Origins

Pitt Origins

The Pitt/Pitts family is said to derive from the Norman Gervase de la Puette, born about 1160 in what is now the Normandy province of France. Following are the reported generations after Gervase:

• Thomas de la Pitte was born about 1200 in England
• Simon de la Pitte was born about 1230 in England
• Thomas Ithe Putte was born about1260 in England
• Robert Ithe Pyte was born about 1284 in England and died about 1361 in England
• Simon Atte Pitte
• Richard Pyts, who married Johanna de la Poole
• Johannas (John) Pitt was born in DeCurvyard, DeLaPyrne, married Dorothia _____, and died in 1438
• William Pitt was at Stoke, married Katherine Broughton and died after 1400
• Sir Edward Pitt, Sir, who married Elizabeth Nicholai Willford, and died in 1455
• William Bithe Pitte was born in 1477 in Dorset and died in 1528
• Nicholas Pitt was born in 1474 and died after 1545
• William Pitt, who married Helena Haviland,and who died October 14, 1540 and was the ancestor of British Prime Minister William Pitt, the Earl of Chatham, through his son John
• Thomas Pitt who was born in 1547 and died in 1613. He was a merchant in Bristol and Chamberlain.
• William Pitt who was born in 1573, and married Mary Gibbs

The source of the preceding line is unknown and is not documented.

Robert Pitt, Captain of the Thunder

The first Pitt to emigrate to America was Robert Pitt, who was born in England in 1607. Robert was captain of theThunder, a merchant ship out of Bristol. He must have liked what he saw in Virginia and decided to emigrate. He married Martha Lear. He served as a Colonel in the Virginia Militia. Robert died on June 16, 1672 in Virginia.
Robert and Martha's son John was born in 1637 in Bristol, England. He died about 1702 in Isle of Wight County, Virginia. He first married Sarah Moone and second Olive Hardy. It appears that the Pitt, Bridges, Driver, and Holladay families, all of whom emigrated to Isle of Wight, Virginia, seem to have been neighbors and intermarried in Gloucester. John served as a Lt. Col. in the Virginia Militia.
John and Olive's had the following children:

• Martha Pitt, who married George Norsworthy and died before 1706
• Mary Pitt, who married a Drury
• Robert Pitt, who married Sarah Smith
• Sarah Pitt, who married Tristam Norsworthy and died before 1724. Their daughter Sarah Norsworthy married John Pitt III, son of Sarah's brother John Pitt, Jr.
• William Pitt
• Prudence Pitt, who was born before 1698 and married Charles Driver
• John Pitt, Jr. (see below)
• Henry Pitt, who was born before 1711 and died February 09, 1747/48
• James Pitt, who born before 1711 

John and Olive's son John Pitt, Jr. was born in 1705 in Virginia and died in 1761 in Isle of Wight Co., Virginia (North Carolina?). He married Priscilla _____. Their children were:

• John Pitts III, who was born in 1740 in North Carolina d: 1787 in Effingham Co, Georgia. He served as a Captain in Revolutionary War. He married first his cousin Sarah Norsworthy, daughter of Sarah Pitt, and then Frances Griffin. 
• Elizabeth Pitts ..... 
• William Pitts 

North Carolina

John and Priscilla's son John Pitts III was born in 1740 in North Carolina and died in 1787 in Effingham Co., Georgia. He served as a Captain in the Revolutionary War.
John first married his first cousin Sarah Norsworthy, and they had the following children:

• Daniel Pitts 
• Elizabeth Pitts, who married Daniel Dampier and died in 1825. 
• Lorena Pitts
• Anthony Pitts, who was born 1765 in North Carolina and married Nancy Ann Rawlinson. He died in1825 in Jones Co., Mississippi . 

John next married Frances Griffin, and they had the following children:

• Tabitha Pitts, born in 1782 and married Obadiah Edwards. She died in 1863. 
• Hardy Griffin Pitts, who was born in 1787 and married first Elizabeth Porter, married second Elizabeth Scruggs.

Georgia

John and Sarah's son Anthony was born in North Carolina in 1765 but moved to Savannah, Georgia. He died in Jones Co., Mississipi in 1825. He married Nancy Ann Rawlinson, and they had the folowing children:

• Daniel Pitts, Sr b: 1797 in Savannah, Effingham Co., Georgia d: 1894 in Ellisville, Jones Co., Mississippi ......... +MARGARETTE Walters b: 1803 in South Carolina d: 1894 in Ellisville, Jones Co., Mississippi ..... 
• John C. Pitts b: 1800
• Jesse L. Pitts b: 1805
• John G. Pitts b: 1808
• George Washington Pitts b: March 02, 1809
• John G. W. Pitts, who was born in 1815
• Joshua PItts
• Nancy Pitts, who married James Edwards

Jones County, Mississippi

Daniel Pitts was born in 1797 at Savannah, Effingham Co., Georgia and married Margarette Walters, a South Carolina native of unknown parents. It appears that Daniel and Margarette were in Mississippi by about 1830. Daniel died at Ellisville, Jones Co., Mississippi in 1894. 

