforesd. keep her self a Widow that she shall freely and wholly enjoy the Land with the proffits thereof according to ye tenor aforesd. during her life I do also give & bequeath unto my Wife after my Death my debts Satisfyed all ye rest of my personal Estate both within doors & without unto her & her hrs for Ever I doe also here ordaine and apoint my friend Nicholas White and my friend Thomas Cooper overseers of this my last will & Testament ye day & year above written
Thomas Pettit  Seal

Witnesses
Richard Glover, aged 37 years or thereabouts.
his
Richard RN Nightingale, aged 27 years of thereabouts
mark

Robert Davis Cl. Cur.

A true copy THOS. New Dep. Cl.
Truly recorded according to an order of Essex Court dated ye. 11th: March, 1664

Test Francis Meriwherther Cl. Cur.   Page 33.
  Not in Torrence's "Virginia Wills and Administrations."

**Married (1) 1675, James Fugett; (2) Godfrey Stanton

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Thomas Pettit, the son, born after the death of his father, was not entitled to any legacy by his father's will. Major George Morris, his maternal grandfather, was an early surveyor and is prominently mentioned in the ancient records. He patented thousands of acres of land in Rappahannock and New Kent counties. Major George Morris and Mr. John Long received a land patent for 1600 acres on July 29, 1667 (Land Patent Book #6, page 158). On April 1, 1685 George Morris of New Kent county conveyed his half interest in this 1600 acres to "Thomas Pettit and unto his sister Mrs. Catherine Longe" (Rappahannock County Record Book #7, page 179).

Major George Morris was anxious to provide for Thomas Pettit, Jr., and his half-sister Catherine Longe (born about 1668), who was a young maiden lady and styled "Mrs." according to the custom of the day. Shortly thereafter she married Edmund Tunstall (1691), and secondly Captain Richard Wyatt (1698).

Children of Catherine (Longe) and Edmund Tunstall:
Mary Tunstall circa 1692 - married Thomas Fox
Catherine Tunstall circa 1694 married Samuel Mathews
Barbara Tunstall before 1698.

Children of Catherine (Longe – Tunstall) and Richard Wyatt:
Thomas Wyatt
Henry Wyatt
Susannah Wyatt married (1) Solomon Day and (2) Thomas Davis
Richard Wyatt married Sarah Overstreet and they moved to Charlotte County, VA

Dorothy Pettit who married first in 1675 to James Fugett (recorded in Book D - 5; page 489 of Index to Marriages of Old Rappahnnock and Essex Counties, Virginia - 1655 to 1900 by Eva Eubank Wilkerson). She married secondly Godfrey Stanton in 1711 (recorded in Land Trials book; page 489 of Index to Marriages of Old Rappahnnock and Essex Counties, Virginia - 1655 to 1900 by Eva Eubank Wilkerson). By deed dated September 1714 Godfrey Stanton and Dorothy his wife deeded 280 acres in Essex county to Thomas Wyatt "our nephew and godson, the son of Richard Wyatt and Catherine his wife of King and Queen county and the Parish of St. Stephens". This instrument recites that this land is a portion of a legacy left the said Dorothy by the last will and testament of her father Thomas Pettit dated September 20, 1663.

Ann Games (Gaines) was given a cow by her sister Dorothy (Pettit) Fugett on December 18, 1679.

Confirmation of this Pettit Arms was received by William Petyt and his brother, Sylvester Petyt, 27 May 1690, descendants of Gilbert Petyt, who died 10 September 1470.

Gilbert, and his brother Michael, were sons of Sir John Pettit [of similar Arms], and his wife Margareta, daughter and co-heir of Thomas Carminow.

Sir John Pettit was a seventh generation descendant of Sir Otes Pettit, Knight, who came into England with William the Conqueror, became lord of Ardover, and married Matilda, daughter and heir of Simons FitzHues.

ARMS - Argent a lion gules, on a canton azure a pheon or.
CREST - On a wreath argent and gules a stork argent, holding in its dexter claw a pellet.
MOTTO - Qui s'estime petit deviendra grand.

Who thinks himself small, shall become great

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