This was taken from the Petro genforum, it seems to say that the Petro's were German or French (Alsace, Lorraine) and changed the name from Peterri to Petro....I don't know if that is true, any Petro descendant have the facts? "I have also seen this at a LDS family History center near where I live. They have it in with their family CD's that I looked through. Philip Peterri had 2 sons 1.Philip born 1718 Palitinate,Alsace Germany d. Rockbridge Co. VA 2. Johann Bernhardt Petro Peterri b.1722-1723 Alsace,Lorraine France d.1813 Warren co. OH. Johann dropped the Peterri name and began using his 2nd middle name Petro. He was maried to Mary Starn." ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jean Loudin" <jloudin@rtol.net> To: <WVRANDOL-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, March 23, 2002 10:21 AM Subject: Re: [WVRANDOL-L] HENRY PETRO KITTLE > It just is not only about accepting other people's research. Any > genealogist needs to get into the history of the United States, otherwise > you can be fooled. To track a family or to get an idea of how they might of > moved or why, one has to know the history of the states. During the French > and Indian War a lot of residents of what is now eastern WV fled to other > areas, some as far as the Carolinas. Then some of the family would come > back and some of the family would stay where they had run to. Finding > migration routes commonly used can often lead to where a family member came > from. > > I have seen again and again people saying that persons living in the 1700s > and 1800s did not travel much. That is simply not true. They traveled, took > their animals to market on the east coast, went there for supplies, > gathered for big camp meetings and would travel 100 miles for these and > stay a week or two. They visited each other, but not a short overnight > visit, it might be for 2 weeks. This is how many ladies met their husbands > and these husbands were not in their home neighborhoods. Also we look at > today's maps and the roads and think people lived a long distance apart, > not so in WV. Back in the 1800s it was shorter to go up one mountain and > down the other by horseback and essentially these people were practically > neighbors. If you find an old church, draw a circle around it. People > within that circle rode in for services and not by today's roads. In lower > Randolph there were not even wagon roads until late as no one needed them > until they bought horses and carriages. > > I have often wondered where the Petro came from. Was he off a ship? It is > odd for someone not familiar with frontier life to end up on the frontier > when it was hard to survive if you dis not have experiences of hunting, > trapping, etc. And was it Petro or Pedro? I remember one of the family was > captured by the indians and killed according to tradition. > > Jean > > > > ==== WVRANDOL Mailing List ==== > No Flaming allowed on this list! > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >