The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: VA
Qualifying Service: Private
Birth: 1730 Germany Death: 1802 / Robertson / TN
Qualifying Service Description:
Capt Robert Doack's Co of Militia
Capt Floyd's Co of Militia
Additional References:
Listed on bronze monument (John Cattes) established by the Point Pleasant, WV Battle Monument Commission,
Documentary History of Dunmore's War 1774. Reuben Gold Thwaites & Louise Phelps Kellogg, 1905, pg 400 (John Cattes)
Capt Robert Doack's Co.; Dunmore's War Payroll and Service Claims, 3 days pay, Image #00448 (John Kitts)
Capt James Floyd's Co.; Dunmore's War Payroll and Service Claims, 93 days pay, Image #00443 (John Gitts)
VA Military Records from the William & Mary Quarterly & the Tyler Quarterly; Montgomery's Revolutionary Heritage, Ruby Altizer Roberts, 1983, pg 220
Spouse: Nancy Lnu Children: Elizabeth; Peter; Mary;
Members Who Share This Ancestor
None*
*This means that the NSSAR has no applications for this Patriot on file.
Instead the information provided is best effort, and from volunteers who have either researched grave sites, service records, or something similar. There is no documentation available at NSSAR HQ to order.
I-24 W from Nashville, tale exit 24, turn left on TN 49, cross I-24 W & turn right on US Alt-41, continue straight & turn right on Jack Teasley Rd, continue & turn left on Chambliss Rd, continue to Gause Rd. and turn left, turn right on Heads Church Road, continue several miles to Heads Free Will Baptist Church Cemetery on left
Author: Jerry Lynn Seymour Hjellum
John (Johann Kitts) Götz — A German frontiersman in colonial Virginia and Tennessee. John Götz, whose surname was Anglicized* as Kitts, is the oldest known ancestor of the Kitts family branches in Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee.
John Kitts was born around 1730, if not an immigrant from Germany, then he was probably born in Pennsylvania and Nancy (maiden name unknown). He was documented in Augusta County, Virginia in 1769. By 1770 John Kitts had settled on 150 acres on Reedy Creek in present-day Wythe County, Virginia. In about 1779, after his service in Dunmore’s War, he left Virginia, crossed the Cumberland Gap, and followed the Cumberland River to French Lick, which is now Nashville, Tennessee. There he received preemption rights to 640 acres about one and a half miles north of Nashville on the Cumberland River. His Davidson County court case on 6 April 1784 clearly acknowledges the Kitts to be one of the "First Families of Tennessee".
During the next decade, John moved to Robertson County, Tennessee where he died in December 1801/January 1802. His Will left his estate to his wife Nancy (surname unknown), his three children: Peter Kitts Sr. (husband of Elizabeth Wyrick), Elizabeth Kitts (wife of Jacob Blessing), and Mary Kitts (wife of John "Crane" Crain), and his grandson John Kitts (son of Mary Kitts).
His daughter, Elizabeth Kitts Blessing, and his son, Peter, remained in Virginia. Elizabeth died in Wythe County in 1825. John's son, Peter Kitts, married Elizabeth Wyrick in 1786. They moved to Grainger County, Tennessee around 1810. Peter left no will. Tradition has it that he died around 1830 and was buried in the Dyer cemetery in Rutledge, Grainger County, Tennessee. Three of Peter's sons, Henry, Jacob, and Andrew, returned to Virginia to marry and raise their families.
*(Götz - with the umlaut over the letter "o" - is pronounced as "gets" which sounds like "kits" and hence the use of the English surname Kitts). The name in other historical sources has been spelled as Kats, Cats. Cattes, Gitts and Katz.
Kitts (Götz) is a German name derived from the pet form of Godizo “God.”[1]
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