From the Book
PETTY'S IN AMERICAN AND SOME KITH AND KIN
by Irene Petty Watt
Page 13
"Henderson B. Petty born 1819 in North Carolina died March 17 1901 in the Dillard Hollow
near Chestnut Mound, and is buried there on the remote little farm that was his home. He was
married about 1837 to Nancy Pryor Gresham born 1821 in Tennessee. Nancy Pryor Gresham
died Feb 10, 1887 and is buried in that same little family plot where her mother Sarah Elizabeth
King, her husband and other relatives are buried. The little farm nestles in the headof the Dillard
Hollow near Chestnut Mound - a lonely place shut in by high, rocky hills and reached by a road
that is little more than a rough trail. There is no trace of a house now, except old stones of a
chimmey foundation- the house was at the foot of a steep hill where the graves are.
Mary Petty Brindley was born there and she took me one blazing hot July day in 1958. We waded
thru poke weed, brambles and ragweed to reach the graves and I stood looking out across the lonely
little valley and thought compassionately of my little grandmother whose bones rested here on this
rough hilltop. I never saw her- she was lying here in this quiet place many years before I was born -
but I felt very close to her here."

In the years since Irene Petty Watt wrote the above little has changed in this isolated spot.
The hollow is no longer known as the Dillard Hollow but is off Dickens Lane of the Ferguson
Hollow. It is approximately one mile off road on a private farm road which goes thru creek
several times. The graves were marked with fieldstones until Oct. 29, 2003 when tombstones
that were purchased by great great granddaughter Retta Waggoner were placed by family members.

Known to be buried here are:
Petty, Henderson B. 1819 - 17 March 1901
Petty, Nancy Pryor Gresham 1821- 10 Feb 1887
Gresham, Sarah (Sally) Elizabeth King 1802 - 1880
Two infants of James Pryor and Susan Elizabeth Stewart Petty
Petty, William Tapley born 23 Jan 1882
Petty, George Herman born 1 Jan 1884
GPS 36-11-02N 85-50-06W

A picture of Henderson B. and 2 sons can also be seen on this website: