Reedsburg Times Press

August 25, 1918

Obituary

Frank Pettis

On Thursday, August 15, in a hospital, after a prolonged illness, died Frank Pettis, an old and highly respected citizen of Reedsburg at the age of 68 years, 7 months and 24 days. Reedsburg has been the home of deceased for more than 65 years, except for the time he served in the Civil War; then his home was in camp and field with those who fought to preserve this union.

Frank Pettis was born at Cranseville, Penn., January 22, 1850. He came with his parents to Reedsburg when only three [years] of age. That was in the year 1853, when this was a small and struggling hamlet. Here the lad attended school until the outbreak of the Civil War. He was then 11 years old, but was fired with the martial spirit of the day and sought to get into the service. His teacher at that time was Alexander P. Ellenwood, a man inspired with deep patriotism, who started in to raise a company for the defense of the union.

After much importunity, young Pettis was taken as a drummer boy, and in this capacity he rendered valiant services in recruiting the company. Mr. Ellenwood was made second lieutenant, but afterward was promoted to the rank of captain for brave and meritorious conduct in action. As drummer boy Frank Pettis served three years, when the time of enlistment expired. But he did not quit. He enlisted as a common soldier, although only 14 years of age, and served to the end of the war.

When peace was declared, Mr. Pettis returned to Reedsburg and at the age of 20 began to learn the miller’s trade. He followed this business until a few years ago, when he sold out and retired from business.

Deceased married Jane Pomeroy in the year 1870, and to them were born five children one son and four daughters. They survive; Mrs. Pettis died about two years ago. The son is Oscar, Camp Douglas; the daughters are, Mrs. C.G. Rumpf, Appleton; Mrs. Alfred Deal, Kilbourn; Mrs. C.G. Williams, Gary, Minn, and Mrs. William Storndt, Kilbourn. A half brother and sister live at Endeavor. There are five grandchildren.

For all his extreme youth, Mr. Pettis’ war record was one to be proud of. Funeral was held at the Harrison Wiedman home, this city, on Saturday, the Rev. J.E. Cooke officiating. G.A.R. boys all were there and the service was a most impressive one. Interment was made at Greenwood.

It’s all Relative

After having spent over a year researching the history of the life and times of Reedsburg’s Civil War drummer boy, Frank Pettis, it was time to put my genealogical knowledge to the test. I had learned so much about Frank and his exploits, and I wondered if there were any relatives of his still around.

One day, I was rummaging through the files at the Sauk County Historical Society, and came across a file with Frank Pettis’ name on it. Whenever a letter of inquiry is sent to the Society, by someone wanting research on an ancestor that letter and copies of any material sent to them is archived. Included in the file were several queries from a lady in Arizona who was writing on behalf of Sandy Rakow. It turned out that Sandy was a great granddaughter of Frank Pettis!

The letter had been written in 1999 from Tucson, AZ, and I wondered if Sandy was still at that address. A little Internet research located a phone number of the lady who had written the letter of inquiry, and I called her. Amazingly, she and Sandy were still living in Tucson. After Sandy returned from vacation, I was able to make contact with her and learn more about her famous relative.

As luck would have it, Sandy was coming to Wisconsin in September for a class reunion at Beloit, and was eager to come to Reedsburg for a meeting. Sandy, her husband, Ray, and I had a wonderful gettogether at the Reedsburg Library. We exchanged information and photos, and then visited the Pettis’ graves at Greenwood Cemetery. We also went to see the Veteran’s Memorial where Frank is depicted on one of the panels.

It was a fascinating afternoon, learning more about Frank, and meeting these new friends. We both vowed to keep in touch.

Interview with Sandy Storandt Rakow, Great granddaughter of Frank Pettis September 2016

Sandra Joan (Storandt) Rakow is the daughter of Roger Ward Storandt and Mary Jane Fisher. Roger was the son of William Storandt and Lillian May Pettis. Lillian was the daughter of Frank A. Pettis and Jane Pomeroy.

Sandy noted that she is from a family of military volunteers, much as was Frank Pettis. Her grandfather Storandt served in WWI, her father was in WWII, and Sandy enlisted in the Navy in 1959.

She said that her grandmother, Lillian Pettis Storandt, was her favorite. She taught Sandy how to sew, which led her to her love for quilting. Lillian would cut up her old house dresses to make quilts. Sandy noted that one of her (Sandy’s) quilts is on display in Washington, D.C. It was noted that Sandy’s grandfather, Frank Pettis, also worked in his father’s tailor shop for a while after his Civil War service— another family connection.

