David Petraeus - Early Life and Family

Early Life and Family

Petraeus was born in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York, the son of Miriam (née Howell), a librarian, and Sixtus Petraeus, a Frisian sea captain from Franeker, The Netherlands. His mother was American, a resident of Brooklyn, New York. His father had sailed to the United States from the Netherlands at the start of World War II. They met at the Seamen's Church Institute and married. Sixtus Petraeus commanded a Liberty ship for the U.S.A. for the duration of World War II. The family moved after the war, settling in Cornwall-on-Hudson, where David Petraeus grew up and graduated from Cornwall Central High School in 1970.

Petraeus went on to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Petraeus was on the intercollegiate soccer and ski teams, was a cadet captain on the brigade staff, and was a "distinguished cadet" academically, graduating in the top 5% of the Class of 1974 (ranked 43rd overall). In the class yearbook, Petraeus was remembered as "always going for it in sports, academics, leadership, and even his social life".

While a cadet, Petraeus started dating the daughter of Army General William A. Knowlton (the West Point superintendent at the time), Hollister "Holly" Knowlton (born c. 1953). Two months after graduation Petraeus married her. Holly, who is multi-lingual, was a National Merit Scholar in high school, and graduated summa cum laude from Dickinson College. They have a daughter and son, Anne and Stephen. Petraeus administered the oath of office at his son's 2009 commissioning into the Army after his son's graduation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His son went on to serve in Afghanistan as a member of Alpha Company, 3rd Platoon, 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.

Petraeus' official residence in the United States is a small property in the community of Springfield, New Hampshire, which his wife inherited from her family. Registered to vote in that state as a Republican, Petraeus once told a friend that he was a Rockefeller Republican.