Pitts was born on August 26, 1798, to captain John Pitts and Jane (née Ingram) Pitts. He was born at sea in the Atlantic Ocean, aboard a ship sailing from England to Charleston, South Carolina. He lived in Charleston prior to the War of 1812, at which he moved to Georgia.[1]
As a young adult, Pitts lived in Stewart County, Georgia. He served as its justice of the peace and as an trustee of local education. He also worked as a civil engineer, as which he oversaw the construction of a bridge crossing the Chattahoochee River. He was a founder of the settlement of Florence. In 1841, he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives.[1]
In 1842, Pitts and family moved to the Republic of Texas. He settled in Austin County and is believed to have been its first farmer. He later moved to Grimes County.[2] In 1842, invited eleven other families to move to the country. He worked as a clerk for the Texas House of Representatives in the late 1840s. He was appointed Adjutant General of Texas by Governor George Tyler Wood, serving from March 4, 1848, to 1849.[1][3] He was a founder of San Marcos and served on the inaugural jury of its district court. He also founded the settlement of Blanco, with James Hughes Callahan under the Pittsburg Land Company. A slaveowner, he owned fifteen people and was a delegate of the 1861 state convention discussing secession.[1]
In 1850, Pitts established a Methodist Episcopal church in San Marcos, on land he purchased from Edward Burleson. He was also a Freemason and helped establish the first Masonic Lodge in Hays County. On April 1, 1819, he married Eliza Permelia Daves.[2] She died on May 12, 1851, then in 1852, he married Ann Durham. He died on February 5, 1861, aged 62, and is buried in Pitts Cemetery.[1] His grandson was lawyer and politician Edward R. Kone.[2] On November 11, 1995, his family cemetery was named a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.[3][4]