"John Petro" Did Not Die On 22 December 1813

Okay, so I have John Petro in quotation marks in the title. That's because I'm still skeptical of the established line of John Petro as the father of Henry, Leonard, Nicholas, Philip, etc. But that is a story for another day.

Right now, we're concerned with a piece of information, well actually, misinformation.

There has been information put out there to suggest that a family bible from the Collett family indicates a John Petro died Dec 22, 1813. People have then assumed that this meant the immigrant and supposed progenitor of the family, John Petro, died on that date.

At last count (August 12, 2014) on Ancestry Family Trees, there are 148 Public Member Trees that have John Petro, aka Johann Bernhardt Peterri, aka John Barnard Petro, dying on December 22, 1813.

Somehow, this piece of misinformation has filtered into the established genealogy.

Let's set the record straight on this one.

In the Fall 2001 volume 10, number 3 issue of the Journal of the Allegheny Regional Ancestors, published by the Allegheny Regional Family History Society in Elkins, WV, on pages 86 and 87, there is a typewritten transcript from the "Elder Thomas Collett Family Bible." It lists all the marriages of Henry Petro's children, and births and deaths of many in the family.

Henry Petro's daughter, Sarah, married Solomon Collett, and his daughter Nancy (Anna) married Thomas Collett. Solomon and Thomas were brothers.

Please note the following entry:

John Pearro, son of Henery and Elizabeth Peatro was married the 22 of December 1813

The Bible also lists the death of the same John Petro, son of Henry:

John Peatro son of Henery and Elizabeth decest the 19th of March 1830

Besides numerous Collett's and a few Ward's in the Bible entries, there are the following Petro entries:

Susannah Peatro daughter of Henery and Elizabeth Peatro was married the 7th May 1807
Sarah Petro daughter of Henery and Elizabeth Peatro was married March 29 1815
Anna Peatro daughter of Henery and Elizabeth Pedro was married March 28, 1817
Sarah Collett daughter of Henry Pedro and Elizabeth Pedro decest the 20 of March 1877 [?]
Henry Peatro deceast the 8th of January 1834
Nancy Collett wife of Thomas Dec June the ___ 1862

Notice that there is a question mark entered by the submitter of the bible record after Sarah Petro Collett's death date. Apparently it was difficult to read the date.  The day of death for Nancy Petro Collett must also have been missing or illegible.

Obviously the person or persons entering the bible entries were more or less sounding out the names, Petro and Peatro and Pedro. This is consistent with the spelling of the name throughout the areas of West Virginia where the family left records.

I am trying to track down the owner of the bible, or anyone who has actual photocopies or images of the bible pages, to positively verify this information and put to rest the misinformation out there about the "death of John Petro."

If anyone knows of the whereabouts of this bible and is able to acquire copies of the pages, please let me know. I will post them here for everyone. The bible's owner in the journal is listed as Mrs. Ralph Lunsford, of Elkins, WV. She unfortunately died in 2012. The submitter of the information is Madeline Crickard, who died in 2007. She was affiliated with the Allegheny Regional Family History Society.

Okay. Back to the Bible...Just because this transcript of an old bible has the date of John Petro's (son of Henry) marriage as Dec 22, 1813, is it correct?

Search the "West Virginia Marriages 1780-1970" database at FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1408729) and you will find an entry for John Petro and Tasa Butcher. The index then links to an image at wvculture.org.

The image shows the marriage record as:

John Petro to Tasa Butcher, daughter of Samuel Butcher, married Dec 22 1813, married by John Rowan
You can see the image here.

I think it is safe to assume that what has been reported as a death date for the immigrant John Petro on December 22, 1813, is in fact, incorrect, by the available information provided above. Hopefully, this will put to rest this piece of misinformation.

Again, I will do my best to acquire images of the actual bible to verify this positively.

If anyone has any concerns, questions, or comments about the above information, please let me know, by posting a comment or emailing me.

Happy Hunting....

What This Blog Is About...

This blog is only going to be concerned with the Petro families originating in the Virginia mountains in the 1700's, who are believed to be all brothers and sisters. That would include: Henry Petro, Leonard Petro, Nicholas Petro, Philip Petro and Sarah Petro. I am sorry, but there are so many other similar names out there, such as Petry, Peatross and others, I am not going to concern this blog with those, unless there is substantial evidence linking my Petro's to another family of a similar name. Also, I know there are a lot of Petro families who arrived after 1800 from eastern Europe. This won't concern those families either, as it is unlikely they are related.

I am going to provide all evidence for these people, and the research involved to determine who they are and how they are related to one another. I will also try to clear up some confusion and misconceptions about the family out there.  I don't want anyone to feel that I am raining on their genealogy parade, but I am going to take a hard stance on the current accepted Petro line and the supposed evidence for that genealogy.

If anyone has appropriate documents, evidence, questions or concerns about anything I post, please let me know by emailing me. I want this to be a community project and it can only happen with everyone being involved and providing the known facts.

Let's get down to business....