Pettit, John, who succeeded Samuel D. Lecompte as chief justice of the Territory of Kansas in 1859, was born at Sacketts Harbor, N. Y., June 24, 1807. He received a liberal education, studied law, and soon after his admission to the bar removed to Lafayette, Ind., where he began practice. He served two terms in the lower house of the Indiana legislature; was a member of the state constitutional convention of 1850; was presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1852, and upon the death of James Whitcomb was appointed United States senator to fill the vacancy, taking his seat on Jan. 18, 1853. While in the senate he supported the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and in a speech said that Jefferson's declaration that all men are born free "is nothing more to me than a self-evident lie." His conduct as senator was such that Thomas H. Benton wrote to the Lafayette American: "Your senator is a great liar and a dirty dog, falsifying public history for a criminal purpose." His appointment as chief justice of Kansas Territory was confirmed in March, 1857, and he served in that office until the state was admitted into the Union. He died at his home in Indiana on June 17, 1877.