Gideon Pitts (abt. 1807 - 1888)

Born about 1807 in New York, United States

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 18 Jun 1888 at about age 81 in Richmond, New York, United States

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Biography

Gideon Pitts was a New Yorker.

Son of Gideon Pitts and Lorinda Hulburt.

The Gideon Pitts Mansion was a stop on the Underground Railroad.^[1]

Obituary:

"Last Monday morning (June, 1888) the town of Richmond, N. Y., lost one of its oldest and most highly esteemed citizens, in the death of Gideon Pitts, at the age of 81 years. Mr. Pitts was a notable character, and he belonged to a historic family. His grandfather, Capt. Peter Pitts, of Dighton, Mass., was a captain in the Revolu- tionary War. Peter Pitts, with his sons, Gideon and William, came soon after the close of that war to the foot of Honeoye Lake, where they settled. These men and their families were the civil, the religious, the political and the business backbone and the life of what is now the town of Richmond, for more than half a century.

Gideon Pitts had nine children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second, being born in 1807 on the old original homestead near the foot of Honeoye Lake. Hiram, the oldest, is the oldest survivor. He is still hale and hearty at the age of 85, ably filling a responsible post in the Treasury Department in Washington, to which he was appointed during Lincoln's administration. Gideon was raised on the farm. He married Jane Wells and they had five children. The oldest married Hon. Frederick Douglas. She was an able, accomplished woman. He had but one son, Gideon, now a lawyer and banker in Alton, Iowa. In politics Mr. Pitts was first a Whig, then one of the earliest and most persistent and most consistent of abolitionists. But few of those able brain men remain. The present generation is just awakening to their sterling worth and honest work. They were simply an advance guard of a growing civilization. Mr. Pitts was always in the strictest sense a private citizen. In the service of the state militia he rose to the rank of colonel. With this exception he uniformly refused public positions which were constantly offered to and urged upon him. He was pre-eminently a farmer, full of push, enterprise and noted for an excellent judgment. He was the soul of probity and honor and personal rectitude, and the hospitality of his home was noted and proverbial. His funeral was attended by a vast concourse of his wide circle of many personal friends who came from all the surround- ing country. He was buried in the cemetery where so many of the early settlers and solid men of the town of Richmond now lie."

Sources

1. ↑ https://alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/blog/right-is-of-no-sex-truth-is-of-no-color/

• 1840 Census: "United States Census, 1840"
  citing Page: 264; Affiliate Name: The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Affiliate Publication Number: M704; Digital film/folder number: 005154825; FHL microfilm: 0017201; Image number: 533
  FamilySearch Record: XHTR-DJC (accessed 21 February 2024)
  FamilySearch Image: 33S7-9YB4-4DL
  Gideon Pitts in Richmond, Ontario, New York, United States.
• "United States Census, 1850," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MCBY-LX5 : accessed 27 Jul 2014), Gideon Pitts, Richmond, Ontario, New York, United States; citing family 215, NARA microfilm publication M432.
• 1855 Census: "New York State Census, 1855"
  citing Page: 22; Line: 16; Digital film/folder number: 005207109; FHL microfilm: 590803; Image number: 18
  FamilySearch Record: K63F-GMH (accessed 21 February 2024)
  FamilySearch Image: 33S7-8B53-26Y
  Gideon Pitts (48) head of household in Richmond, Ontario, New York, United States.
• "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MC7V-N5J : 12 December 2017), Gideon Pitts, 1860.
• "United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8VF-SCF : 14 June 2019), Gideon Pitts, 1870.
• 1875 Census: "New York State Census, 1875"
  citing Page: 30; Line: 10; Digital film/folder number: 004858098; FHL microfilm: 590810; Image number: 243; Packet letter: A; Indexing batch: N04264-8
  FamilySearch Record: VTDD-XC4 (accessed 21 February 2024)
  FamilySearch Image: 33S7-95MV-R92
  Gideon Pitts (68) in Richmond, Ontario, New York, United States.
• "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZXP-NW9 : 8 September 2017), Gideon Pitts, Richmond, Ontario, New York, United States; citing enumeration district ED 134, sheet 435C, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm 1,254,909.
• Death: "New York, State Death Index, 1880-1956"
  citing Entry: 22024; Digital film/folder number: 104132581; Image number: 581
  FamilySearch Record: QGR3-Q715 (accessed 21 February 2024)
  FamilySearch Image: 3Q9M-CSG8-G4VN-8
  Gideon Pitts death 18 Jun 1888 in Honeoye, Richmond, Ontario, New York, United States.
• "David Benton and Nancy Pitts, their ancestors and descendants, 1620-1920", p. 79

• Memorial: Find a Grave (has image)
  Find A Grave: Memorial #30675482 (accessed 21 February 2024)
  Memorial page for Gideon Pitts Jr. (1807-18 Jun 1888), citing Lakeview Cemetery, Honeoye, Ontario County, New York, USA; Maintained by Mount Hope NY (contributor 219).