Piatt Family History

Borderlands I

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In this first part of a two-part episode, we speak with Bridget Striker, the Director of the Boone County Borderlands Archive and History Center at the Boone County Public Library in Burlington, KY.  An anthropologist and librarian by training, Bridget brings her expertise in archaeology, mapping, and historic preservation into her work on Boone County’s complex history.  Bridget discusses the ancestors of Sarah’s husband, John James Piatt, who were among the white settlers granted large tracts of land along the Ohio River for Revolutionary War service, and she situates them in social networks and enslavement practices of this place and time.

Interview date: 13 March 2023

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Borderlands II

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In this second part of a two-part episode, we continue our conversation with Bridget Striker, the Director of the Boone County Borderlands Archive and History Center at the Boone County Public Library in Burlington, KY.  An anthropologist and librarian by training, Bridget brings her expertise in archaeology, mapping, and historic preservation into her work on Boone County’s complex history.  Bridget discusses enslavement practices in Boone County, Kentucky; the Kentucky relatives of Sarah’s husband John James Piatt who were enslavers; the existing documentation about the people the Kentucky Piatts enslaved and their efforts to seek their freedom; and the complexities of the lives of enslaved people, especially in the borderlands region of Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana.

Interview date: 14 March 2023

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Piatt Castle

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In this episode, we speak with Margaret Piatt. A public historian by training, Margaret is the director of Piatt Castle Mac-A-Cheek in West Liberty, Ohio.  Margaret talks about her ancestors and their role in Ohio history; their settlement on Shawnee lands in 1828; their family connection to Sarah’s husband, John James Piatt; and her work with Piatt scholars who came to the Castle seeking Sarah, whose portrait was painted on the ceiling of one of the family houses.

Interview date: February 27, 2021

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