Pettit, Nathan

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: In collaboration with Bruce A. Parker, “PETTIT (Petit), NATHANIEL,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/pettit_nathaniel_5E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Office holder and politician; b. 12 June 1724 in Sussex County, N.J., son of Nathaniel Pettit and Elizabeth Heath; m. 26 Feb. 1747 Margaret McFarland, and they had one son and six daughters; d. 9 March 1803 in Ancaster, Upper Canada.
    • He owned two valuable mills and in 1766 was appointed judge in the county Court of Common Pleas. In 1768 his personal standing in the community rose further with his election as one of the two members returned for the county to the provincial legislature. But his success, at a time when officials appointed by Britain came to be feared and distrusted, ultimately worked against him.
    •  Initially Pettit was sympathetic to colonial grievances; in 1774 he was appointed at a county meeting to a ten-man committee to oppose taxation without representation and to support the suspension of imports from Britain. But on 12 Jan. 1776 he was brought before the provincial committee of safety for refusing to pay taxes levied by the revolutionary congress. He was fined and stripped of his judicial appointment, which precipitated an open declaration of his loyalty.
    • Approaching his mid fifties, he was not physically able to join a loyalist corps, but with the aid of a former fellow member of the legislature, Joseph Barton, in late 1776 he raised a battalion of 500 men.
    • Pettit’s stature is perhaps best reflected by Dorchester’s recommendation of him on 15 March 1790, on the advice of Sir John Johnson, as one of eight legislative councillors for the intended province of Upper Canada. Of those commissioned on 12 July 1792, five were selected from this 1790 list. For whatever reason, possibly because of advanced age, Pettit was rejected on the suggestion of Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe. However, on 27 Aug. 1792 he was elected for the riding of Durham, York, and 1st Lincoln to the first parliament of the new province.
  • Proven United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=6585
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/220206111/nathaniel-pettit