The fife that was used in the war by Amos Pettis—Frank’s father—is still in the family, said Sandy. Her sister, Jacque Storandt Ramsey, has it on display in a shadow box in her home.

[Click here for image] The fife went to Jacque because she was in the high school band at the time. The whereabouts of the drum that Frank used during the war is un-known. Perhaps one of his extended family still has it somewhere.

Sandy recalled that her mother told her that during the 1960s, the Walt Disney Studio contacted her regarding Frank’s service as a young drummer boy in the Civil War. They were probably doing background research for a Wonderful World of Disney TV film they were making at the time. The resulting story was about another 11 year old drummer boy, John Clem, who distinguished himself during that war. It was called Johnny Shiloh, and stared Kevin Corcoran.

Larry Pettis

Great grandson of Frank Pettis

Additional research revealed the whereabouts of another of Frank Pettis’ relatives living in Viroqua, WI, Larry Pettis. He has a brother living in New Lisbon, WI. They are both great grandsons of Frank. Their father was Melvin O. Pettis (1917-?), his father was Oscar Nelson Pettis (1870-1948), who was the son of Frank Pettis (1850-1918) & Jane Pomeroy.

Larry noted that he has another famous relative by the name of Jefferson Davis! Yes, that Jefferson Davis, who was president of the Confederate States. He described the relationship in an email:

“My mother’s side was Davis. My grandfather was Merton Davis of Mauston, killed in a saw mill accident in the early 1950s. Jefferson Davis had a half-brother (same father, different mother). I think I’m the great great great great great grandson of that half-brother. Jefferson Davis was in Wisconsin as an officer in the U.S. Army at Fort Winnebago.”

What’s In A Name

Larry Pettis also said that it appears that Frank changed the way his last name was spelled. Peteys was the way it was spelled back where he was born in Pennsylvania. In the Wisconsin Volunteers list, it was spelled Petteys. It was not a misspelling, and it was not uncommon during those times to do that, because of the fear that there might be relatives of theirs in the South, and they didn’t want to fight against a relative. When they came back after the war, they changed it back to Pettis, as it had been here.

They originally changed it (from Peteys to Pettis) not too long after they came from Holland because when they came to Pennsylvania, there were lots of people there in the community that spelled it Pettis, and they wanted to blend in.

A drum, similar to this, was carried by Frank Pettis during the Civil War. This one is located in the archives of the Sauk County Historical Society.

Reedsburg’s Drummer Boy, Frank Pettis, Returns to New Bern Battle Ground

The New Bern, North Carolina Connection

“It's funny how things happen and how interesting and fascinating history is.”

This from a May, 2016, email which I received from Steve Dembickie, who lives just across the road from where the log blockhouse in New Bern, NC, was located, and where the Wisconsin 19th Company A, was stationed in 1864 during the Civil War. It was the unit in which Frank Pettis served as a drummer boy.

Steve went on to relate the following story: “This all started about a month ago when a good friend of mine had read a book from the New

Bern library titled Crossing Antietam, the Civil War Letters of Captain Henry Augustus Sand, Company A, 103rd New York Volunteers. In his letters he describes picket duty at the Evans Mill Plantation and the surrounding area.

“This is less than a month after the battle and capture of New Bern in March, 1862, so I am guessing before the blockhouse is built. He writes about five letters back home to his family from right here at Evans Mill. It was upon reading his letters that prompted me to research more about the Plantation and the picture I had of the blockhouse [Click here for image] which in turn led me to finding the same blockhouse picture on your [the Sauk County Historical Society] web-site. Who would have thought that I would have to go through Wis-consin to learn about New Bern and Evan’s Mill?”

Steve has provided much of the information regarding that location, and its significance as related to the Wisconsin 19th , Company A, when it was stationed there. He is as dedicated to this project as I am, and we have both learned a lot about this phase of the Civil War.

This fife and pipe belonged to Amos Pettis, Frank’s father, who also served in the Civil War as a fifer. It now belongs to Jacque Storandt Ramsey, a great granddaughter of Frank. She said that when the pipe was placed into the shadowbox, it still contained tobacco.

In 2018, I received a letter from John D. Seidel of Thiensville, WI who had a Confederate guidon flag, which family tradition said was brought home as a souvenir of war by Frank Pettis when his unit was stationed in Richmond, VA. This type of flag was used to rally the troops around the commanding officer, and was always placed on the field when the officer was present.