• John Alfred Pitts, who was born April 04, 1827 and married Eliza Jane Hightower
• Mary Ann Pitts, who was born in 1829 and married Henry Beech
• Elizabeth Ann Pitts, who was born in 1830 in Mississippi, married (1) William Carter (2) Linson B. (Charlie) Landrum (3) Elijah Shoemake, and died in Nacogdoches Co., Texas
• Nancy Pitts, who was born January 26, 1833, married (1) Hanson A. Walters (2) Ira Walters, and died January 18, 1915
• William A. Pitts, who was born in 1835, married Tracy Wade, and died in 1863 at Vicksburg, Mississippi
• Harriett Pitts, who was born in 1837 and married Nathan L. Pearson
• Sarah F. Pitts, who was born in 1839 and married Obediah Lyons
• Margaret Pitts, who was born in1841 and married John W. Adams
• Louise Pitts, who was born in1843, and married Claudie Pitts
• Eleanor Pitts, who was born in1844 and married Henry (Pete) Rose
• Daniel Pitts, Jr., who was born June 03, 1845, married Serena Margaret Knight, and died April 06, 1937
• W. Norvel Pitts, who was born April 12, 1846, married Mary Ann Knight, and died July 17, 1934
• Jessie E. Pitts, who was born in 1849, and married Barbara Shoemaker 

Elizabeth Ann Pitts

Elizabeth Ann Pitts was born in 1830 in Mississippi, the daughter of Daniel Pitts, Sr. and Margarette Walters, and died in Nacogdoches Co., Texas. In 1847 she married Linson B. (Charlie) Landrum, son of Henry Landrum and Rachel Jane _____. Charlie and Elizabeth lived in Jones County in 1850 and 1860. Linson purchased land in Jones County in 1855, and in 1857 he contracted with J. G. Dunn to build a grist mill on his land on Tullahoma Creek. In 1861 Linson and Elizabeth sold land to Daniel Pitts. 
Linson served in the Civil War, but he apparently deserted to Union forces of the Army of the Potomac in December, 1864. Evidence of this is that he immediately took the oath of loyalty and went to New Orleans, which was then under Federal control, where he apparently remained until his death in a smallpox epidemic in 1865, never returning to his Mississippi home.  Some say that Linson joined the Union Army there.
Elizabeth and Linson Landrum had the following children: 

• Jesse Irving Landrum (1849-1914) Born August 5, 1849, Jones County, Mississippi. Married Emiline Lambreth, formerly of Winston County, Mississippi, December 5, 1868, Hamilton County, Texas. Lived at Mt. Enterprise, Rusk County, in 1870. Lived in Van Zandt County, Texas in 1880. Children were Kinnie L. (1873); Eliza E. (1874); Jimmie M. (1877); John L. (1878); Emiline E. (1880); Martha, who married William Madison Thornton; Zora (Zode), who married an Oliver; Jenny, who married Bill Warren; and Lizzie, who married John Warren. Died January 23, 1914, Ratcliff, Houston County, Texas.
• Martha Landrum (1850-????) Resided in Texas in 1870. 
• Maston Lee (Shrimp) Landrum (1851-???? ) 
• Willam A. Landrum (1852- ????) Married Esther Jane Cooley. Moved to Greene Co., Mississippi. 
• Isabel Landrum (1854-????) Lived in Jones County in 1870. Married Philip Vincent West. 
• John Wycliff Landrum (1855-1887) Born January 7, 1855, Jones County, Mississippi. Lived in Jones County in 1870. Married Martha Kimbriel. Died November 27, 1887, Van Zandt County, Texas. 
• Stephen Allen (Steve) Landrum (1858-????) Born 1858. Lived in Jones County in 1870. Married Matilda (Mattie) Johnson, sister of Maston's wife Mary Jane Johnson, July 22, 1882, Angelina County, Texas. Children were Floyd, who married Ellen Pitts, daughter of Nehemiah Pitts; Florence; and Tom. After Steve's death, Mattie married an Edwards, and they had children named Jess, Gordon, Roy, Evy, and a child of unknown name.