Captain John (James) Piatt was the son of Captain William Piatt and Elizabeth Shotwell Piatt. John James Piatt was a quartermaster during the War of 1812 and fought at the Battle of Plattsburgh. After the death of his father, John (James) Piatt, spent some time with his uncle Colonel Jacob Piatt in Boone County, Kentucky. He met and married his future wife Rachel Bear there in 1802. Rachel Bear was his uncle Captain John Piatt, Jr.'s step daughter from his second marriage to Elizabeth Young Bear. She was a widow. Captain John (James) Piatt died in Kentucky in 1825. His uncle Colonel Jacob Piatt and his father Captain William Piatt were both charter members of the Society of Cincinatti. His uncle, Colonel Jacob Piatt, had a fine plantation in Petersburg, Boone County, Kentucky. It was named Federal Hall Plantation. A great grandson of John Bear Piatt, William R. Piatt wrote that his great grandfather, "...kept a journal for much of his adult life. It is hand written and contains information about all the Piatts he came in contact with during his life of wandering and much detail about his own family. John Bear Piatt spent quite a bit of time working and traveling with his father until the latter's death." He realtes, "When my father (James) went into the Army in 1812, he took his son William with him to New York and apprenticed him to a printer where he learned the printing trade. He was stationed at one time on an island in New York harbor where he had a command on Ellis Island, where my mother visited him occasionally." Later, speaking of his father's military career, he said, "He soon got a place as a recruiting officer which seemed to put him in his element. In mustering men for soldiers, paying them the bounty money, marching them to New York and hunting up more was the business. This was soon changed for more active duties in the Army."
NOTE: Colonel Jacob Piatt had a son named John Piatt who was very close in age to John James Piatt. It seems likely that John James Piatt used his middle name James, to avoid confusion during his time in Kentucky with his Uncle Jacob. Nevertheless, John James Piatt went by James Piatt throughout his life. Captain Piatt was most likely laid to rest near his Uncle Jacob Piatt at the former Federal Hall Plantation Burial Ground in Boone County, Kentucky.
John (James) Piatt married Rachel Bear b: 1777 in 1802.
Their children are as follows:
1. William PIATT b: 1803; William lost his life at the burning of a printing office in 1835 in trying to save a woman and child in the burning building. He was a printer and never married.
2. John Bear PIATT b: 1805
3. Samuel A. Daniel PIATT b: 1808 Lived in Petersburg, Ohio.
4. Frances (Fanny) PIATT b: 1811 married Dr. Philip H. Swisher. Lived in Petersburg, Ohio.