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Archiver > PIATT > 2004-08 > 1093223536
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Subject: Re: [PIATT] John and Mary Piatt
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 01:12:21 +0000
For Laura and Robin:
First, I think the Benjamin and Mary Truax Piatt given as parents for Lorenzo in his obituary is a mistake. Lorenzo died in 1968, 71 years after his father. The informant on the death certificate just mis-remembered, in my opinion. The same thing happened in my husband's line when Sarah Piatt Drum, d/o James Piatt Jr, died in 1912. She died 72 years after her father and the informant named her older brother William (who had likely become the man of the family upon father James' death) as her father. Unless compelling proof of a second Lorenzo, s/o of Benjamin and Mary Truax Piatt, turns up I would asterisk this obit as likely containing this error.
PFN lists Lorenzo Piatt as b 9 Jan(uary) 1878, Jackson Co WV; d 7 Dec 1965, buried Pleasant Ridge Cemetery, Monroe Co OH; m/1 24 Mar 1909, Monroe Co OH, Alice Mae Luke or Alice E Duke; m/2 Pearl Hissom.
There are a couple of descrepancies between the obit and PFN. First his birth month difference is just a confusion of Jan and Jun so checking the original records should clarify this. But his death date is three years off. Strangely, the numbers in the obit don't add up. Take the birth year of 1878 and add 87 to get 1965 which matches PFN but not the date of the paper. If Lorenzo died in Barnesville, his death record should be in Belmont Co, regardless of his residency at the time, and that should answer this question.
This Lorenzo is the one of the obituary as his widow was Pearl. But the first wife? Luke or Duke? Further along in PFN Vol 9 Alice Mae Luke is given as Lorenzo's wife. She was the daughter of David Luke and Luella Evaline Varner. Lorenzo and Alice Mae Luke were married on 24 Mar 1909 in Monroe Co OH and divorced in 1930. Alice married second on 11 Aug 1931 to Theodore Franklin Schrody.
Lorenzo's children by Alice Mae Luke:
1. Clarence Monroe, d 1919, flu epidemic
2. John Franklin, b 1 Jan 1916, Monroe Co OH; d 28 Dec 1987, Woodsfield, bur Moffett Cemetery, Monroe Co OH; m Garnet Briggs
3. Mary Jane, m Guy H Nalley
4. Clara Ellen, b 26 Dec 1920, Monroe Co OH; d 28 May 1987, Monroe Co OH; m/1 Thomas Stephens; m/2 Ray E Briggs, d 19 Apr 1967, Allentown PA
5. Dorothy Mae, m Wilbur Edgar Briggs, d 25 May 1977, Coshocton OH
6. Charles Robert, b 17 Apr 1923; killed 1 Sep 1945, WWII, Luzon Island
Lorenzo's children by Pearl Hissom:
7. Arthur
8. Paul
9. Archie
The obituary of Alice Mae Schrody gives the same parents listed above, names her Piatt children and her Schrody children, says she was divorced from Piatt in 1930 and gives brother Charles Clinton Luke as a survivor.
The obituary of Clara Ellen Briggs names her Piatt siblings and Schrody half-brothers as survivors.
Now to confuse matters there was another Lorenzo Piatt some twenty years older. This is one of the other Lorenzos that Robin has. Lorenzo Dow Piatt, b 1850, s/o William Piatt and Ella "Precious" Keene of Monroe Co OH, married in 1876 to Margaret Ellen Duke. That's Duke. William is the erroneous father of Sarah Piatt Drum mentioned above. He was her brother.
.the usual from Rene to Monroe Co
..James Piatt Sr and Nancy Coleman?
...James Piatt Jr and Catherine Moffett
....William Piatt and Ella "Precious" Keen, first wife
.....Lorenzo Dow Piatt and Margaret Ellen Duke
Children of Lorenzo Dow Piatt and Margaret Ellen Duke:
Mary C; John W; George Albert; Charles; Walter; Lena; Arlie; Bertha
The original Lorenzo Dow was a famous preacher of his day. Many children were named in his honor. A Dow Smith could be Lorenzo Dow Smith. Suspect that naming connection whenever you find a Lorenzo and/or Dow after the Civil War.
I think Lorenz and Lorenzo are the same person. Bessie is not the typical nickname for Dorothy or Clara, but who knows. In my husband's Davis line there were Bottom Billy Davis and Greenbrier Billy Davis, nicknamed for where they lived in WV. They were desperate to have a way to tell people apart, aparently.
Why did either line of Piatts go to Jackson Co WV? My first guess is work in the oil fields. Even if they are listed as farmers they could still have worked as drillers. Did the two Piatt branches, with the same given names, know they were related? That's a good question to ponder. How far back did each line know? Maybe the Ohio Piatts knew back to Path Valley and the WV Piatts back to "Old Man Bill [William Peatt] was born in NJ." But was that enough for them to make a connection? Did they even care? From what we have now we think the branching of these two lines came in the second generation with the Monroe Co line coming from Rene's son Jacob and the WV Piatts coming from another of Rene's sons.
Robin, if you'll post the information you have on the third Lorenzo Piatt I'll check PFN. Good luck during your trip to Ravenswood in September. Sorting these people won't be easy. And, Robin, while in Jackson Co would you keep an eye out for the death record and/or obit of Alfred Comer Piatt of the Monroe Co bunch, please? He was supposed to have died in Wood Co WV on 18 Sep 1940, I believe. (Pam Drake, please correct any errors here.) But a year or so ago I was in Parkersburg and found no record of his death in Wood Co WV. (Wood Co WV has excellent death records.) There was nothing in the newspapers for that date either. Then I checked the town where is was supposed to have died, Neptune, and found it just over the line in Jackson Co WV. I ran down the road to Ripley, too late for the courthouse, but found nothing in the records in the excellent West Virginia room of the library in Ripley. The purpose of looking for AC's death record and/or obit is to determine!
if his wife Catherine Drake was still living at the time of his death. If she outlived him she may have gone to live with a son after AC's death. Thanks.
--
Laverne Ingram Piatt
Ontario, OH
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