Descendants of Rev. William Patton (c. 1590-1641) of Scotland and Ireland

Note:  Most of the pictures detailing PA, VA and the Beverley and Bordon Scotch/Irish Land Grants came from Jim Jackson; see his wonderful site here.

Generation One

Rev. William PATTON; born circa 1590 in Ferrochie, Fifeshire, Scotland; married Margaret Lynn circa 1620; died January 31, 1641/42 in Clondevadock, Clonmany, Donegal, Ireland. He immigrated before 1626 to County Donegal, Ireland.  He was Rector of the parishes of Ramoigh and Clonmary, the Barony of Raphoe and later at Aughnish, the Barony of Kilmacrenan after 1626. He lived after 1626 in Ireland.  He married MARGARET Lynn who was born circa 1590. She died circa 1659 in Ireland.

From "James Patton and the Appalachian Colonists" by Patricia Givens Johnson:

The Patton's were originally landed gentry seated at Ferrochie, Fifeshire, Scotland. The progenitor of the Irish branch of the family, William Patton, M.A. was born in Scotland; had immigrated to Northern Ireland during the King James Plantation. He was in County Donegal by 1626 as Rector of the parishes of Ramoigh and Clonmary, Barony of Raphoe and later at Aughnish, Barony of Kilmacrenan. Rev. William Patton and his wife, Margaret, made their home at an estate called "Groghan" and reared to sons, Henry (Sr.) and John.

From " Coming to America; A Chronicle of the American Lineage of the Patton's" by C. L. Patton, Springfield, Illinois, 1954:

It seems certain that the various Patton's settling in Augusta County, VA, in the early part of the eighteenth century, were of the same origin, the father of whom was John Patton, brother of Colonel James Patton and Elizabeth Patton Preston.  Colonel James had come from Ireland in 1730. Probably one of the compelling reasons for the mass migration at this time was the forced exile of John Lewis* in 1729.

He was a brother-in-law of Henry Patton, having married Margaret Lynn, sister of Henry's wife, Sarah Lynn. They were daughters of the Laird of Loch Lynn (Linnhe). John Lewis first took up his residence in Philadelphia but he soon went into Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, purchasing several tracts of land in that county but later moving on to the Shenandoah Valley in VA.

From The Tinkling Spring:  Headwater of Freedom by Howard Wilson "An authority of the Patton family history supplies the background and manner of James Patton's entrance into the flood-tide of Scots-Irish immigration into the frontier lands of Colonial Virginia.

William Patton, A. M., born in Scotland, appears as early as 1626 as Rector of the Parishes of Ramoigh, Aughanish and Clonmany, Diocese of Raphoe, county Donegal, Ireland.  He was the progenitor of the Irish branch of the Patton Family.  The Pattons were an outstanding family of Scottish origin, a number of members of which, in different generations served in the Royal Navy, in the British Army and in civil offices, some of them achieving distinction in these fields.

William Patton's grandson, Henry Patton, Esq., only son of Henry Patton, Sr., married Sarah Lynn, almost certainly of the Lynn family seated in county Donegal, Ulster, and ancient and prominent English family.  James Patton, born 1692, was the fourth son of the younger Henry Patton and Sarah Lynn Patton.  His sister was Mrs. John Preston.  Henry Patton is named among a number of other persons who during the religious and political strife which occurred in the brief reign of King James II of England, were prominent in opposing him after his replacement on the throne by King William III and Queen Mary in 1688.  James II had Roman Catholic leanings, while William and Mary had Protestant ties, and in James' invasion  of Southern Ireland, young Henry Patton was, along with several thousand others, attainted by "King James' Parliament."  This attainder, however, was promptly removed after the defeat of James.  For his services he was awarded the Manor of Springfield, Parish of Clondevaddock, Barony of Kilmacrenan, county Donegal, Province of Ulster, Ireland.  This estate adjoined the "Croghan" estate of his father, Henry Patton, Sr.

In accordance with frequent custom in the case of younger sons in that period, James Patton was placed at an early age in the Royal Navy and is said to have taken part in the War with France known as "Queen Anne's War," which terminated with the Treaties of Utrecht in 1713, at which time he was twenty-one years old.

In the long period of quiet which ensued after the Treaties of Utrecht James Patton resigned the service and engaged in private shipping enterprises.  His title of Captain evidently came from his service as a shipmaster, for the Royal Navy's list of officers dos not include his name.  The times proved auspicious for his venture, for under Robert Walpole's long tenure as Prime Minister (1726-1742) English commerce and shipping flourished.  In Ireland, however, conditions continued to worsen, and there was drained from it increasingly the "Great Exodus" of Ulstermen and their families.  In Scotland these were also grim times, and unrest, with deep antagonisms between Stuart and Hanoverian adherents which brought the uprisings of 1715 and 1745.  In carrying on his shipping ventures, there are indications that Captain James Patton may have quit Ireland, and resided temporarily either at Kirkcudbright, Scotland or Whitehaven, county Cumberland, England.  It was probably during this period that he married a Miss Osborne.  From both of these ports a growing trade was developing with the British settlements in North America, and especially the Colony of Virginia where exports of tobacco had early in its history caused it to be dubbed "The Tobacco Kingdom."  However, the tradition that Patton made numerous trips to Hobb's Hole, Virginia, bringing Scots from Ulster, Ireland, is not borne out by the shipping returns on the Potomac 1735-1756, where ship owners and ship masters were listed on both incoming and outgoing ships.  Patton's name is found there only once and that, as master of the ship on which he brought his family among the ship's sixty-five passengers.

