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Subject: [PIATT] 2001 Piatt Conference Minutes for 6/26/01
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 21:30:50 EDT

PIATT FAMILY RESEARCHERS' CONFERENCE
Delaware Valley College, Doylestown, Pennsylvania
June 26, 2001

Present: Elizabeth "Liz" Branstead, Beth Ann Lauer, Kenneth Lawrence Lauer &
Mary Joan (Piatt) Lauer, David Conrad Piatt, James Donovan Piatt and Edith
(Ross) Piatt, Laverne (Ingram) Piatt, Richard O. Piatt and Mary (Keiper)
Piatt, Ira A. "Skip" Piatt, Sharolynn Pyeatt, Christine Webb, Elizabeth Webb.

Joe and Paulie Piatt did not attend the evening meeting because they met
their son Joseph in Philadelphia for dinner.

Laverne and Sharolynn went to the New Jersey State Library and tried to find
cemetery listings for Middlesex, Somerset and Hunterdon Counties. Laverne
also checked some other areas and found several interesting things, which
are probably already known, including a Baptism: on July 8, 1770, Rev.
Frazer baptized Mary, the wife of James, and their child, Benjamin. Richard
said that the child was quite young. He believes that both mother and child
died shortly thereafter and are both buried in Alexandria. This information
was disappointing since it means that Benjamin is not a link to some of the
unconnected lines.

Laverne also found a compilation of tavern licenses from Hunterdon County.
Richard said that he had never known that Elijah Piatt had purchased a tavern
license in Hunterdon County around 1823. William Piatt also paid a tavern
tax in 1792, as did "William's father," who is unfortunately not otherwise
identified on the list of those paying the tax.

Richard, Mary and Skip spent the day at the New Jersey State Archives. They
are attempting to collect vital records documents for their direct line.
Richard also spent a lot of time answering questions about the early Piatts
for others researching at the Archives.

David worked at the Archives all day, concentrating on Will Abstracts. As a
matter of interest, he looked up Rene Piatt's Intestate packet on microfilm,
copied it, and passed it around at the meeting for everyone to look at.

At the State Library, Sharolynn found an abstract from a will that was filed
in Middlesex County for Michael Munday, a neighbor of the Piatts who died in
his 80s. He was a farmer, but was also an alcoholic. His will had been made
20 years earlier before his second marriage. Michael Munday's brother
contested the will, and the dispute resulted in over 100 pages of
documentation and testimony from many witnesses (including Asa Piatt). Most
who testified also gave biographical information about themselves. Asa's
testimony appears to include information about his own movements back and
forth from New Market to New Brunswick to Somerset and back to New Brunswick
over his lifetime. Unfortunately, once Sharolynn got to the Archives, she
found that their microfilm seems to contain only some accountings from the
packet. She is hoping to go to New Brunswick and get a chance to look at the
original document packet there.

Jim and Edith Piatt worked at the Archives. They found many interesting
details in a book called More Records of Old Hunterdon County: Division of
Lands 1796-1876. Jim quoted one: "On 13 Sept. 1824 John Pittenger was
surety for Jacob Pittenger, distiller of Alexandria Township, who was accused
of being the father of the unborn child of Mary Piatt, single woman of the
same place. (Recog. 2332)." Jim also looked at some will records in the
book. Nicholas Pickle left a bequest of 400 pounds to his "daughter, Anna
Pyatt" in a will dated 15 April 1818. And on August 27, 1821, Jeremiah King
of Kingwood Township left a lot to his daughter, Sarah Pyatt, wife of Dr.
James Pyatt.

Christine and Elizabeth Webb also spent their day at the Archives. They
worked on gathering vital record information from other lines. Christine
spent $30 on photocopying from microfilm, but none of this was Piatt
information. As usual, her Piatts managed to be scarce in the records.

At the Archives, Liz looked at Birth Records from 1848-1878. She would have
preferred to concentrate on the earlier era, but unfortunately has not pushed
her own line back far enough yet. The Piatts she found had diverse names
(not all repetitions of previous generations) and some of them were very
unusual, for example, Alavesta Piatt. Liz also looked at Will Abstracts and
really began to build more familiarity with the New Jersey Piatts. She feels
that just now, however, she needs to concentrate more on her line in
Pennsylvania in the hope of finally making the connection back to New Jersey.


Jo found a book at the Archives that had been put into a special folder
because it was in such fragile condition. The index listed John the Sheriff
(Piatt) of Middlesex, and the book contained actual copies of newspaper items
that John had published in the newspapers of his time. The information
seemed so interesting that Jo intends to publish it in Piatt Family
Photogravure even though there are no pictures to go with it. She thinks it
is important to preserve it for future generations in case the book crumbles
into little bits too small to read! Jo commented that she was also intrigued
to find the name "Joseph Paxton" listed in the Will Abstracts at the
Archives. If she has time later in the week, she will pursue information
about him for Liz.

Ken checked the card catalog in the Documents Room of the Archives. It
contains information about New Jersey newspaper citations. He found several
Piatts of various spellings. Unfortunately, the Archives does not hold all
of the relevant microfilm reels for the newspapers where the articles cited
can be found, but some of them may be available nearby at the State Library.

Beth began her day at the Archives by reviewing Volume 7 (1786-1790) of the
Will Abstracts for any mention of Piatts. Two of the three abstracts she
found involved Piatts only as people who helped inventory the estate. She
will give the information she found to Laverne so it can be added to her
document "Some Court Records Involving Piatts in New Jersey 1683-1814." The
names Dunham and Munday are both mentioned in these abstracts in connection
with Piatts. At Richard's suggestion, Beth then checked early land
conveyances involving Piatts and the every-name index of Wills. Richard
thinks that the land transfers from James Pyatt to Benjamin Stelle and James
Pyatt of Piscataway to Thomas Pyatt may be worth pursuing, but Beth did not
have time to follow up in the microfilm. At Richard's suggestion, Beth did
look up the estate packet for Thomas Pyatt of Middlesex County, father of
Asa. She copied it and Richard will review it to see if it contains any new
clues.

Richard gave everyone information about William and Hannah Tindall Piatt,
saying that "some of it is fact and some of it is thought." (See attached.)
He plans eventually to post this write-up on the Piatt-LIST. Liz said that
she was intrigued to see Rita Piatt O'Brien listed as the granddaughter of
Nathaniel Piatt. It makes her wonder if her Joseph Paxton Piatt could tie
into this line somehow? Richard cannot prove it, but he believes that all
clues are pointing to the likelihood that William (of William and Hannah
Tindall Piatt) is the son of Benjamin and Hannah Bowlby Piatt. It just seems
to him that it can't be a coincidence that all of these things tie in. Jo
commented that the three recent obituaries that appeared in Photogravure are
all descendants of William and Hannah Tindall Piatt. Furthermore, she has
heard Erta Piatt Walker and her sister LeMoyne Matthews talk about (and
LeMoyne has written about) Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

Notes by Beth A. Lauer

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