Pitts Reunion
Judy Hoffman of Huntington, NY, a Petitpas descendant, attended a recent reunion of Petitpas (Pitts) descendants and presented an interesting discussion on their Pitts ancestors. Below is a short article she wrote about her experience.
I met Petitpas cousins (now called "Pitts") during the pandemic, when I reached out to one of them. Initially, we emailed pictures and family stories. The following year, in 2021, they were having a reunion in Old Saybrook, Connecticut for their branch of the family, and invited me to come and speak about our Petitpas ancestors. I've continued to stay in touch with them. I'm not sure that this would make a good newsletter article because it's old news now. But I'll share the story with you, anyway, just because it's about our Acadian family.
Best regards, Judy Hoffman
During the pandemic, I decided to look up and introduce myself to Petitpas cousins living in Connecticut. I'd known of them, and been meaning to reach out since I'd begun researching my Petitpas ancestors in 2014. The pandemic seemed like the ideal time.
During 2020, my cousin Rhonda, in Deep River, Connecticut, and I (living in Long Island, New York) shared many photographs and family stories through email. In 2021, her branch of the family invited me to join them at a Pitts reunion in Old Saybrook, Ct. for their branch of the family, and asked me to speak there about our Petitpas ancestors and some of the Acadian history.
We're descendants of Stephen Petitpas b. 1867 in D'Escousse, Isle Madame, Nova Scotia. In the 1880's, Stephen and his extended family moved to Boston, changing their name from Petitpas to Pitts. The men were fishermen. When Stephen met my great grandmother, Elizabeth Callender, who was also descended from Nova Scotia, they married and had four children who survived to adulthood, two of whom have living descendants. The oldest child of Stephen and Elizabeth was Charles, b. 1893; the Pitts who were having a reunion in Connecticut are all descended from him. I'm descended from Charles' sister, Edith Elizabeth Pitts, b. 1895, who was my grandmother.
In July 2021, I attended the reunion and spoke about our ancestry while the other attendees had their dessert and coffee. When I began to discuss our Petitpas ancestors, a few attendees asked, "What's a Petitpas? Our name is Pitts". And they were correct; our family had been "Pitts" since they moved from Canada to the northeast U. S. in the later part of the nineteenth century. The name Petitpas and our Acadian history was information that some of them weren't aware of. It was a great experience, to be able to share some of our rich family history.
Below is a photograph from that day. I'm on the right side in the rear in the blue dress; the only descendant of Edith Pitts among the many descendants of Charlie Pitts. I recently visited some of these cousins in Connecticut again, and this time I remembered to get a copy of this picture.
