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From: John Keilch <>
Subject: [PIATT] James Pyott, Chester Co.>Delaware Co., PA
Date: Fri, 09 May 2003 20:05:14 -0700


Hi Mary,

James Pyott (Piett, Pyatt) was born about 1742 and died in 1825 in Upper
Darby Township, Delaware County, PA. James "Pyot" was married in 1772 at
Old Swede's Church in Philadelphia, PA, to Rosanna Kearnes; she was born
about 1750 and died with a will in 1832 in Upper Darby.

James Pyott was apparently the first son of John Pyott and Deborah
Brunson(?). John Pyott, a weaver, was born about 1714 and died with a will
in 1787 in Loudoun County, VA. John was married about 1735 to Deborah
Brunson(?), whose surname is a family tradition but has not been
proven. At the time of their marriage Deborah was expelled from her Quaker
meeting for "marrying out of unity," i.e., for marrying a
non-Quaker. Neither the parents of John Pyott, nor the parents of Deborah
Brunson(?) have been determined. John Pyott was recorded on tax lists of
Chester County, PA, in 1735 in Lower Darby Township, in 1739 in Haverford
Township, and from 1740 to 1762 in Upper Darby Township. From 1753 to 1759
John's tax was shared with Elizabeth Rhodes, whose relationship to him is
unknown. John Pyott moved to Loudoun County, VA, by 1765, in which year he
leased land and was granted a license to operate an ordinary (i.e., a
tavern). In 1766 Deborah Pyott managed to be reinstated to Quaker
membership by the Darby Hicksite Monthly Meeting and she then secured a
certificate of transfer to the Fairfax Monthly Meeting in Loudoun County, VA.

When John and Deborah Pyott moved to Virginia with their younger children,
James Pyott took over their homestead in Upper Darby Township, a transition
that is evident in the Upper Darby tax lists. The last year that John
"Piet" was listed in Upper Darby was 1762. The next year, 1763, James
Pyett, a free (single) man, was listed instead. The 1765 list showed that
James was responsible for a sizable homestead, with 130 acres, 5 horses, 8
cattle, and 9 sheep. James shared the land tax with Elizabeth Roades from
1765 to 1767. Upper Darby tax records listing James Pyott have been found
through 1785.

James's responsibility for the Pyott homestead for at least nine years
prior to his marriage to Rosannah raises the question of whether he may
have had a previous wife, or whether instead he and some of his siblings
merely lived by themselves. In the 1790 census of Upper Darby Township
(which after 1789 was part of Delaware County, PA) the household of James
Pyott had 3 males (over 16), 6 males (under 16), and 3 females. This
implies that the household included 8 sons and 2 daughters, although it is
possible that some were siblings or other relatives of James or
Rosanna. At least two additional sons and one additional daughter appear
to have been born to James and Deborah after 1790, so they may have had as
many as 13 children. James Pyott's household was recorded in Upper Darby
censuses in 1800, 1810 and 1820.

This summary is based largely on the Piatt Family Newsletter, vol. 11
(1996), pp.18ff, which provides more detail and source references, and also
provides considerable information about the descendants of John Pyott and
Deborah Brunson(?). If you email me your mailing address directly (i.e.,
not to the Piatt List), I will mail you a copy of the relevant newsletter
pages. I also have a chart of my own that reconstructs the descendants of
James Pyott and Rebecca Kearnes, based mainly on information from census
records, which I would be glad to share with you.

Good luck with your research.

John F. Keilch
Berkeley, California


>From: "Mary Jefferson" <>
>Date: Thu, 08 May 2003 20:20:15 -0500
>Subject: [PIATT] James Pyat, Delaware County, PA
>To:
>
>Hello everyone,
>I am new to the list and am hoping that some of you might be able to help
>me with a huge brick wall that I'm having trouble knocking down. I'm
>trying to find the parents of James Pyat (Pyott, Pyot) who lived around
>Upper Darby, PA in the late 1700s. He married Rosanna Kearnes in 1772 at
>Old Swede's Church in Phila. and they had children named: Elizabeth,
>Mary, James, Richard, Alexander, and Abram. I believe he may be the same
>James Pyott who is mentioned in Ashmead's history of Delaware County as
>having owned the "Black Horse Tavern" in Delaware County in the
>1780s. I'd also like to find more information on their children. Any
>help/clues you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
>Thanks,
>Mary Jefferson


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