Jacob (born c1747-1749) moved to Ohio County, Virginia, before the Revolution. He joined William Rogers Clark's expeditions and then lived in Jefferson County, Kentucky. In 1788 he went to the Natchez area of Spanish Louisiana, where he lived at Bayou Pierre (now Vicksburg) until at least 1794, after his son (or brother) Benjamin had been arrested and imprisoned; possibly went to Missouri with his son (or brother) John; returned to one of the family homesteads in Ohio County, Virginia; and then moved again with his married children and with his brother (or son) Benjamin to the Northwest Territory (Adams County, Ohio), in 1795 where he died before January 6, 1817. I am concerned that these events could have referred to more than one Jacob Pyeatt - does anyone have more evidence that they were one and the same?
A Jacob Piatt married on March 3, 1774, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, Milly Walker. If this is indeed the same Jacob Pyeatt (son of Jacob and Elizabeth) he must have had a date of birth close to 1749.
At the time of Jacob's death, he had a wife named Nancy. Some have given her name as Nancy David, however, such a marriage record has not been found to my knowledge.
The known children of Jacob Pyeatt are:
Per the "Marines in the Revolution" Charles R. Smith, History and Museum Division, Headquarters, U. S. Marinr Corps, Washington D. C.
In chapter XIII State and Privaterr Marines / Maryland and Virginia it states [I am paraphrasing here] that as the Revolutionary War was drawing to a close, George Rogers Clark was given the monumental task of maintaining military control over the Ohio Valley. He had few men at his disposal, however, the Virginia Treasury (which was about bankrupt) authorized 50 pounds each for the building of boats. They built a galley that had "a 73 ft long keel, designed to navigate the Ohio River. As a row galley, she provided for 46 oars with a complement of 110 men. Her armament was to be one 6-pounder, six 4-pounders, and one 2-pounder. At this time the cannon promised by the governor had not yet reached Fort Nelson at the Falls of the Ohio (now Louisville, Kentucky) where the craft was being. built." Other gondola type boats were prone to ambush and were unsuccessful. However, "the unique construction of the row galley avoided this pitfall. Her gunwales were four feet high and thick enough to stop both arrow and bullet. In addition, she had false gunwhales mounted on strong hinges which would, when positioned, raise the sides high enough to be safe from musket fire from shore. This feature seems to be original as it is not found in other row galleys of the period". Militiamen built the galley and the cannon were brought overland to Redstone (now Brownsville) Pennsylvania and floated down the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers to the construction site. On page 263 and 264 is a two page full color depiction of the row galley just described with two canoes of native americans rowing out to meet it and the marines in defensive position behind the false gunwhales.
The description on page 265 reads "OHIO RIVER ROW GALLEY, SUMMER 1782. This painting illustrates one of the many actions by state and privateer Marines. Virginia state Marines provided the gun crews and musketmen for the gunboat Miami which cruised the upper Ohio River to help keep the aggresive Shawnee Indians under control during the summer of 1782."
Beginning on page 268 "It was no easy task to assemble the 110-man commplement required. Among the first steps taken by Clark was to authorize the recruitment of a company of Virginia State Marines. Selected as captain was Jacob Pyeatt who had been performing commissary duties both as a civilian and as an officer in the Illinois Regiment since September 1778. Pyeatt's company of Marines was to serve for six months and when finally enlisted, numbered 20 men and one other officer, lieutenant William Biggs. Many of the enlistees were discharged men who were enticed to re-enter the service on the promise of a suit of clothing and 10 dollars a month pay. The company muster included one captain, one lieutenant, two ship's carpenters, three sergeants, and 15 privates.
Pyeatt's company of Marines was probably enlisted to constitute the permanent military force on board the row galley, and it was probably expected that they would, among other duties, constitute the vessel's gun crews and mount guard over both the magazine and the ship herself. As soldiers had enlisted for service on the water, they were properly designated as "Marines" although still constituting a unit of Clark's loosely bound Illinois Regiment.
Records do not indicate that Clark's row galley was officially given a name, but available evidence indicates that she was referred to commonly as "the Miami galley", after the river of the same name. Private Cornelius Darnal, in a deposition made several years later, noted that he "met with Captain Jacob Pyeatt a captain of the marines for manning a boat or ship on the Ohio river called the Rogalia." The name "Rogalia" is assumed to be no more than a phonetic spelling of the expression "row galley."
The service performed by the Miami galley are vague but impressive. Her summer patrol of the Ohio adjacent to Shawnee Territory caused alarm among the indians, who thought Clark was preparing for incursion. Two British captains from Detroit, William Caldwell and Alexander McKee, had gathered and indian army of nearly 1,000 braves to make a strike at Wheeling and were on the march when news of the supposed thrust by Clark caused the indians to break off the march in order to defend their own country. The postponed attack on Fort Henry (Wheeling) was finally made in mid-September 1782 by a much smaller force estimated at 250 indians and 40 Tories.
The Miami galley made a contribution to the defense of the frontier even though she had but a short life. Private Darnal reported that the vessel sank at Bear Grass at the Falls of the Ohio about 1 September 1782, and that he and the remaining men of Pyeatt's marine company were then transferred to the Illinois Regiiment. Like the Maryland Marines of the ship Defence, Jacob Pyeatt and his Marines contributed in their small way to the final defeat of the British."
These compiled service records [Revolutionary War] for Clark's Illinois Regiment, Virginia State Troops appear to be for Captain Jacob Pyeatt:
So, at the time of Jacob's death, he had the children/grandchildren listed above and a wife Nancy. How does Benjamin fit in? Is he Jacob's son who was buying the property from his siblings or was he a brother to Jacob or some other relation? However, the wording of the deed seems to imply that he was not an heir (son). Does the actual will exist or just this deed? If this is a deed from the children (daughters) who owned the property, that is not conclusive evidence that he had no sons or other children or grandchildren at the time of his death. It only proves that these are the ones who were given the property that was then deeded in 1817. Could he have had sons who lived away and were given money or some other inheritance? Does anyone know why this deed book survived if many of the records were destroyed in a fire?
In 1875 and again in 1975 an Old Timers article was published in the local newspaper. John Williams said that his mother, Nancy Piatt Williams, was the daughter of Jacob Piatt. Williams said his family moved to Manchester, Adams County, Ohio, when he was 2 1/2 in 1795 and that his grandfather, Jacob Piatt, moved from Ohio County, Virginia, to Manchester in the fall of the same year. It was his earliest recollection and told that he remembered his grandfather Piatt laughing at his attempts to help the men unload the boat. If John Williams, an old timer in 1875 (age 82), was born before 1817, why isn't he listed as an heir of Nancy Williams? Was he, in fact, John Matthew or Matthew John Williams?
Alternatively, John may have been Jacob's brother and a son of Jacob
(III). In this case, he could have been born in the 1750s. A John Pyeatt in 1777 took an oath of allegiance in Ohio County, VA, and in 1779 he served in the militia of Ohio County, VA. However, this John was not listed in the 1780 will (proved in 1784) of Jacob Pyeatt (III). Nor was he subsequently listed on any records of Ohio County, VA, or Washington County, PA.
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