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Archiver > PIATT > 2001-05 > 0988946673


From: Laverne Piatt <>
Subject: Re: [PIATT] Who is John of France?
Date: Thu, 03 May 2001 23:24:33 -0400
References: <003201c0d255$2c0d5be0$b9eafea9@hppav>


For Anne,

I can't explain why some of the early lines got confused but it seems that
this is what has happened to these Piatt listings. I have seen a tangling
such as this in my own lines unrelated to Piatts. In my own lines, my
great-grandfather moved the whole family from KY to WV around 1900. Then my
grandfather returned his family only to KY. Subsequently, a descendant in the
WV line wanted to compile a genealogy and relied on faulty and foggy memories
of the WV people concerning the KY line. And this much mangled information
became posted on one of the major genealogy sites! So researchers must beware
and always, always double-check and confirm.

For your first John Piatt listed we have his birth as:
JOHN PIATT born 15 Jul 1740, Six Mile Run, NJ; d 1819 Lycoming Co PA; son of
John Piatt and Frances Van Vliet Wyckoff Piatt. In this case, the date of the
month of the birth varies by 10 days, possibly the result of sloppy
handwriting, and the year varies by 1. And I just read a long, complicated
explanation of the change in the calendar done in 1732. I have seen many
dates of this time period written as 1733/1734 for example. Possibly this
descrepency of a year is related to the change in the calender. Just a guess,
though. The birth location of Netherlands for the online listing may have
been an assumed location. The family was on Six Mile Run in New Jersey,
though. There is a book of old maps of the road across New Jersey which is
probably still in print which shows the location of John Piatt (Sr)'s house.

As to the second, and older, John Piatt you list we have:
JOHN PIATT, b about 1712, Six Mile Run NJ; d Jul 1760 St Thomas, Virgin
Islands; son of Jacob Piatt and Mary Hull. I have seen John Piatt's parents
listed as Pierre Piatt and Eloise DuFore in a set of volumes by Virkus, The
American Compendium of Genealogy, I believe. However, no source is given and
it is my understanding that Virkus has all but been descredited as publishing
fictious genealogies. An interesting speculation was made, perhaps on the
list a while ago, that "Eloise DuFore" was a corruption of the phrase "alias
LaFluer." However, the birth dates of the two listings are close. We have
"about 1712 " and you found 1710.

Perhaps we could get now blissfully retired librarian KEN LAUER to comment on
the reliability of the Virkus publication.

As to William Piatt we have:
WILLIAM PIATT, baptized 1 Oct 1743, Six Mile Run NJ; d 4 Nov 1791, Fort
Recovery OH. This was Captain William Piatt of the Revolutionary War and of
the later Indian Wars. He was killed at St Clair's defeat in northwest Ohio
in 1791. His name is on a monument to the fallen officers at Fort Recovery.
Lynn White and I stopped at the monument a number of years ago after a
conference in Fort Wayne. Wherever this William was born, he was baptized in
New Jersey. He was the 3rd son of John Piatt and Frances Van Vliet Wyckoff Piatt.

There is a PETER PIATT listed as being born 19 Jan 1707/08 in Piscataway NJ to
Jacob Piatt and Mary Hull Piatt, making him a brother to the elder John, above.

I was hoping that we might clear up some of the confusion--one way or
another--by locating the papers of the late N Louise Lodge who published
"Everybody's Ancestry" and "The Tribe of Jacob." She was researching in the
late 1800s and early 1900s, and to my knowledge was the earliest Piatt
researcher. Perhaps her papers held references to sources that no one else
has yet uncovered. But, unfortunately, her papers are lost at best, and at
worst, destroyed. I suppose we could always hope that some of them survive.
And perhaps we should look for other Piatt papers. I know that there are some
Piatt papers among the Worthington Family Papers at the Ohio Historical
Society. I should look at those again. And another project would be to
contact the author of the recent book on Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt to see what
original papers might survive there. The Castles still have some, too, I
believe. Are there other possibilities?

--
Laverne Ingram Piatt
Ontario, OH


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