The flag was given or sold to Fred Eugene Pettyes (1866-?), who gave it to his daughter, Lena Mae Pettyes (19121978), who gave it to her son, John F. Seidel on his 21st birthday. John wrote to me to see if I could provide him with information about the flag.

Mr. Seidel indicated that he knew the name of his grandfather, but not that of his grandmother. His mother didn’t speak much of her family when she was alive, said Seidel. So, I decided that I would see if I could learn anything about his ancestors.

Thus began another genealogical and historic research project, into another branch of the Pettis tree. I took out a month’s membership in Ancestry.com to begin my search. I was extremely lucky to find several people who had already conducted extensive research on the Pettis family. And what I learned really came as a surprise to me. There are two other historically notable ancestors on the Pettis tree, but more about them later.

I sent photos of the flag to my friend in North Carolina, the one who lives near the site where Frank and his unit served during part of the Civil War, and who was a great help in doing research on Frank’s sojourn there. His Civil War history group, includes a member who is an expert regarding Civil War flags. He indicated that it appears to have been homemade, based on the hand stitching.

I then began researching the gentleman who originally received the flag from Frank, Fred E. Pettyes, who was his half brother. They had the same father, Amos Pettis, but different mothers. After Amos’ first wife died (Cordelia A. Cole), he married Fred’s mother (Margaret Ann Dey Miller), and apparently changed the spelling of his name to Pettyes. That was not uncommon in those days.

I was able to locate two persons who had conducted research into the Pettyes family history, and who had posted their family research on line. Included were photos, and extensive histories of each of the persons in their tree. These included their spouses, children, dates, and other pertinent information which was available through various genealogical and government resources. The extent of the Pettis’ family ancestors goes into the thousands, if one wanted to follow up on research for each of them. However, I followed only Frank Pettis’ direct line back to 1567!! Frank’s oldest documented relative was Ebenezer Pettey, who was born that year. The family has documented records of ancestors in England that go back over 450 years! That’s only 75 years after Columbus discovered America.

I also learned that two of Frank’s ancestors fought in the American Revolutionary War! Benjamin Petty (1724-?), was a Captain in the Massachusetts Army, enlisting in 26 Jan. 1776. I wonder if he ever saw or met George Washington.

There was another direct ancestor who fought in that same war. He was the son of Benjamin Petty. James Petty was a private and fought at Rhode Island in the military unit of Topham’s Regiment, State Troops. He enlisted 4 August 1778, and was 23 years old at the time.

Just as Amos Pettis and his son, Frank Pettis, both were participants in the Civil War, so were Benjamin Petty, and his son, James Petty, both participants in the Revolutionary War.

More Souvenirs of the Civil War at New Burn, NC

A July, 2020, email from Steve Dembickie, NC, brought good news. “Was doing some metal detecting here at my house this past week and found another Minie ball along with two canister balls and possibly a horse tack buckle. Have not done any serious detecting here for a number of years. Found these articles on my east side yard, the side facing where the blockhouse stood about 130 feet away. A very good find!”

“These are my most recent findings metal detecting in my yard. I had found three other Minie balls over the last 8 years, with finding the third one about six weeks ago. The two canister balls were great finds. Trying to determine if they were just accidentally dropped there or were actually fired from confederate canon when blockhouse was attacked back when Wis. 19th was here in early February, 1864, or another attack on May 4th, 1864. Will be tuff to be sure.”

Ruins in front of the Confederate capital in Richmond, VA, in 1865. This is a scene which the 19th Wisconsin Regiment might have seen when they entered the city on April 23, 1864, to raise their flag over city hall purportedly the first regiment to do so.

Epilogue

A three-thousand-year-old inscription in King Tut’s tomb reads, “To speak the name of the dead is to make them live again…” In a small way, this research into the life of Frankie Pettis, has reawakened his memory and life story for those of us who have learned of his courage and dedication during the Civil War over 150 years ago. On Memorial Day in 2016, a wreath was placed on his grave in Greenwood Cemetery, in memory of Reedsburg’s brave little drummer boy.

I would like to thank the following who helped make this research and publication possible: Sandra Storandt Rakow, Jacque Storandt Ramsey, Steve Dembickie, Larry Pettis, Reedsburg Library, the Reedsburg Area Historical Society, The Sauk County Historical Society, and the Reedsburg Old Settlers Association. Also thanks to John Klecker of New Bern, NC, for colorizing photos in this publication.

courtesy of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum