James Piggott, Died Young

From "Martha's Extended Family" family tree page on James Piggott:

http://martisgenes.info/p362.htm#i4571

James Piggott[1],[2],[3]

M, b. 16 January 1714, d. before 1738

Father* John Piggott b. s 1683, d. 29 Mar 1738

Mother* Margery Brown b. c 1691, d. 24 Feb 1738

Birth* James was born on 16 January 1714 in Cecil County, Maryland.[4],[5],[3] He was the son of John Piggott and Margery Brown.

Death* James died before 1738 .

Citations:

1.[S187] Warren E Pickett, John Piggott Sr. (1680 ?- 1738) of Susquehannah Hundred in Cecil County MD. Together with some account of the Browne and Clayton families from whom his wife Margarey Brown Piggott descended, p. 4.

2.[S195] Quaker Records; Maryland, Cecil Co., Nottingham MM Twp., p. 113.

3.[S194] Jack Weaver, Martha G Cline.

4.[S187] Warren E Pickett, John Piggott Sr. (1680 ?- 1738) of Susquehannah Hundred in Cecil County MD. Together with some account of the Browne and Clayton families from whom his wife Margarey Brown Piggott descended.

5.[S195] Quaker Records; Maryland, Cecil Co., Nottingham MM Twp.

From Pickett Family History:

http://mysite.verizon.net/wkkoerber/Pickett/Pickett.html#_ftn11

James (b. January 16, 1713/4 O.S. [January 27, 1714 N.S.])

From Bill Putnam's information on James Piggott:

http://www.billputman.com/THE%20PATTERSON%20FAMILY.htm

James Piggott: Very little is known about James Piggott except that his birth was recorded in the Nottingham Monthly Meeting Minutes on January 16, 1713/4. Most people feel he died as a child as no further mention is made of him.

It is my feeling that he left the church and moved west into Maryland, and was the father of my James Piggott. My James most likely came from this area and this James, son of John, is the only male Piggott that cannot be accounted for (in this family of Piggotts).

--------------------------

Bill Putnam also proposed the following as descendants of James Piggott:

CAPTAIN JAMES PIGGOTT

This is the first Piggott that I can officially link to with certainty. I am not certain of his parents, and have only guessed at the James Piggott who was the eldest son of John and Margery Brown Piggott.

Whomever his parents were notwithstanding, James Piggott would have been born in the mid to late 1730s, probably about 1735 and probably in either Virginia or Maryland. I know absolutely nothing about his early life.

There is a mention of a James Piggott witnessing a deed in Hampshire County Virginia on March 21, 1771. The two parties involved were listed as being residents of Frederick County Virginia. I am not certain whether this was my James Piggott or not.

The first records we find of James Piggott are in Westmoreland County Pennsylvania. In 1775 James Piggott was living on a farm near Redstone Creek near what was known as Hanna's Town in Westmoreland County in the southwestern portion of Pennsylvania.

He was married sometime in the late 1750s to a woman named Eleanor, as by 1775 he had two teenage children. In 1776 he was appointed to the rank of Captain in the Pennsylvania Associators, as the Militia was then called.

When the Revolution broke out that summer, Piggott's forces became part of the new American Army. During the Winter of 1777, Piggott and his troops marched over the mountains some 400 miles in freezing conditions in order to support Washington at the Battle of Trenton. His men fought in New Jersey and New York. By the Summer of 1777 only half of Piggott's Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment remained. They fought bravely at the battles of Brandywine, Paoli and Germantown.

By now the situation was worsening back in Westmoreland County where British led Indians were attacking the settlers. On October 22, 1777, James Piggott resigned his commission in order to lead his men back to the western Pennsylvania frontier in order to defend their families and homes. He and the remaining men of the Eighth returned home in March of 1778.

In May of 1779 Piggott, his family and others headed by boat down the Ohio River to where it met the Miami near present day Cincinnati. Here he joined with General George Rogers Clark and helped establish Fort Jefferson. Once again Piggott was commissioned an officer in the Continental Army under Clark. As the War began to ebb, Piggott ventured further west with Clark and established himself in southern Illinois in the vicinity of St. Louis on the Mississippi in the early 1780s.

In 1783 the courts awarded Piggott and his fellow settlers the right to lands near Cahokia in order to establish a fort and to settle the lands. This fort, known as Piggott's Fort was to offer protection from Indian uprisings that continued through 1795 in the area.

It was here in the fort that Eleanor died sometime in the mid 1780s. In the meanwhile a hardy woman, Frances James Ballew, had taken up land and protection in the fort after she was abandoned by her husband Bennett Ballew. She later moved in with James Piggott and had four children by him out of wedlock. Frances James Ballew was from a well to do Virginia mining family. She became well known as a frontier doctor' while in Piggott's Fort.

After the legal wait of seven years in order to claim her first husband as dead, Francis married James Piggott in March of 1790 at the Fort in St. Clair County Illinois. On January 19, 1791 they had a daughter, Assenath Piggott. Assenath later married William Patterson when she moved across the Mississippi River to St. Louis County Missouri and it is from that union that part of my line has descended.

