John Witt, sometimes Whitt was born about 1645, presumedly in England, however a Jon Whyt was found baptized in this same year in Sterling, Kilseth near Edinburgh, Scotland, and was listed there in 1653 as Jon QWhyt. If this is the same person, then he was the son of Robert Whytt and Ann Daux. He died in Charles City County, Virginia, sometime between 1695 and 1704. He married about September 1673 in Charles City County, Virginia, Ann Daux, the daughter of Walter Daux and Mary Ann Feb. Ann was born there about 1656. It appears from early Virginia records that they had at least four children: John L. (~1675-~1742) who married Lavina Ann Rogers, William (–1754), Edward, and Richard. These four men do not show up on any importee records, suggesting they were born in Virginia, and they all first appear near John Witt's last known location.

It was proposed in 1924 by the Huguenot Society of the Founders of Manakin that the Witts were Huguenots, based on their proximity to the Manakin settlements along the James River. However there is no evidence to support this. No Witts appear in any of the early Huguenot records, nor in the naturalization records prior to 1680. Further, since John Witt brought suit in Charles City County, Virginia in 1673, he must have been an English citizen.

John most likely immigrated to America sometime in 1672. We know that John was in Virginia by September 1673 when he married, and that he was probably not there before 1671. In 1674, William Randloph, a wealthy landowner who eventually used John's headright certificate in 1682, patented large ammounts of land, and would have used it had it been available to him. Since importees had to be in Virginia 3 years before their headright's could be claimed, John Witt could not have been in Virginia until after 1671. This has lead to proposals that possibly he emigrated with William Randloph in 1672.

It is also possible, however, that John had arrived earlier, and either imported himself, selling his headright certificate to Randloph at a later time, or served as indentured servant while young, and Randloph purchased the certificate from the original importee. This is possible because we know that John was not an indentured servant by 1673, when he married a middle class woman, and was involved in a lawsuit in that year. Indentured servants were provided neither of these rights. It has been suggested that John Witt immigrated in 1659 from Ross-on-Wye, England, and first went to Barbados.

John Witt was eventually claimed as a headright on three separate occasions. On 20 October, 1682, William Randloph & Robert Bolling filed a headright claim in Charles City County for "Jane Borar, Jno. Witt, Robt. Beasley" (Virginia Patent Book 7. p199). This same certificate was used on two other occasions: on 20 October, 1688 or 1689 by Thomas Cocke in Henrico County (Virginia Patent Book 8. p1), and on 25 October, 1695 by William Randolph again in Charles City County (Virginia Patent Book 9. p2).

The step-father of John's wife, Ann Daux, was John Flower. Apparently he had wasted the estate of her father, Walter Daux, who had died about 1658. By September 1673, John Flower was dead, and possibly her mother also. It was then that Richard Rawlins, the husband Ann's sister, Susannah, filed suit in the Charles City County court to recover Susannah's portion of Walter Daux's estate. Then on October 3, 1673, John Witt joined with Richard Rawlins in petitioning the court (Virginia Patent Book 2, p549), suggesting that he had newly married Ann. It is likely that both daughters were not yet 21 years of age, and therefore could not obtain the estate until they had married. On March 3, 1674/5, the case of "Jno. Witt and Richard Rawlins who marryed the two orpts. of Walter Daux, dec’d" was deferred (McIlwaine, H. R., "Minutes of the Council and General Court of Colonial Virginia, 1622-1632, 1670-1676', The Colonial Press, Everett Waddy Co., 1924, p403). By October 1, 1674, the petition had apparently not been resolved, because John Witt and "Susannah" Rawlins (her husband now being deceased) filed a new suit against the commissioners of the Charles City County. The court records for Charles City County are missing until 1677/8. Where we find on February 14, 1677/8, that John Witt and John Turberfield/Turberville (Susannah's new husband), who was aged 24 in 1673, once again attempted to sue a justice of Charles City County for the value of Walter Daux's estate. The suit claimed that "the estate was appraised and divided between the two Daux sisters. The court did not demand security of Flowers and he has wasted the estate. The plts. having married the sd. orphans now demand recompense by the court...The plts. ask the court to have the deft. pay Daux’s daughters according to the inventory as recorded" (Ayres, Margaret Mitchell, "Charles City County Order Book 1676-1679", 1968, p42). They appear to have won the judgement, but the case was appealed, and no further record is found.

It appears that when John Witt immigrated, he settled in the western part of Charles City County, Virginia, north of the James River, within a couple of miles of the Henrico County line. This was the northern part of Shirley Hundred. We also know from court records that Daux, Plaine, Flower, Rawlins, Turberfield, Randolph, Cocke, and Bolling also lived in the same locale. On November 20, 1720, John Witt received a land patent for 600 acres: "John Whitt & John Woorman (Worrnam). 600 acres Stafford Co., N. E. side of Occkaquon bay or river, beginning at a neck opposite to Dogges Hand, a creek dividing this & land of Will. Harriss & Tho. Bartar, adjacent Robert Collingwood, &c: 20 July 1670, p. 289" (Marion, Nell, "Cavaliers and Pioneers, Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants, 1666-1695, II", Richmond, VA: Virginia State Library, 1992, reprint, p. 74). On September 15, 1677, John Witt and John Turberfield are jurors in Charles City County Court. In February 1687, a court order was issued "whereas there is an absolute necessity for this country to clear & lay out a common roade from Chickahominy bridge down and up these parts of the county. We do therefore request & impower Maj John Stith to summon every individual & inhabitant & inkeeper on ye north side of James River in this county ... into ye road to or near Harman Bosman’s habitation as also from ye bridge into ye main road near John Whitt’s" (Weisiger, Benjamin B., "Charles City County, Virginia Court Orders 1685-1695, III", Iberian Publishing Co., 1980, p23). The last record of John Witt is a notation of his suit against Ralph Hudspeth in 1695 in Henrico County (Henrico County Order Book 3). John Witt does not appear in the 1704 Quit Rents, and since his sons were still in the area, it can be assumed that he died prior.