Peter Pettypool was born on May 17, 1727 to Seth and Martha Pettypool. The family likely spent Peter’s early childhood in Prince George County, Virginia, moving to the area of Namozine Creek in the north section of Prince George in the early 1730s and on to Brunswick County by the late 1730s. They were resident in what was then identified as Lunenburg County through most of the 1740s.

By the early 1750s tax lists reveal that Peter was no longer part of his birth family and appears to have formed his own household unit in Lunenburg County. Although no indisputable evidence confirms his choice of wife, strong circumstantial evidence points to a marriage with Elizabeth Journey. At least the following two children were born of this union:

• Seth
• Catherine

A 1757 deed documenting purchase of a 100-acre property situates Peter along Hurricane Creek in north-central Lunenburg. While resident in Lunenburg, Peter was frequently encountered at the county court proceedings, coming before the court as a plaintiff, but mostly as a defendant on a variety of charges. In winter 1762 Peter sold the tract on Hurricane Creek to be replaced by another 100-acre tract on Aaron’s Creek in Granville County, North Carolina. This move brought him near the home plots of several members of his family of origin. While in Granville County, he continued to come to the attention of local judicial authorities.

Locating Peter in Va and NC

A map locating Peter's Virginia and North Carolina properties, based upon the Fry and Jefferson map of 1755, is available here.

South Carolina

Peter purchased land in the winter of 1772 on a branch of Fair Forest Creek even further south in North Carolina in an area, parts of which later became South Carolina. Although there is no firm evidence as to the year in which Peter took up physical residence after this purchase, South Carolina jury lists from the late 1770s confirm his presence in the general area encompassing Fair Forest Creek.

The probable last mention of Peter so far found in South Carolina records occurred on a roster ordered in 1783 that instructed patriot commanders to return lists of men who had been loyal to the British during the American Revolution. As a citizen of the Fair Forest Creek area, Peter had settled in a district that came to be associated with a strong pro-British, loyalist sentiment because of the presence of locally prominent men who established a decided loyalist tone for their districts. He appears on loyalist rosters from 1780-1782 although no firm indication of the strength of Peter’s commitment to the loyalist cause has been found. Peter does not appear post-1782 in any other known South Carolina documents.

For more information...

Please see Peter Pettypool (son of Seth and Martha Pettypool) of Virginia and the Carolinas, 17 May 1727 – post 1782 (?) by Carolyn Hartsough for a complete biographical sketch of Peter.

Also see Peter Pettypool's Role in the Southern Campaign of Earl Cornwallis by James F Poole.

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Map of Lunenburg County Virginia from Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C. 20540-4650 USA, G3883L La001296 Http://Hdl.Loc.Gov/Loc.Gmd/G3883L.La001296.

The photographs of Fair Forest Creek and transcription of Loyalist list at the SCDAH are copyright J. Poole.

The transcription of the Loyalist list is held by the South Carolina Department of Archives and History.