My Genealogy Hound

R. PETTEY, proprietor of the leading hotel in Fayetteville, was born January 8, 1829, in north Alabama, son of Dr. John W. and Annie (Harris) Pettey. The father was a North Carolinian, born in Wilkes County, February 28, 1791, and a physician in his neighborhood of considerable note. He was also a farmer, and about 1825 he left North Carolina and immigrated to Madison Co., Ala.,where he purchased 160 acres. Previous to his death, which occurred September 23, 1876, he was the possessor of 360 acres. The mother was born January 18, 1798, in North Carolina, and reared to maturity a family of thirteen children, seven of whom are now living. She died June 13, 1869. Our subject received a limited education in the country schools, and remained with his parents until he was about twenty-one years of age. In the fall of 1849 he left the parental roof and immigrated to Lincoln County, where he lived with his brother W. W. as a clerk. In 1855 he came to Fayetteville, where he has since resided, and in 1858 he and his brother W. W established a dry-goods store on their own responsibility, the firm being known as W. W. & R. Pettey. They continued in business until the civil war, when our subject enlisted in the Confederate service in Company G, First Tennessee Regiment, under Col. P. Turney. He was wounded at the battle of Seven Pines, the ball passing through his right lung and through the entire body. He did not recover sufficiently to re-enter the field. In 1867 he resumed his clerkship, working in various kinds of merchandise establishments. October 29, 1869, he wedded Margaret C. Norris, a native of Alabama, born November 26, 1841, and the daughter of Dr. George D. and Martha W. (Ragsdale) Norris. The result of our subject’s marriage was the birth of four children: Gertrude, Annie C., Burton, and Mabel. In 1873 Mr. Pettey and his brother W. W. established a book or stationery store, and in the following year W. W. became proprietor of a hotel. In 1876 our subject sold his interest in the store and brought his brother’s interest in the hotel, and from that time to the present has been engaged in that business. Mr. Pettey is a courteous and obliging gentleman, and is quite popular among the traveling public as a first-class hotel proprietor. Mrs. Pettey as a land lady is pleasant and entertaining. In politics Mr. Pettey is a stanch Democrat. He and wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.