Catharine (Branch) Pettit

Wife of Thomas Pettit III — married 26 Nov 1697 in Newtown, Suffolk, New York Colony

Descendants

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Nancy Sluder [send private message]

Biography

There are no source documents for the birth/death date or place for Thomas' wife Catherine Branch.

The date of the marriage license of Thomas Pettit and Catherine Branch is recorded as 26 Nov 1698.

The maiden name of Catherine was not likely Branch, but her first marriage name. In her husband Thomas' will he names his children as heirs, one of them being his son in law 'Daniel Branch'. All other children were named using their given name and their last name Pettit, including Christian Pettit who many people attribute to be the wife of Daniel Branch. Christian was 4-5 years old at the time of her father's death and was said to be under age, she was not the wife of Daniel Branch, nor was Daniel Branch what we know in today's language a 'son-in-law'. Daniel Branch was a son from Catherine's first marriage, making him Thomas' step son.

"The reference to sons-in-law or daughters-in-law in court papers and other legal documents like property records and wills and testaments could cause confusion as to their intended relationship. In nineteenth-century records, the term sons- and daughters-in-law once referred to the children of a spouse from a previous relationship, as they were considered sons and daughters “in the eyes of the law” as a result of a marriage to their parent. Today we would refer to the prior children of a spouse as step-sons and step-daughters."

It pays to bear in mind that descriptive and relational terms change over time and may not have the same meaning today as they did when they were recorded."

By Robbie Gorr, Internet Genealogy author

Sources

Children and death: Record of Wills, 1665-1916; Index to Wills, 1662-1923 (New York County); Author: New York. Surrogate's Court (New York County); Probate Place: New York, New York. New York, Wills and Probate Records, 1659-1999 Pg. 410-411

Marriage:

Genealogical Publishing Co.; Baltimore, MD, USA; Volume Title: New England Marriages Prior to 1700 Edit source Source information Title U.S., New England Marriages Prior to 1700

Ancestry.com. American Marriages Before 1699 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1997. Original data: Clemens, William Montgomery. American Marriage Records Before 1699. Pompton Lakes, NJ, USA: Biblio Co., 1926.