The Pettus surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 5,204 people carried this name — #6,520 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 56,800 people counted. That is up 6% from 4,917 in 2000.

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In print

Pettus in American newspapers,
1889–1908.

Newspaper page from The Pascoag Herald carrying the name Pettus
The Pascoag Herald 1908-10-09
Newspaper page from The Indiana State Sentinel carrying the name Pettus
The Indiana State Sentinel 1889-11-27
Newspaper page from The Topeka State Journal carrying the name Pettus
The Topeka State Journal 1907-07-29

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 47,164 pages in all carry the name.

In print

Pettus in Australian newspapers,
1890s–1970s.

84 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Pettus. The most, 45, date from the 1920s.

Articles, by state

New South Wales 17
Queensland 17
South Australia 12
Western Australia 12
ACT (Canberra) 9
Tasmania 8
Victoria 6

Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Pettus.

Who carried it

People named Pettus,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Elizabeth Pettus d. 1705
  • Thomas Pettus 1598–1663
  • Ka-Okee Powhatan 1612–1642
  • Thomas Pettus III 1634–1720
  • Stephen Pettus 1634–1686
  • Susanna Pettus 1656–1717

Wikidata (CC0) · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.

In the public record

People named Pettus,
in the records of 4 countries.

Soldiers, farmers, migrants and neighbours who carried the name and left a trace in public archives. Everyone shown here died long ago or was born more than a century ago.

United States315 records

315 records of the Pettus name in the United States
  • U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 185
  • U.S. veterans' cemetery records, burials to 2001 71
  • New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 46
  • New York State death index (outside NYC), 1957–2001 5
  • Riverside Cemetery, Asheville (North Carolina) 3
  • Passenger arrivals in the United States, 1820–1912 1
  • U.S. alien registration index, 1940–1955 1
  • U.S. service members who died in the Korean War 1
  • Sacramento County historic burials 1
  • U.S. service members who died in the Vietnam War 1
  1. Names engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.
    Example: U.S. war memorial
    War record Kenneth Pettus

    Born 1948; from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. U.S. Marine Corps, rifleman; killed in action 1967 in Quang Nam, South Vietnam. Buried at Beverly National Cemetery, New Jersey.

    U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  2. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record James H. Pettus

    Born 1919 in New Jersey. Enlisted 1942 at Camden; sales clerk from Essex County. U.S. Army veteran of World War II; died 1955, buried at Beverly National Cemetery, New Jersey.

    U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  3. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Eliza E. Pettus

    Arrived at New York in 1876 aboard the Bothnia from Liverpool and Queenstown, aged 31; matron.

    U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted)

Showing 3 of 315 records for Pettus in the United States.

Counts: U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index · City of Asheville (public domain, PDDL) · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain) · Sacramento County, Historic Burials (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Vietnam Veterans Memorial, photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, 2009 (public domain); U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain).

Canada1 record

1 record of the Pettus name in Canada Nova Scotia Archives name indexes
  1. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Civil record Nathaniel and others Pettus

    Named in a Nova Scotia land record for Cumberland County, in 1784.

    Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia.

Counts: Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0).

Netherlands1 record

1 record of the Pettus name in the Netherlands Dutch church registers before 1811
  1. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record Joannes Matheus Pettus

    Married in 1785 in Steenbergen.

    Open Archives, West Brabants Archief (CC BY 4.0)

Counts: Open Archives (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Marriage register, Tilburg, 1911, Regionaal Archief Tilburg (public domain).

Germany1 record

1 record of the Pettus name in Germany Germany's First World War casualty lists, 1914–1919
  1. A page of the German First World War casualty lists, 18 April 1918
    Example: German casualty list, 1918
    Casualty list Wilhelm Pettus

    From Prussellen, Tilsit. Reported missing in the Prussian casualty list of 8 August 1917.

    Verein für Computergenealogie e.V. (2026). Deutsche Verlustlisten des Ersten Weltkriegs – Datensammlung (Version 1.0), DOI 10.5281/zenodo.18330751 (CC0)

Counts: Verein für Computergenealogie e.V. (2026). Deutsche Verlustlisten des Ersten Weltkriegs – Datensammlung (Version 1.0), DOI 10.5281/zenodo.18330751 (CC0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Deutsche Verlustlisten, Prussian list 1116, 18 April 1918 (scan via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Pettus.

When the index is not enough

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