Peter Mallett Jr. was born in Connecticut on November 14, 1744. Mallett was a sea-faring merchant before settling in Wilmington, North Carolina to continue his mercantile business in 1769. He quickly became one of the most successful merchants in the area. In July of 1775 Mallett was elected to the Wilmington Committee of Safety and later that year appointed to the “Committee of Secrecy and Correspondence.” In 1776 he was appointed to serve as Commissioner to inventory Tory estates and was also elected to the North Carolina House in 1778. He died in Cumberland County, North Carolina on February 3, 1805.