Most of my information on Matthew Pettit is derived from his military records. The earliest known reference is the following:

"Proceedings of a General Court Martial of the Line held at Pittsburgh the 6th day of June 1779 by order of Daniel Brodhead Esqr Col Commanding the Western Department. Lieut. Col Stephn Bayard President. Matthew Pettite a soldier in the 8th Pennsa Regt was brought before the Court, charg'd with Desertion. Pleads not Guilty. Sergt Kennedy of the 8th Pennsa Regt appeared before the Court on Oath says that he apprehended the said Pettite at one Breeseleys where his Relations were & that he did not think the Prisoner intended to return back to his Regiment–The Prisoner in his Defense says, he wanted to see his Relations & wanted to get a Blanket, & when he was returning to his Regiment he strain'd his Knee & was not able to proceed on the Journey but intended to return as soon as he was able. The Court after maturely Considering the above charge are of the opinion that he is Guilty of Absenting himself without leave, do sentence him to Receive Fifty Lashes, well laid on his bare back, but beg leave to recommend him to the Commanding Officer for Mercy, on account of his Youth and Ignorance in Military Discipline."16

From pension records, this is Matthew Pettit later of Bath Co. Ky. In 1779, at the time of this court martial, he was 19. The reference to relatives by the name of "Breeseley" is intriguing, but I have not located any Breeseley or Beesely family near Pittsburgh. (There was a Breasely family in Hunterdon Co., New Jersey in the 1780’s and 1790’s, though. Perhaps one branch of that family migrated to western Pennsylvania along with Matthew’s parents, while another branch stayed in New Jersey.)

The military pension application of Mathew Pettit, dated 17 June 1818 and recorded by the clerk of the Bath Co. Court, states that he would be "58 years old this fall", that he enlisted in 1777 at Jacob's Creek, Penn., that he was in the company of Capt. James Pickett of the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment and afterwards stationed at Fort Pitt, that he was wounded in the leg and left shoulder at the Battle of Brandywine, that at the time of application he had a family of four children the oldest of which was 8 yrs (no wife mentioned); his statements confirmed under oath by Mrs. Rebecca Mitchell who stated that she was his sister. In a second application (for a later pension act) dated 14 Aug 1820, also in Bath Co. Court, Mathew swears that "I am by occupation a farmer, and I am unable to procure a living by my labour owing to age and infirmity and wounds received in the Revolutionary Service. I have a wife aged forty two years and children Drusillah aged 14 years Nancy aged 12 years Samuel aged 10 years Ann aged 8 years Polly aged 6 years and David aged one month." His only property is listed as six hogs, with a total value of 6 dollars. Both documents are marked with an X which the clerk annotates as "Mathew Pettitt his mark".

(Notes on this application: Jacob's Creek has, since the formation of Fayette Co. in 1783, formed the boundary between Fayette Co. and Westmoreland Co., Pennsylvania. In the 1770's it was entirely within Westmoreland Co. From military records, the actual name of the Captain was James Pigott, not Pickett. The Battle of Brandywine was fought near Philadelphia on 11 Sept 1777, only 3 months after Matthew enlisted. Since he continued in active duty for nearly 3 more years, it is probable that any wounds he received in that battle were not debilitating. All in all, the impression I get is that Matthew was somewhat of a slacker.)

On 6 Apr 1819, Matthew Petit of Bath Co. KY received pension payment of $96 for service as a private in the Revolutionary War, on the Penn. line. He was still living in Bath Co., and listed as age 74, when a survey of Revolutionary War pensioners was taken in 1834.

In Jan 1838, a lawyer inquired on behalf of the widow (unnamed) of Matthew Pettit as to whether she might be eligible for any benefits as a Revolutionary War widow, so we know Matthew died between 1834 and 1837. The War Office replied that as she was 42 in 1820, she would have born about 1778, and thus could not have been married to Matthew at the time of his military service. (At that time, benefits were only extended to widows who had been married to the soldier during his years of service, though a later Act of Congress extended benefits to widows who married veterans after their service had ended, if the soldier had been receiving a pension.)

Note that if both of Matthew's sworn statements about his children's ages are true (perhaps they are not), then Drusillah and Nancy must not have been members of Matthew's family in June 1818, as they would have been aged 12 and 10 in 1818, and he said his oldest child was 8 at the time. But they are of the right age to be the two daughters under 10 in the 1810 census, so most likely they were already in Mathew's family in 1818 and for some reason he and his sister either did not mention them or underreported their ages. (Maybe they were living with another family? This is possible if he was so poor.) There may be another child younger than Polly who had died by 1820, accounting for the fourth child at home in 1818 if Drusillah and Nancy were not in that four. Since Mathew does not mention having a wife to support in 1818, and there is a gap of 6 years between the births of Polly and David, it may be that in 1818, he was a widower, and between 1818 and 1820 he remarried, and that David is the child of the third marriage.

There were possibly other children of his first marriage who were grown by 1818.

Matthew probably died in the winter or spring of 1836, when two of his children were bonded as apprentices and listed as orphans (see notes for Andrew David and Sally.)

A probable close relative of Matthew is Jeremiah Petett who was listed on the same page (370) of the 1810 census of Montgomery Co., KY, with a household of 1 male over 45, and 1 free non-white. Jeremiah was also taxable in Lincoln Co., Ky on 8/23/1800. Captain James Pigott's company of the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment included a Jeremiah Pettit as well as our Mathew Pettit, both privates, and both listed as being from Westmoreland Co. (From rolls published in the Pennsylvania Archives.) But there is no pension record for Jeremiah. Probably he died before the pension program began, as he does not appear on any later censuses of Ky. He is also likely to be the Jeremiah Pettit listed in the 1790 census of Allegheny Co., PA, with 2 males over 16 and 2 females. Perhaps Matthew and Jeremiah were sharing a household?

Matthew's parentage is not known for certain. Jack Poland of West Virginia lists him as a son of Isaac Pettit and Margaret Gooden, who lived in Washington Co., Pennsylvania, and who were fond of biblical names for their children. Steve Navaro of Littleton, CO, who is the source of most of my data on descendents of that Isaac, lists Matthew “very tentatively” as a son of Isaac's son Azariah. Of the two, Jack Poland’s conjecture seems more plausible, since Matthew is much too old to be a grandson of Isaac, while his birthdate is just right to fit before Isaac's oldest proven son, Nathaniel. (Isaac’s son Azariah did have a son named Matthias, but he was born about 1792.) Also Isaac had a daughter Rebecca, of whom nothing is known after 1805. The primary evidence against Matthew as Isaac's son is that he was not listed in Isaac's will. However, as Matthew was 41 at the time Isaac wrote his will, and probably already living in Kentucky, he may have been intentionally left out. If Matthew is not a son of Isaac, he is more likely to be a nephew (perhaps another son of George of Loudoun Co., VA) or a cousin than a grandson. Some close connection to Nathaniel Pettit and Ellzabeth Heath is assumed by most Pettit researchers, since they are the parents or grandparents of all the Pettits known to be in Westmoreland and Washington counties of Pennsylvania in the 1770’s, when Matthew (and Jeremiah) enlisted there. However, it might be that Matthew stems instead from the branch of James Pettit and Priscilla Darling. They both died in York Co., Pa, and their son James died in Wheeling, Virginia, which is right across the Ohio River from Washington Co., Pennsylvania, and only 30 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. Perhaps too much emphasis has been placed on the Westmoreland Co. residency, and not enough research been done into the neighboring counties in Virginia.

The earliest I find Matthew Pettit in Kentucky tax lists is 1808, when he first appears in Montgomery County. There are statewide index books to Kentucky tax lists for 1789-1805, and Matthew does not appear on them. So it is probable that he moved to Kentucky between 1805 and 1808. On the other hand, he may have been sharing a household with a relative.

Montgomery Co. Ky tax rolls list:
1808: Mathew Pettit 1 male over 21, no males 16-21, 1 horse [Bk 2, p. 24]
1809: Matthew Pettitt 1 male over 21, no males 16-21, 2 horses [Bk 1, p. 28]
1810: Mathius Pettit 2 males over 21, no horses [page 36]
(Males over 21 are the only category counted in 1810.) In none of the years does Matthew own any slaves or land.

1810 census of Montgomery Co., KY, p. 369, line 28, lists family:
Mathew Petett, 1 m 10-15, 1 m > 45, 2 f < 10, 1 f 26-45.

Greenup Co., tax rolls:
1811: Mathew Pettit (from an index, details not recorded)

This is apparently the same Matthew Pettit, since there is no Matthew Pettit in the 1811 tax rolls of Montgomery or Bath county, and there is no Matthew Pettit in Greenup Co. before or after 1811.

Bath Co. Kentucky tax rolls list:
1812: Mathew Pettit 1 male over 21, 3 mares
1817: Mathew Pettit 1 male over 21, 1 mare

He may be the Matthew Pettit, termed “late a private in the Corps of Artillery” who purchased 160 acres of public land in Hancock Co., Illinois on 14 April 1818, land warrant 14839, the tract being described as the NE of Section 20 of township six North in Range eight West, by authority of the Script Warrant Act of 6 May 1812.

He does not appear in the Bath Co. tax list for 1813-1816, or 1818-1820. He is back again in 1821 and 1822. The 1822 tax list records the number of children under 15; three are listed.

I haven’t examined later years.

A Jesse Pettit also appears in 1812-1815, but not any of the other years I examined (1805-1822.)

I cannot find an 1820 census reading for Matthew Pettit. There is no Matthew Pettit or variation in the statewide index for the 1820 census, and I searched the 1820 censuses of Bath and Montgomery counties with a fine tooth comb, and there is no name even semi-close. But his military pension application shows that he was resident there in both 1818 and 1820. Perhaps he was living with relatives, and thus was not a head-of-household.

1830 census of Bath Co., KY, p. 213, line 19, records this family as:
Mathew Pettit, 1 m 70-79, 1 f 60-69, 2 f 15-19, 1 m 10-14, 1 f 5-9, 1 f < 5. (The line immediately below is for the Samuel Pettit family.) The mark for the wife is probably in the wrong column, as if this is the same wife he had in 1820, she would be 52, and there was no hint in the 1838 inquiry by Matthew’s widow that she was not the wife listed in his pension application. Also a woman in her 60’s wouldn’t have a child under 5. The 2 f 15-19 would be Ann 18 and Polly 16, the m 10-14 would be David Andrew 10, one of the 2 girls age 5-9 would be Sally 9, and the youngest is not identified.

Since "Gray" is uncommon as a middle name unless it derives from a surname, it is a good guess for the maiden name of Matthew's first wife. On the other hand, it may be the maiden name of Matthew’s mother, if he is a son of Samuel Pettit and Keziah Gray.