c 1815 Robert Picket [sic] of Henrico County, Virginia subscribed to William Nicholson's American Edition of the British Encyclopedia. [1]
1823 Robert Pickett and Mary Johnston were married on June 19, 1823 in Richmond, Virginia. [2]
1834 Two men named Robert Pickett, of Henrico County, Virginia, were subscribers to the Farmers' Register. [3]
1850 Robert Pickett (age 51, born in Virginia) lived in Richmond, Richmond (Independent City), Virginia, in a household with Mary Pickett (age 45), Virginia B Pickett (age 17), Charles Pickett (age 10), and Jane Pickett (age 23). [4]
1856 Col Robert Pickett died on Dec. 19, 1856 and was buried at Shockoe Hill Cemetery, Richmond, Richmond City, Virginia, in the Johnston Family Plot. Col Robert Pickett was born Mar. 2, 1799. [5] A biosketch reports:
Robert Pickett, General Pickett's father, is listed as a businessman - dealing in coal.
The 1830 census Robert Pickett owned 42 slaves. The 1850 census shows that he owns 23 slaves and that his real estate was worth $50,000. (Turkey Island - the former Randolph Estate).
It is noted that he left Turkey Island because he could not manage it. The Johnston family prevented the financial collapse on several occasions. In the end, 1843, Andrew Johnston was made trustee of all Robert's property with the stipulation he could remain.
Robert Pickett was elected a member of the Richmond Light Artillery Blues July 4, 1817. (General Pickett commanded his father's former unit, which fought as the 1st Virginia Infantry, Company E, at Gettysburg in 1863.)
He married Mary Johnston, sister to Andrew Johnson, Pres. Lincoln's law partner in Ill., Daughter of Robert Johnston, Sr. on 19 June 1821.
"Col. Robert Pickett of this city died suddenly at his residence on Thursday night. At the time of his death Col. Pickett was an honorary member of the Light Infantry Blues, and many years ago, filled the post of Orderly Sergeant of that company. He will be buried with military honors tomorrow."
[1] Estelle Bishop Shaw, "Subscribers to the First American Edition of Nicholson's Encyclopedia," Magazine of Virginia Genealogy, Vol. 22 (1984), 19-31, at 26, [Ancestry_VGSQ].
[2] Virginia, Compiled Marriages, 1740-1850, [AncestryRecord].
[3] Edmund Ruffin, ed., The Farmers' Register, Vol. 1 (Shellbanks, Virginia: 1834), 771, [HathiTrust].
[4] United States Federal Census, 1850, [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].
[5] Find A Grave Memorial 7018652, [FindAGrave].
[6] Stella Pickett Hardy, Colonial Families of the Southern States of America (New York: Tobias A. Wright, 1911), 427, (5-3), [GoogleBooks].
[7] Patricia Finn Hunter, Pickett Cousins, a 350 year history 1640-1990 (self-published, 1991), 12, [GoogleBooks].