Contributed by Charlene Saunders:
NICHOLAS PETITGEAN, one of the representative citizens of Washington
Township, was born in Loraine, then a province of France, April 23,
1833, having been born in the same house in which both his father and
grandfather were born and died. The father of our subject, CHRISTOPHER
PETITGEAN, was a man of influence in his native town, of which he was
vice-mayor for many years. He was born in the year 1795, and reared to
the vocation of a farmer, which he followed through life. He died in
the year 1882. His wife, JANE (CAPPLO) PETITGEAN, died many years
before her husband. They were the parents of eight children, all of
whom lived to maturity but one daughter. Five of the children are
living at the present time--MARY, JOHN, FRANK, NICHOLAS and LOUIS, all
residents of Europe but the subject of this sketch. One son,
CHRISTOPHER, who served in the French war under Maximillian, died in
Loraine several years ago, and two daughters, both of whom were named
JANE, are deceased.
NICHOLAS PETITGEAN, our subject, was reared in his native country. He
early in life became desirous of coming to America, and in 1852 an
opportunity offered, he being then nineteen years of age. A lady
acquaintance of his famly was coming to to this country with her family
to meet her husband who was then residing in La Fayette, Indiana, and he
offered to accompany her, which offer was accepted, and in the latter
part of September, 1852, they landed in New York City. He reached La
Fayette about October 20, without money, and engaged at once to work on
the Wabash Railroad, but after working a week, winter set in, and work
was discontinued. He soon after found employment on the farm of JOHN
BAYLESS, near Dayton, remaining with MR. BAYLESS five years, and with
the money he thus earned he started in life on his own account.
In 1854 he went to Richland County, Wisconsin, and entered a tract of
eighty acres, the first land he ever owned. He was married october 21,
1857, to MISS CATHERINE BUCK, who was born in Clinton County, Indiana,
December 4, 1836, a daughter of DANIEL BUCK, an old pioneer of
Tippecanoe County, Indiana. He was born in Pennsylvania, removing
thence to Ohio, and from that State to Indiana. He died in Clinton
County, Indiana, several years ago. He was twice married, his first
wife, the mother of MRS. PETITGEAN, dying in 1865. They were the parents
of ten children, of whom only five are now living--MRS. CATHERINE
PETITGEAN, who is the eldest; LYDIA, LIZZIE, MARY and DELLA. MR. and
MRS. PETITGEAN are the parents of three children--MARY, wife of ORLANDO
McDONALD; DORA, a student at Purdue University, and DALE at home. Five
of the children born to them died in infancy.
MR. PETITGEAN rented land for several years after his marriage, and in
1863 made his first land purchase in Tippecanoe County. In October,
1864, he enlisted in the Sixteenth Indiana Light Artillery, commanded by
Captain Deming of La Fayette, and served with his command in the
defences of Washington until the close of the war, when he resumed
farming in Tippecanoe County. He purchased the farm where he now
resides about 1870, where he has eighty acres of well improved land. He
is one of the self-made men of his township, he having begun life
entirely without means, and by his own perserving industry and strict
economy, has accumulated a fine property, owning besides his home farm,
another farm of 250 acres elsewhere in Washington Township, and is
surrounded with all the necessary comforts of life. He takes an active
interest in the welfare of his township and county, and has done his
part toward the development of the same during the past thirty-five
years. In politics he is a Democrat. He and his children are members
of the Catholic church.
Biographical Record and Portrait Album of Tippecanoe County, Indiana
pp. 548-549