From Proud Heritage, Volume I by DCPA, currently out of print.
This ancestor of mine was born in Fauquier County, Virginia the 25th of January 1804 to John ant:i Mary Pickett. The Picketts migrated to Kentucky to claim the lands received for service rendered to his grandfather John Pickett (1844-1803) in the Revolutionary War. The move was made after 1803 and before 1809. This would make R.S. Pickett about age 4 when he was bought to the barrens.
He grew up here very near the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. As we read of the hardships of the early settlers there, we can imagine that our people endured the same difficulties.
Hannah Withers Pickett, his grandmother, died in 1809, Barren county. She was the widow of the Rev. John Pickett (17 44-1803.) Many neighbors there in Kentucky were also from the state of Virginia, one of these was the Carpenter family.
In October 1824 R.S. Pickett married Margaret Carpenter. To this home were born two children, Margaret and Andrew Thomas. In January 1829 Margaret Pickett died leaving two small children. In April of 1829 R.S. Pickett married the older sister of Margaret Carpenter, Permelia Carpenter. This wife bore five more children for R.S. Pickett.
The year of 1853 saw another migration for the Pickett family. This time they came to another raw new country. The Peters Colony had brought many Kentucky families to Dallas County, Texas about the year 1846 when Indians were still very much a part of the scenery along with the buffalo and all kinds of wild game. The land was cheap in Texas and easy to obtain. The family would have had no trouble in obtaining a homestead as many were discouraged and gladly sold large parcels of their lands for as little as fifty cents an acre and went back to their former homes or moved on to other new frontiers.
As the years passed the Picketts married off and established their own homes. Permelia became sick and died December 13, 1867.
Where she was buried we do not know; no marker has been located.
In the minutes of the First Baptist, Church, Garland, we find that on February 13, 1869 one B.S. Pickett was received by letter. A family ledger kept by B.S. Pickett (my grandfather, 1873-1954) record that Bob Sam Pickett married a third time. The widow Mrs. Fereby Jones, was married to B.S. Pickett December 28, 1868.
The Minutes of The First Baptist Church has recorded on page 82 this obituary:
“B.S. Pickett departed this life on May 2, 1888, in the 85th year of his age. After 65 years of consecrated and humble obedience to the will of Heaven, blessed are they that die in the Lord from hence forth sayeth the spirit they cease from their labor and their works do follow them.”
Burial of Bob Sam Pickett (1804-1888) was made in the old Knights of Pythias Cemetery on Miller Road, Garland, Texas. There is a marker there for his grave.
By Louise Todd Hunt, Farmersville
