Ancestral Histories- Edwin Alfred Pettit

My great great grandpa was Edwin Alfred Pettit.  He was born the 16th of February 1834 in Hempstead Queens New York.  I remember as a kid my Dad telling me a story about Edwin and how he became a pioneer.  When he was 12 years old he was living in Navoo with his gaurdian and siblings.  His older sister was married and when the saints started leaving Navoo to head West she and her family where going as well.  Edwin didn't want to get left behind so he snuck away from his guardian and went to the camp where his sisters family was staying.  The next morning his gaurdian and brothers came and found him and brought him back to the gaurdians home.  Edwin then made an aquantance who promised to lead him back to his sisters camp.  Edwin snuck out of the home right under his gaurdians nose and they headed off toward the camp.  The next day in order to avoid detection Edwin wore a bonnet and dress and pretended to be a girl.  When his gaurdian and brothers came looking for a young man who had entered camp they couldn't find him.  And so, that is how Edwin Alfred Pettit was able to travel across the plains with his sisters family and join the saints in Salt Lake.  If he hadn't have come with the saints than he probably would never have met his wife and our family wouldn't be as it is now.