Charles Pettis
Son of Colonel Stephen Pettis & Catherine Wing
From the Pettis/Davis History by the Ponwith Sisters
Charles Pettis was born in Alburg, Vermont on June 19, 1807. In 1832 he
married Sarah Hosford in Ohio. She was born in Canaan, Connecticut, on April
16, 1811. they made their home near Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio, until
1835 when they moved to Newburg Township, Pike County, Illinois. Here he
engaged in farming and in his trade as a carpenter. The climate of Pike Co.,
did not agree with several members of the family and they suffered from ague.
After they heard about the Traverse des Sioux Treaty and the opening of a
"vast empire" for settlement, Charles decided to go north. In 1853, together
with his son, Stephen and daughter, Catherine, he came to Minnesota
and located on eighty acres of land on the banks of a lake, (Emily), in Kasota
Township, LeSueur County. When the government surveyors came through, they
asked Charles the name of the lake. As far as he knew it had no name so he
called it Lake Emily after his youngest daughter. And thus it was written
down on the government records. In 1854, he returned to Illinois to get his
family. The long trip back was made with other land-hungry settlers crowded
into a steamboat that churned north on the Mississippi River to St. Paul.
From there the family came down the Minnesota River to this section and overland
to Lake Emily, the first white settlers there.
Charles Pettis started a pioneer store on his farm, trading with the white settlers and the Indians. To the delight and amazement of the Indians both were treated alike. Some traders charged the Indians $1.00 for a box of gun caps, but when they bought from Charles Pettis, he gave them several for $1.00. they were very much pleased, but thought he must have made a mistake. The Indians used to camp at Lake Emily as they passed through on their way from Faribault to the new agency at Fort Ridgely. While here they became friends of the Pettis family. When they shot a deer, they would bring some of the choicest cuts to the Pettises. The Pettis home was one in which a deep Christian faith was instilled in the children. Sunday was strictly observed. All cooking had to be done on Saturday and only tea could be prepared on Sunday. Charles Pettis died April 19/22, 1856, at the age of 48 yeas and 10 months. He was buried in the Davis-Pettis Cemetery on the banks of Lake Emily ( later his body was moved to Woodlawn Cemetery). His Indian friends painted themselves in mourning and attended his funeral; they had lost a much needed white friend. Sarah Hosford Pettis continued to live on the homestead left her by her husband. She always remained a friend of the Indians and at the time of the Sioux Massacre in August, 1862, she refused to leave her home as "the Indians were her friends and would not harm her." Regardless of the pleadings of her children she refused to leave; so with heavy hearts they left her alone when they fled to St. Peter. She died October 12, 1889. Charles Pettis and Sarah Hosford had nine children;
1. Stephen Wing Pettis |