The discussion of Piatt/Pyatt
spellings reminds me of something Lynn White and I discovered and found
amusing a number of years ago.
Two Benjamin Piatt/Pyatts
lived in Bartholomew Co IN at the same time. They were approximately
two years apart in age. Likely, they were cousins with Benjamin Piatt
being the son of William Peatt and who left his home in VA because he couldn't
get along with his step-mother, Mary Smith. Benjamin Piatt married
Ann Carter and lived in or near Columbus, the county seat. Benjamin
Pyatt, possible son of James and Mary Donahue Piatt, and who married Rachel
McWillilams, lived in the country a township or two southwest of Columbus.
In the Bartholomew Co
IN records the two names are spelled Piatt or Pyatt with remarkable regularity,
no doubt to separate the two men one from the other. But, apparently,
the differentiation in spelling was not so firm so as to disallow them
(I believe the phrase du jour is) "plausible deniability." It seems
that one of the Benjamins was sued, possibly for debt. The sheriff
was charged with delivering a summons to the defendant. However,
sheriff reported that he had tried to deliver the summons to Benjamin Piatt
who stated that it was not for him. Then the sheriff tried to deliver
the summons to Benjamin Pyatt who, likewise, claimed that it was not for
him. The sheriff reported to the judge that he was unsuccessful in
delivering the summons and a short check further in the records revealed
that justice never was served, at least through the courts.