In any case it is certain Captain Patton had visited Virginia, for in writing him from Virginia, William Beverley ends his letter wishing Patton "a safe return to us."

The time of the removal of James Patton and his brother-in-law, John Preston, with their families to American, has long been a mater of conjecture.  The record cited by Mr. Preston Davie, New York City, is conclusive:

Shipping Returns - South Potomac and Accomack 1735-1756.  List of all the Ships and Vessels that have entered in the said District from the 24th of June to the 26th of September following:

The Walpole that brought Captain James Patton, his sister and their respective families to Virginia, August 26, 1738, was not owned by either Patton or his brother-in-law, John Preston, but by Walter Lutwidge, a Presbyterian of Whitehaven from whom it was chartered, the charter bond being given at Whitehaven March 16, 1737.  The Walpole was built in 1714 in Boston, Lincolnshire, England, after which Boston, Massachusetts, was named.

Those who disembarked upon reaching Hobb's Hole on the Rappahannock River were James Patton, his wife and two children; John Preston, his wife and their four children; and some fifty-six personal and indentured servants.  It is thought thirty of these last were imported to seat the 30,000 acre tract on Calfpasture river where Patton, Lewis and Beverley had entered into the joint venture to obtain land from the Council of Virginia and settle one person upon each 1000 acres as the patent required. 

Having determined to come to Virginia to establish his permanent residence in the back parts of Virginia far removed from seaboard, and to center his energies on exploring, obtaining grants for and seating, unoccupied crown lands in that region and it being impracticable to do this, and at the same time continue managing shipping operations, Captain James Patton evidently disposed of his shipping interests before coming to Virginia to reside permanently.  He and John Preston there fore chartered the Walpole in Whitehaven from Lutwidge, its owner, for4 this single voyage to Virginia to carry out their part of the joint venture with William Beverlye.

The Patton's and Preston's located in one of the settlements adjacent to the tinkling spring and thereby added strength to the spiritual interests of the area.  They were among those who in the fall of 1738 formed the Triple Forks of the Shenando Congregation-the southern section of which later became the Tinkling Spring Meeting house where these two families were outstanding leaders.

