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Subject: [PIATT] Piatt Conference Minutes for Wednesday, 6/27/01
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 22:30:07 EDT
PIATT FAMILY RESEARCHERS' CONFERENCE
Delaware Valley College, Doylestown, Pennsylvania --- June 27, 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, Joseph Howard Piatt & Pauline (Carpinelli) Piatt, Laverne
(Ingram) Piatt, Richard O. Piatt and Mary (Keiper) Piatt, Ira "Skip" Piatt,
Sharolynn Pyeatt, Christine Webb, Elizabeth Webb.
Christine, Elizabeth, Liz, and David went to the Genealogical Society of
Pennsylvania because they discovered upon arrival in Philadelphia that the
Historical Society did not open until 1 PM. Christine copied 400 pages. She
found the Rubincam Family History by Milton Rubincam there, and it contained
a section on the Piatts. She also found information on other lines.
Christine reported that there is a bridge out on the train route into
Philadelphia, so the trip was longer than expected each direction (1-1/2
hours) due to the need for a detour via articulated bus.
Liz was part of the same foursome and was most interested to discover that,
by 1790, only one Piatt was listed in the entire state. (PA 1790 Census -
Abraham Piatt, Esq., living in Northumberland Co. with 1 white male---himself
as head of household---4 males under 16, 8 females, and no other free persons
or slaves in the household.) In the US Direct Tax of 1798 (tax lists of the
State of Pennsylvania, known as the "window tax") there were only two
listings:
(1) #307 - John Piatt (warrantee and owner) in Catawissa Township. This John
Piatt owned 428 acres with an estimated value of $214 and it is noted that
the adjoining property is south of the beaver pond.
(2) #96 - John Piatt (warrantee and owner) in Washington and White Deer
Township. This property consisted of 427 acres valued at $106.75 and John
Hayes owned the adjacent property.
Richard thinks that these two "Johns" are actually the same man and that he
inherited property from his brother Abraham, who died in 1791.
David, who also researched at the Genealogical Society, did not find his
great-great grandfather in the 1850 Census with his own family but was able
to determine that he was living instead with another family in Huntington
Township, Columbia County, Pennsylvania. Richard believes that these were
also relatives. David commented that he was pretty excited by this find.
Joe and Paulie had the same experience with the train detour exactly one hour
after the foursome who went to the Genealogical Society. As the result of
their late arrival in town, Joe and Paulie spent a short time at the library,
lunched at the market, and then took a tour of the Masonic Temple of the
Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. Joe looked there for William Piatt who was a
member of the Knights Templar in New York, but didn't find any information on
him. There was a lot of interesting information about the history of
Lafayette and his tour of the US in 1824.
Jim reported that he went to the Spruance Library in Doylestown with Richard,
Mary, and Edith and Skip today. He very quickly found a book on marriages in
Bucks County that confirmed that his great grandparents were indeed married.
After lunch, the group went up to the Court House where they were not greeted
very warmly. They did not get much help there and had no luck finding what
they wanted.
Richard added that his group went to French Town in the afternoon to look for
some tombstones. He found the marker for Brunson Williams, the first husband
of Peg LeBoutilier in the cemetery. Unfortunately, it was 94 degrees at the
time and much too hot. They were not able to locate all of the markers that
he wanted there.
Laverne and Sharolynn went to New Brunswick today. First they went a little
bit farther to Edison, New Jersey where they explored the tombstones at the
Stelton Baptist Church cemetery. They photographed and copied some of the
tombstones and were also able to refine some of their notes at the Edison
Public Library next door because someone had deposited a notebook with
photographs of the same markers there some years ago.
Sharolynn reported that they then went to the Court House in New Brunswick
where they were able to find the depositions in the estate of Michael Munday.
The pages had been restored. Asa Piatt and Elizabeth Stelle both testified
on behalf of Michael Munday saying that they felt he was competent. They
were able to document Asa's statements about his movements.
Laverne and Sharolynn next went to Rutgers where Sharolynn reported that she
got hijacked by a piece of microfilm (#2777 to be exact): The Records of the
First Baptist Church of Piscataway, Stelton, New Jersey 1781-1855 (the Church
they had visited earlier that day). Ephraim Pyatt was listed as a Deacon.
Elizabeth Pyatt, Asa Pyatt, Asher Pyatt, Mercy Pyatt, Providence Runyon Pyatt
(Mrs. J. Pyatt), John Pyatt, Mrs. Cornelia Pyatt (wife of Runyon), and
several other Pyatts also appear in the records. Hezekiah Smith's name also
came up three times. Sharolynn noted that Asa was excluded for a period of
time and then restored. (This also helps to document his comings and
goings.) A Hannah Pyath, also a member of the Church, was listed as
"Colored." The church records also discuss some of the actions (some of them
scandalous) of the church members in quite a bit of detail. James Pyatt
(Richard thinks probably the one who was married to Ruth Drake) seemed to be
the one who was regularly dispatched to help settle problems among the
colored members of the church. Richard added that both James Pyatt and
Deacon Ephraim Pyatt were very prominent and prosperous farmers.
Laverne worked with the card file of cemetery readings at Rutgers. The card
file was created in 1937 and was checked against even earlier listings at the
time it was made. She also found a book about the Stelton Church. No
records for the church exist prior to 1781 because they were destroyed in the
Revolution. Ephraim Pyatt was appointed a Deacon in 1792 and died on August
10, 1813. The book included some genealogical information about families
other than Piatts. It also talked about early Huguenots who joined the
church, including some Piatts, but simply named the families without going
into any detail about them.
Laverne added that after Rutgers, they checked the Seventh Day Baptist
cemetery but found no Piatts there. In addition, Laverne received a
telephone call from her husband, Ed. He informed her that he had received
mail from Barbara Maybury. Barbara sent him an article from the Pittsburgh
newspaper about two Piatts, a father and son, who are wealthy descendants of
Amos Piatt and are suing each other over the Southpoint development near
Washington, Pennsylvania.
Jo reported that the Lauers went out to Six Mile Run to see the Elm Ridge
Cemetery marker for Frances Van Vliet and the Six Mile Reformed Church ("Old
Dutch Church"). They crossed Six Mile Run about nine times altogether and,
by dint of risking life and limb to cross the highway bridge on foot, they
were able to determine that there is indeed water flowing freely in the run
after all. You just can't see it from either of the banks. They took the
easy route on the way back to Pennsylvania: State Road 27 becomes County
Road 518, which crosses directly to Lambertville, NJ/New Hope, PA. Road 518
is, incidentally, called the Franklin-Lambertville Pike in places.
Some discussion was held about where to have the 2002 Conference. Several
members of the group were very enthusiastic about the idea of having it in
Fort Wayne because of the release of the 1930 Census, which is due in March
2002. Possible difficulties could include the question of when the census
will actually be in the drawers at Fort Wayne for use by the public and the
issue of when construction will begin on the library expansion. A second
option might be to go to Salt Lake City. Sharolynn is fairly certain that
the census will be available there promptly. Richard mentioned, in addition,
the option of going up to the College of St. Elizabeth at Morristown next
year.
Notes by Beth A. Lauer
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