The following is the section in the Pelot Family Genealogy on Joseph Ford Pelot on page 107. Updates, in red, were kindly provided by Mary Malone Gregg; e-mail: nchurch@gateway.net
· Last Updated 22 April 2000 ·
98. JOSEPH FORD5 PELOT (Charles Moore4, Charles3, John Francis2, Jonas1) of Savannah, Georgia, merchant, was born 29 February 1824 in South Carolina and died 30 October 1876, aged 52. He was buried at Laurel Grove Cemetery, Savannah.[1] He married FITZGERALD ROSS BOYKIN of Charleston on 20 March 1853 in Grace Church, Charleston, the Rev. William W. Spear officiating.[2] She was born in Canada on 20 May 1832 and died in Savannah 15 July 1886, aged 54 years, 3 months, 35 days. A marriage settlement, first recorded at Charleston 2 April 1853, shows that she had been an orphan and that her guardian had been Barnwell Boykin.[3]
In 1853 Joseph operated under the firm name J.F. Pelot and Co., Factor and Commission Merchants, in the Williamson Building on Bay Street, and the following year advertised for iron railing verandahs, ornamental iron works, etc.[4] City directories record him as a commission and lumber merchant. In July 1854 he was elected Major of the 1st Regiment of the Georgia Militia. He rose to Lieutenant Colonel, and on 15 February 1859 was elected Colonel.[5] With the coming of the Civil War, he was more active in military and civic affairs. On 8 March 1864 he was commissioned Captain of the 3rd Company, Chatham Co. Battalion, and was later Colonel, 1st Georgia Regiment. Some of his correspondence with Governor Joseph E. Brown of Georgia have been preserved.[6]
Children, probably most born in Savannah, ages from 1880 census,[7] deaths from Laurel Grove Cemetery records:
i. Joseph Ford [#313], b. May 1854 (Bible entry), d. 16 June 1856, aged 2 years, 2 months.
ii. Samuel Boykin [#314], b. c.1857 in Georgia, d. Savannah 4 June 1937, m. St. John's Church, Savannah, 22 Nov. 1886, Serena Chesnut Holt, b. Dallas Co., Alabama, 1 March 1857, d. New York, New York, 5 March 1942, daughter of Thomas Tournay Holt Jr. and Isabella Scota Holt of Alabama. Both husband and wife bur. Laurel Grove, Savannah. Issue.[8]
1. Female, b. ____ m. _____ Gregg on ______. Children (surname
Gregg):
a.
Harry D__., b. _____, m.
Gertrude Reynolds Gregg. Children (Surname Gregg):
(1) Harry D___., Jr., b. ______, m. Mary Malone on _____ at_____.
She was b. on _______.
b.
Sss
iii. Charles Moore [#315], b. 1859, d. in Abbeville 7 Aug. 1860, aged 1 year, 11 days. Bur. Laurel Grove Cemetery.
iv. Thomas E. [#316], b. c.1862 in South Carolina, d. 19 July 1901, aged 40. The Savannah city directory shows no spouse.
v. Child [#317], b. and d. 26 June 1864.
vi. Joseph F. [#318], b. c.1867 in Georgia, living 29 June 1891 when his mother's estate was settled.
vii. Gerald May [#319], b. c.1870 in Georgia, d. 1 Dec. 1929, aged 58. According to the Savannah city directory of 1900, she was a trained nurse.
For Index:
Boykin
Barnwell, 1
Fitzgerald Ross (b.
1832), 1
Brown
Governor Joseph E., 1
Coddington
John Insley, 2
Ford
Henry William, 1
Hartridge
Walter C., 2
Holt
Isabella Scota, 1
Serena Chesnut (b.
1857), 1
Thomas Tournay Jr., 1
Pelot
Charles Moore (b.
1859), 2
Fitzgerald Ross
(Boykin)(b. 1832), 1
Gerald May (b.
1870.ca), 2
Joseph F1. (b.
1867.ca), 2
Joseph Ford (b.
1824), 1
Joseph Ford (b.
1854), 1
Samuel Boykin (b.
1857.ca), 1
Serena Chesnut (Holt)
(b. 1857), 1
Thomas E. (b.
1862.ca), 2
Spear
Rev. William W., 1
[1] Laurel Grove Cemetery Records, Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Georgia.
[2] Savannah Morning News, Digest 4:191 (1853).
[3]Chatham County Marriage Settlements. The document was originally recorded 2 April 1853 at Charleston, South Carolina, and re-recorded at Savannah 24 April 1854. Henry William Ford, physician, was a party to the settlement.
[4] Savannah Morning News, Digest 5:7, 129 (1854).
[5] Savannah Morning News, Digest 5:156 (1854), 10: (1859, pt. 1).
[6] Confederate file, Georgia Department of Archives and History, Atlanta, Georgia.
[7] Tenth Census... 1880: Georgia, Chatham County, roll 138, p. 442.
[8] Chatham County Marriage Licenses, F:311; Savannah Morning News, 6 June 1937, p. 2, col. 5, 7 March 1942, p. 2, col. 5; Laurel Grove Cemetery Records. This information was furnished by the late Walter C. Hartridge, F.A.S.G., and John Insley Coddington, F.A.S.G. Issue.