[4] Pettes also became active in the Vermont Militia; in 1820, he was first lieutenant of the Jefferson Artillery, a Windsor battery commanded by Allen Wardner with the rank of captain.
[5] Pettes advanced through the militia's officer grades to become a major in a Windsor-area unit, and afterwards was frequently addressed by his rank.
[1] Among the other ventures Pettes pursued in addition to the store were an ownership stake in the Cornish–Windsor Covered Bridge,[6] a wool brokerage partnership,[7] real estate sales,[8] serving on the board of directors of the Bank of Woodstock,[9] importing and reselling foreign goods transported to Vermont via steamboat on the Connecticut River,[10] an interest in a fire insurance company,[11] and owning and managing a family farm.
[15][16][17][18] According to contemporary newspaper accounts, a crew of laborers including several of Pettes's sons and a man named Peter McCue were working on the farm.
[15] As the adults left the field where they had been working, McCue told the group he was going to return and provide additional assistance to the boys.
[25] For many years, Pettes suffered from a tumor which started near a place on his neck where he had been injured after he was thrown from a horse and impaled on a fence.