Pettus, John Jones (09 October 1813–26 January 1867), lawyer and Confederate governor, was born in Wilson County, Tennessee, the son of John Jones Pettus and Alice Taylor Winston, farmers. Pettus was raised in Limestone County, Alabama, after his father moved the family from Tennessee. Only nine when his father died, Pettus helped out with farm chores and was educated at home by his mother. He settled in Mississippi in 1835. After a brief stay in Sumter County, Alabama, where he studied law, he opened a law practice in Scooba, Kemper County, Mississippi, where in the early 1840s he married a cousin, Permelia Virginia Winston. They had at least three children. He became a successful planter and by 1850 owned 1,600 acres and 24 slaves....
