Samuel George Pelot [#32] – Possible Sons James and Samuel
The following speculation is provided to the write-up in the Pelot Family Genealogy on Samuel George Pelot [#32] on page 62. The speculation on James Pelot is provided by Dorcas Hendershott of the RATHBONE Register at rathbone@one-name.org. The speculation on the son Samuel Pelot is based on materials graciously provided to me by David Pylate at dpylate@mindspring.com and Betsy Pylate Simpson at bpylate@aol.com. Any hard evidence to support or disprove these assertions would be appreciated. Please send email to me at colket@colket.org.
· Last Updated 4 June 2000 ·
1.
James Pelot
Thank you for your inquiry, and for giving me some background about the Samuel PELOT who married Charlotte Ann Maria RATHBONE on 11 June 1815. I only had him recorded as master mariner, and know nothing more of him. However, I do have some information about his wife.
Charlotte Ann Maria Rathbone was the daughter of James RATHBONE (c1757-1826) and his first wife: Elizabeth RIMMER (d.1802) who were married at Liverpool St. Peter on 29 October 1782. She was one of at least eight children from this marriage. She was baptized on 4 April 1790 at Liverpool St. Peter. Her father may have been a shipbuilder.
It seems that Charlotte had a son, James RATHBONE before her marriage to Samuel PELOT. James was baptized at St. Peter in Liverpool on 10 September 1809.
Original speculation considered this James was adopted by his grandfather James, and might have been the James RATHBONE who was named as his son in his will of 1826. James & Elizabeth had had a son baptized in 1796, but he died within a year. However, James may have married a second time in 1804, and had another son, James, who was baptized in 1805.
It seems more likely that James RATHBONE (b. 1809); if he survived childhood may have been adopted by Samuel PELOT, and could have taken that surname.
2.
Samuel Pelot
There is also speculation that Samuel George Pelot may have had a son named Samuel. A Samuel Pilot is listed in Barbour County, Alabama in the 1850 census as:[1]
November 21, 1850
Dwelling 1831
Pilot, Samuel 24 Male Birthplace-South Carolina
Pilot, Margaret 23 Female Birthplace-South Carolina
Samuel's Occupation: Shoemaker.
Samuel and Margaret are listed in the Choctaw County, Alabama 1860 census as:[2]
September 19, 1860
Dwelling 506
Pilot, Samuel Head of Household 41 Birthplace-South Carolina
Pilot, Margaret Wife 30 Birthplace-South Carolina
Pilot, Mary Daughter 8 Birthplace-South Carolina
Pilot, Martha Daughter 5 Birthplace-South Carolina
Pilot, Jane Daughter 2 Birthplace-South Carolina
Pilot, William Son 4/12 Birthplace-South Carolina
Samuel's Occupation: Shoemaker
Real Estate-$300.00, Personal Estate-$415.00
OPINION: "Pilot, Jane, Daughter" should be "Pilot, James, Son".
It is possible that this Samuel Pelot may have migrated to Alabama with his cousins, the siblings of Joseph Sealy Pelot, b. ~1790, of Beaufort District, SC and Georgia who m. Jane Elizabeth Maxwell. Joseph Sealy Pelot had 9 children: William Maxwell (b. c. 1813), Joseph Alma (b. 1814), Eugene B. (b. c. 1818), Elizabeth Mary (b. 1821), Stephen Elliot (b. 1823), Hetty Habersham (b. 1825), Susan Sarah (b. 1828), Susan Jane (b. 1830), and Benjamin Sealy (b. 1833). Of interest, Joseph Alma, Eugene, and Stephen lived in Alabama. Joseph Alma and Eugene moved to Mount Meigs, Montgomery County in 1839 (about 20 miles from the northeast corner of Barbour County where Samuel Pilot is found). Stephen was in Montgomery County as he married there in 1850.
Samuel George Pelot may have had a son named Samuel who migrated to Alabama with his cousins. Certainly, Samuel G., if he had a son, would not have raised the son aboard ship. By 1829, Samuel G. was in Key West, Florida (then Monroe County) where he joined in signing a memorial to Congress petitioning for a mail route between Key West and Charleston. The 1830 census identified a Samuel and 2 other males. All in the household were described as between 20-30 years, an attribution certainly not correct for Samuel G. Pelot. Perhaps this was a son of Samuel G. Pelot? Samuel G. Pelot seems to have disappeared.
Samuel Pilot and Margaret Jeanette Floyd were married on 12 January 1846 in Barbour County. Margaret was born 01 August 1830 and would have been 15 years old when they married. Samuel would have been around 16 years old according to the 1850 census (born circa 1826) and 26 years old according to the 1860 census (born circa 1819).
The spelling of the name Pilot changed to Pylate in the late 1800s. Apparently the 1880 Census records, "Pilot" is used as the spelling of their last name. In 1896, the book Educable Children in Jones County refers to Will Pelot (one of Samuel's sons) and his three children, using their last name as "Pylate". Then in the 1900 Census, two of Samuel's sons, James and Wallace have their last name spelled as "Pylate". All of Samuel's sons changed the spelling from "Pilot" to "Pylate" except for Walter Raleigh Pilot, who retained the original spelling. So sometime between 1800 and 1896, three of Samuel's sons changed the spelling from "Pilot" to "Pylate" and one son retained "Pilot".