In the mid 1790s, Piggott constructed a road from his settlement to the edge of the Mississippi opposite St. Louis. In the Spring of 1797 he was awarded exclusive right to operate a ferry across the Mississippi. James Piggott operated the ferry until his death which came sometime after he wrote his will on February 20, 1799.

Frances leased the ferry operation out in 1802 and remarried to a Jacob Collard in June of that year. They moved across the river to St. Louis County. Collard must have died himself very shortly afterwards as no further mention is found of him. They settled near the settlement established by John Patterson and it was here that William Patterson met and married Assenath Piggott in 1808.

Frances remained in St. Louis County until her death in May of 1834. She left no will. Her estate was administered by William and Assenath Patterson and one of her sons, Joseph Piggott.

James and Eleanor Piggott had three children, William, Levi and Jonas. Jonas died as a young child in Illinois. James and Frances had Cynthia, James, Joseph and Frances out of wedlock and Assenath after their marriage.

In 1986 an excellent book was written by Carl Baldwin titled, CAPTAINS OF THE WILDERNESS. The book is about James Piggott and Richard McCarthy and their relationships with General George Rogers Clark and the settling of Illinois and the taming of the wilderness. An excellent and fascinating story of Piggott's life is contained in this book.

Captain James Piggott was a true pioneer and one of the men that made America what it is today. It is a proud heritage that is part of my Sharon, Patterson and Jones History.

Children of James Piggott:

1. William Piggott: Eldest son of James and Eleanore, born c.1760. Married Lydia Lard/Lord c.1780 (probably from Pennsylvania). Moved to Monroe County, IL. One son named Levi.

2. Levi Piggott. Born c.1762. Married Eleanore Rebecca (MNU). Farmed at Prairie Ridge, IL. d. 7 November 1835. Six children (1. John Colwell Piggott b. 1802, m. firstly Nancy Woodroon of St. Clair County, IL 1 October 1837, m. secondly Margaret Axley on 1 November 1842; 2. Levi Piggott; 3 Cyrus Piggott; 4. Rebecca Piggott b. 24 January 1804, m. Elon Messinger in 1828 with three children, d. 29 September 1859; 5. Ruth Piggott m. Asa Leach of Tennessee 24 January 1834, one child, d. 15 January 1855 in Fayette County, IL; 6. Eleanore Piggott b. c.1818, m. William Phillips 1 December 1836, d. St. Clair County, IL).

3. Jonas Piggott. Last child of Eleanore's, b. 1776, d. c.1780 (about the same time as Eleanore).

4. Cynthia Piggott. First child of Frances James Ballew, b. c.1784, m. James Port 15 October 1800 and moved to St. Clair County, IL, to a farm near O'Fallon, one child named James, d. 1846.

5. Jabez "James" Piggott: b. 15 February 1785, moved to near Windsor, Ontario, m. Jane McKenzie of Fort Malden, Ontario in 1810, seven children born in Canada, later settled in Hancock County, IL near his brothers Joseph and Isaac, d. 1827 while digging a well. Wife Jane returned with children to Canada for a decade before returning to Hancock County c.1840, then joined the Mormon community at Nauvoo.

6. Joseph Piggott, b. 4 September 1787, Methodist circuit rider minister in western Illinois along with brother Isaac Newton Piggott in 1823, then operated a ferry near Grafton, IL, m. Anna Spurlock (daughter Joseph and Anna Spurlock), four children (James A. and Minerva Jane have large families of their own), took up medicine, d. Greene County, IL 17 October 1850, buried in Eminence, IL. Anna died in Eminence 16 April 1832.

7. Frances Piggott, b. c.1789, m. Daniel Quick in St. Louis County in 1805, Daniel's estate settled in March 1847, and Frances likely died earlier - five children survived him. Frances James Piggott, her mother, is likely buried on their farm.

8. Assenath Piggott, b. after James and Frances married in St. Clair County at the Fort 17 January 1791, m. William Patterson in 1808, moved to Florissant in St. Louis County, MO, and farmed, 15 children, 9 of which lived beyond infancy. William was a veteran of the War of 1812 on the Mississippi and he died 25 May 1860. Widow Assenath moved in with daughter Lydia Patterson Veale, d. 13 November 1878. Buried with husband at Cold Water Cemetery in Florissant.

9. Isaac Newton Piggott, b. c.1792, Methodist minister in the 1820s, founded the town of Eminence, IL, and was a doctor, first postmaster in Jersey County IL, operated a ferry across the Mississippi with brother Joseph Piggott, ran for Governor of Illinois in 1824, defeated by Thomas Carlin (founder of Carrollton), m. Sarah Massey 1 February 1816, 12 children, only 3 surviving to adulthood, moved to Nauvoo in 1849 buying Joseph Smith's home after he was killed and the Mormons driven out for 43 cents in back taxes owed, d. St. Louis County, MO 11 February 1874. Wife Sarah d. 14 December 1881.

10 Zacharias Piggott, d. c.1841, m. Lorinda Nora Fleming 8 November 1821, two children.