#52 Ancestors – No. 9 – John T. Pittman

This post is number 9 in the series of the 52 Ancestors Challenge where a group of us blog about a different ancestor for each week of the year.

John Thomas Pittman is my second great-grandfather.  John outlived both his brides.  Born in 1863 to Issac N. Pittman and Rachel Maranda Fortney, he passed away at age 93 in 1956.  My Pittman or Pitman line, are the Scots-Irish who originally settled in the Orange County,  North Carolina in the mid 1750’s.  The family migrated toward Kentucky in the early 1800s.

At the age of 22, John Thomas married 14 year old Josephine K. Woodburn.   I wrote about her in subject No. 2 of this series, Josephine Woodburn Pittman.  Josephine died 1893.  John must have had some help raising his three young daughters during that time. But I have no family stories to tell.   Seven years after Josehpine’s death. John met and married 29 year-old, Ella Belle McDowell in 1900.

They went on to have four children of their own, Tena, Clarence, Hugh, and Finis.  Finis supposedly got his name as he was going to be the last child.  Through 1900 to 1920, John mostly works in coal related industries.  On the 1920 Census, he is listed as a Farm Manager.  The family struggles during the depression area in the late 1920’s, early 1930’s.  John is 66 and not working, according to the 1930 Census record.

His daughter Tena, is still single at 29, and living at home according to the 1930 Census.  The 1940 Census indicates that all John’s and Ella’s children have returned home and are enumerated together.  Two of the sons, Clarence and Finis are in the late 30’s and single.  Hugh is divorced.  His wife, Ella, passed away in 1936 at the age of 65.

My grandmother, Olive Roll, mentioned that John T. Pittman was a hard man.  The girls from his first marriage all left the house before the age of 18, never to return because of this.

From old family photos, Olive and my grandfather, Hugh A. Howes, visited her grandfather John from time to time.  I have a photo of her and Finis. Photos showing my mom and Aunt Tena at John’s house in Kentucky.  A letter that Finis wrote to my Grandmother about his life.  It’s a response to a letter my grandmother wrote to him about a possible family burial plot.

I am not sure if my great-grandmother, Mable, John’s daughter from his first marriage visited her father, after she moved to Michigan.  If there are photos, they didn’t get passed down.  And, so the stories and memories are gone also.

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