The five Jacob Piatt's Family Mysteries

Date: About 1720 to about 1800
Location: American Frontier circa 1720 - 1800
Surnames/tags: Piatt Pyatt

There are open questions about our family. Please edit this text, upload unidentified pictures, add your questions to the bulletin board, post fuzzy memories you want to clear up, etc.

The Jacob Piatt's were all prominent in the 1700s because they lived on the American frontier at the very edge of civilization. They were fur traders and associated with Indian treaties and various military operations. Records and documentation for their lives are sketchy at best and identifying which Jacob was involved in some of the activities that ended up in history books becomes difficult because the way their lives overlapped both time wise and by location. Here is a collection of notes gleaned from various sources and researchers. We invite you to dig along with us and hope you can help put sources with the correct Jacob Piatt.

Wikitree ID numbers for the five Jacobs.

Jacob Piatt I

Jacob Piatt II

Jacob Pyatt III

Jacob Piatt IV

Jacob Piatt V

Copied from Ancestry and Family Search. The contributor on Family Search is identified as Den0102, dated 23 March 2022 [1]

• 4 Jacob Piatt's/ Pyatt's

There had been 4 Jacobs in a row in the line that came across PA at an early day. They stated that JACOB PIATT I was born 31 Oct 1678 in Woodbridge NJ.I believe his birth is recorded in the town records. The researchers believe that JACOB I died after 1750 in Cumberland Co PA. I do not know for sure on what information that assumption is based. JACOB PIATT I and MARY HULL had a number of children born and baptized in Piscataway and Bound Brook NJ. It is thought that by 1720 JACOB PIATT I and his eldest son JACOB PIATT II had gone to PA. MARY HULL PIATT is thought to have stayed in NJ.

JACOB PIATT II was born on 14 Jan 1705 in Piscataway and died in PA at an unknown date. He is said to have married first a JEAN PAUL and second a JANE YOUNG on 2 Jul 1734 at Christ Church in Philadelphia. These marriages took place some ten years apart . Nothing is known of JACOB II's married life in the interim. It is believed that JACOB II and JEAN PAUL had one child, a son JACOB III. It is also believed that JACOB II and JANE YOUNG had at least JOHN, REBECCA, PETER, MARY, MARTHA, and another daughter.

JACOB III was born 18 Nov 1725 in PA. I do not know the source of that information. He is said to have married ELIZABETH DUNHAM(?) ^[1] somewhere in PA about 1745.JACOB III and ELIZABETH had at least 11 children as named in his will proved in 1784 and about whom information was posted earlier in this thread.

JACOB IV was the oldest son of JACOB III and ELIZABETH.

• (Note added by Connie Daniels Graves. He was probably born about 1747-1749 in the Path Valley, Lancaster Co PA. There are documents indicating he had two wives Milly Walker and Nancy (surname unknown) however these marriages took place after the births of at least three of Jacob's four known daughters (Nancy, Rebecca, Mary, and Margaret). This perhaps indicates a first wife, name unknown. Jacob IV was very much a frontiersman and was among the first settlers in the Northwest Territory. (see further discussion on the Profile of Jacob IV)

Continuing on with the narrative from Family Search.....Any two of these the first three men could have been described as JACOB PIATT SR and JACOB PIATT JR at any given time. When the setters were dispossessed of their lands in Path Valley in/about 1755 which two JACOBs were Sr and Jr? I don't know that we can say with certainty at this point. But JACOB I was getting on in years if he was still alive, and JACOB III was 30.The only thing that can be assumed with a good probability of being true is that JACOB II was one of those dispossessed. Therefore, it is likely that JACOB II was the one who was noted as appearing at Logstown in 1751 and named in other notations in the Pennsylvania Archives, Edward Shippen's letters, the papers of Henri Bouquet and other records and journals of the times. Too, it was likely that JACOB II was the one who established PYATT'S, the trading post shown on Scull's 1755 map as being in the Path Valley.

It is from the Path Valley (not from Washington Co PA) that some Piatt’s headed to North Carolina, and subsequently to Arkansas. If the Indian blood traditions shared with you come from descendants of these people they could descend from the second marriage of JACOB PIATT II to JANE YOUNG and/or any liaisons he may have had in the pursuit of his trading efforts. In fact a JOHN PEYATT was born 26 Jun 1735 in Path Valley, and married 13 Dec 1757 at St James Church, Lancaster, Lancaster Co PA, to MARTHA JANE BLAIR. JOHN is given as the son of JACOB PIATT (II) and JANE YOUNG. JOHN and MARTHA and all of their children are shown as having gone to NC and AR.

• Added research from Honi Klein and the book: The Tribe of Jacob (Piatt) ^[2]

There was a fifth Jacob Piatt, son of John Piatt to also be considered in the mix. He was born May 17, 1747 at Six Mile Run, Somerset County, New Jersey and died Aug 14, 1834 in Boone County, Kentucky. His path in life did not go to the wilderness frontier of the four other Jacob's but doubtless might have crossed their path on occasion. Jacob (V) and his family seem to have lived in New Jersey and Kentucky with descendants in Cincinnati, Ohio. Jacob (V) served in the Revolutionary War from New Jersey and had a very distinguished career ending up a Colonel. He was married twice. First to Hannah McCullough and second to Martha (Huddy) Perry.

Survey Land Records, 1777-1801, Ohio County, Virginia Film 007901647 Jacob Pyeatt to Robert Corry Book 1, p 54 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4T-6BJ?view=explore&groupId=TH-909-61093-853-12

Jacob Pyeatt, Jr to Jacob Pyeatt Sr Book 1, p 60 Jean Pyeatt, mother of Jacob III, signs. The deed is dated 20 April 1784 so this deed proves Jean was still alive and probably about 84 years old. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4T-699R?view=explore&groupId=TH-909-61093-853-12

Jacob Payette Jr & ux to John Waddle. Book 3, p 350, 351 15 May 1795 Jacob Jr's wife is Nancy https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4T-61K?view=explore&groupId=TH-909-61093-853-12