----- Original Message ----- From: Dr. Gerald N. Johnson, electrical engineer <geraldj@ames.net> To: <MOMADISO-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2001 11:23 PM Subject: Re: [MOMADISO-L] Fredericktown History #3 > Besides there were quite a number of land holders in Madison County with > Spanish land grants that would have been some time before 1803, such as > the Benjamin Pettits survey #847. Likely these were 1790s or earlier. > > Gerald J. Benjamin PETTIT was Dr. John L. PETTIT's father and my gggg grandfather. He was one of the 1st 300 settlers into KY. The settlement was PETTIT's Station near Benjamin LOGAN's Fort. Last summer I went to Madison County from CA & stood on his original spanish land grant # 847, and spoke to some of the present landowners. It was a thrill. His son Benjamin PETTIT Jr. also settled nearby. John Larrimore PETTIT became a prominent physician. He served as captain in the Black Hawk War. Dr. Pettit was murdered by a Richard Wormack and Preston Hackworth in the fall of l85l near Danielsville renamed Piedmont in Wayne Co., MO. Richard Wormack was apprehended but escaped from jail. Preston Hackworth was never caught. The Governor of Missouri posted a reward for their apprehension in early l852, but as far as I know, they were never caught. I recently have corresponded by email with some living relatives of HACKWORTH who was one of the highwaymen who murdered my ggg grandfather. Isn't that somethin'.? Don Rose Mariposa, CA darose@yosemite.net

My gggp Noble Johnson and his brother Davis Johnson bought pieces of the Benjamin Pettits survey from his widow who was living in Washington County at the time (1847 and 1835). I've not worked out which part of the survey each had. Both surveys begin at a tree by a creek and go in opposite directions. I was in the area last October and took several pictures biased towards the eastern half surrounding the Sikes place. Was there a road across the place in civil war times? I found a road atlas of the area claiming to be accurate for 1865 in the office at Fort Davidson in Ironton last October. It shows a road crossing the Little St. Francois just west of Pettits survey then following about the route of the modern 72 through the mountains west of the St. Francois. I'm having trouble believing the map because it claims to show sections but doesn't show the fractional sections created by the Spanish surveys and it shows a different path for the Little St. Francois and many other roads it shows as virtually straight lines between towns and I'm sure that those can't be accurate through the mountains. All other vintage maps show straight or smoothly curved routes between the towns which I can't believe. I did find an 1847 survey at the state archives of a road that begins near O'bannons and goes west. I may have found a part of it on the ground last October. I'm still trying to fit the survey onto topographic maps. West of the St. Francois, it tends to run up mountains and make right angle turns on top and run down, which I don't believe. Gerald J.