Thomas Jefferson Pettigrew

Character Key Number: 
485
Display Name: 
Thomas Jefferson Pettigrew
Sort Name: 
Pettigrew, Thomas Jefferson
Ever Present in Yoknapatawpha?: 
Yes
Biography: 

In both "A Name for the City" and Requiem for a Nun, the name of the "special rider" who carries the U.S. mail from Nashville to the Mississippi settlement - Thomas Jefferson Pettigrew - is the source for the name the county seat of Yoknapatawpha. In both texts he is small but stubborn, loyal to the regulations of the federal government but susceptible to the right kind of bribery.