My Genealogy Hound

Joseph C. Pettus is one of the successful husbandmen of Clark County, and like many of his neighbors and acquaintances is a Virginian, his birth having occurred in Lunenburg County in 1820. His parents, David and Elizabeth (Boswell) Pettus, as well as his grandfather, David Pettus, were Virginians, the father's birth occurring on the 2d of December 1780, and the mother's on the 28th of November, 1784. They were married in 1802, and in 1824 removed to Madison County, Ala., where they spent the rest of their days, dying in 1852 and 1835, respectively. They were members of the Baptist Church while in Virginia, but Mrs. Pettus afterward became a Presbyterian. The Pettus family are of English descent, and the majority of the male members of the family have been tillers of the soil. John Boswell, the mother's father, was also a farmer of the "Old Dominion," in which State he was born and lived and died. Joseph C. Pettus is the only one of his father's family who has ever resided in the State of Arkansas. When four years of age, he was taken by his parents to Madison County, Ala., and here he was reared to maturity, his marriage taking place on the 8th of January, 1846, his wife being Miss Permelia C., daughter of Ransom and Cynthia Fowlkes, who removed from their native State of Virginia, where they were also married, to Madison County, Ala., in which county Mrs. Pettus was born on the 12th of April, 1828. Her death occurred in Clark County, February 26, 1886, her union with Mr. Pettus having resulted in the birth of sixteen children, two sons and three daughters now living: John I., William E., Alabama, Euella and Charlie A. The rest of the family died in early childhood, with the exception of William C., who died February 29, 1864, at the age of seventeen years, while at home on furlough, being a member of the Arkansas State troops. Mr. Pettus made his home in Madison County, Ala., until 1858, but has since been a tiller of the soil in Clark County, his farm of 620 acres being situated a short distance from Okolona. He has been a Democrat all his life, his first presidential vote being cast for Polk in 1844, and has voted for every Democrat candidate since, with the exception of during the war, at that time being a Douglas man and strongly opposed to secession. He is a member of the A. F. & A. M., and his wife was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.