Virginia Looks Beyond The Mountains The great exodus from the German Palatinate and from Ulster (Ireland) began about this time (1730) and aided the colonization of the Valley (Shenandoah's Irish Track"). Immigrant ships were met with enticing advertisements of this El Dorado in Virginia, and during the decade several important Irish and Scotch-Irish families settled west of the Blue Ridge. James Patton, from Donegal, was the head of one of these. He had formerly been a sea captain and had crossed the ocean many times, his vessel crowded with redemptioners for Virginia, some of whom were bound for Beverley's estate (Virginia). It was inevitable that Patton himself should get the contagion for a fling at fortune in the New World. In 1736 he, with his brother-in-law John Preston, formerly a ships carpenter, settled together on Beverley's grant. Preston's son William and his sons-in-law Robert Breckinridge and John Brown were destined to be leaders in the West, as was also Patton's son-in-law John Buchanan.8 Probably the earliest settler in this neighborhood was John Lewis, an Ulsterman who under great provocation had killed his landlord and fled to America. In 1732 he settled in what was soon to be "Beverley Manor" and surveyed the town of Staunton for Beverley in 1748. There came with him to America three young sons: Andrew--whom some Virginians thought should have been given command of the Revolutionary Army instead of Washington--Thomas and William. These together with Charles, born in Virginia and who was to die at Point Pleasant, became important figures on the frontier. A third family of equal importance was that of John Campbell who, like Lewis, was an early Scotch-Irish settler in the neighborhood. His descendants were numerous and distinguished, but the most famous in the early period were General William Campbell of Kings Mountain fame and Colonel Arthur Campbell of separatist tendencies.5 When Augusta County, including most of Virginia west of the Blue Ridge, was organized in 1745 Patton became its first high sheriff and Thomas Lewis its first surveyor.6 In the same year the governor and council of Virginia granted Patton and others a tract of one hundred twenty thousand acres to be located at the southern end of the great Valley of Virginia. Lewis Preston Summers, History of Southwest Virginia (Richmond, 1903) p. 43; Joseph A. Waddell, Annals of Augusta County, Virginia (Staunton, 1902) pp. 30, 57--58; R. A. Brock, ed., "The Official Records of Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of Virginia, 1751--1758," Collections of the Virginia Historical Society, new series, 1l--1ll (Richmond, 1883--1884) I, 8n. 'Archibald Henderson, Dr. Thomas Walker and the Loyal Company of Virginia, reprinted from the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society (Worcester, 1931) p. 14; Summers, op. cit., p. 41; Waddell, op. cit., pp. 24, 64; John Haywood, The Civil and Political History of the State of Tennessee (Nashville, 1915) pp. 45--46, 48--49, 88. Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, VII, 126--127; Waddell, op. cit., pp. 147--150. Summers, op. cit., p. 42. valley of Virginia. It looked as though the old sailors dream (James Patton's), of wealth was about to be realized, and in 1748 a party was organized to explore the princely domain. In addition to Patton himself, its more important members were his son-in-law, John Buchanan; Charles Campbell, son to John; and Dr. Thomas Walker, a land magnate from Albemarle County who soon took up a large acreage where Abingdon now stands. He called this place Wolf Hills.8 Daniel Smith, whose later land speculations were to carry him far, was the young school teacher in this wilderness settlement. Thomas Lewis and John Buchanan, his deputy, had been surveying in the neighborhood as early as 1746, and in 1750 they laid off a tract for Edmund Pendleton which was supposed to lie within \Virginia, but which was actually in North Carolina and is now in Tennessee.9 Thus by the middle of the eighteenth century the southern end of the Valley was being exploited, and at about this time the settlement of Drapers Meadows was established, the first in Virginia to lie on the "western waters." On Frys and Jeffersons map of 1751 Stalnakers settlement on the Holston was given as the extreme Western outpost. While population was thus flowing southward down the Valley, a strenuous effort was being made to push the Virginia frontier northwestwards to the Ohio River. In 1747 Thomas Lee, president of the Virginia Council of State, organized the Ohio Company, the object of which was trade with the Indians and, land speculation. In 1744 Lee had acted as one of the Virginia commissioners at the Indian treaty at Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, then one of the last outposts of the frontier, and it was probably this experience which first interested him in Western lands. His technical adviser in the business was Thomas Cresap, a seasoned Maryland trader who lived high up on the Potomac and whose one hundred and six years of existence seem to have been one long adventure. In 1748 the petition of the company for a grant of two hundred thousand acres near the Forks of the Ohio was approved by the King and Council, and in July, 1749, the governor and council of Virginia made the grant. It was conditioned, however, on the building of a fort near the Forks and the settlement of a hundred families upon the land within seven years.10 'Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, V, 175--180, a list of early Virginia grants; Judge Lyman Chalkley, "Before the Gates of the Wilderness Road, ibid., XXX, 183--204. William M. Darlington, ed., Christopher Gists Journals (Cleveland, 1893) pp. 23-. 25; Henderson, op. cit., p. 12. Summers, op. cit., pp. 44--45. 10 Herbert T. Leyland, "The Ohio Company, Quarterly Publication of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio,>XVI, 3-20; Samuel M. Wilson, "The Ohio Company of Virginia" (pamphlet, Lexington, Ky., 1926); Kate Mason Rowland, "The Ohio Company, "William and Mary Quarterly Historical Magazine, I, 197-- 203; Cora Bacon-Foster, Early Chapters in the Development of the Potomac Route ..page 256: In 1781, Arthur Campbell, Lieutenant of Washington County (later East Tennessee), had already given evidence of his opposition opposition to the claims of the Loyal Land Company which were confined principally to his section of the State. Without any legal claim except the vague recognition which was expressed in the order of the Virginia council handed down in 1773, the company had induced numerous settlers to have their lands surveyed by its agents under the direction of Walker and Preston. The land act of 1779 had recognized the validity of these surveys and had given final jurisdiction in the case to the court of appeals. This meant that the settlers who had submitted to the surveys would have to pay the higher price which the company demanded, whereas they otherwise would have been entitled to grants by settlement and preemption. Campbell held lands under the company and would be adversely affected by this situation. So would a large number of his neighbors. The commission on land titles which was appointed for Washington and Montgomery Counties under the act of 1779 consisted of Harry Innes, and Nicholas and Joseph Cabell. On September 17, 1781, Innes wrote to Campbell stating that the commission was concerned over the advantage that the Loyal Company was taking of the settlers, and that it would do the best it could to protect them. It was also discovered at this time, through the activities of the commission, that John Buchanan, who had made a number of surveys in southwestern Virginia for James Patton under the authority of Thomas Lewis, surveyor for Augusta County, had no commission to serve as deputy surveyor from the College of William and Mary. This, according to the terms of the act of 1779, should have invalidated all his work, which would have been a serious blow to the Patton interests with which Walker, Preston, and Pendleton were connected. The interested parties decided to keep the matter as quiet as possible, and the commission seems not to have been able to accomplish anything. The court, of course, validated the Loyal Company surveys, and Campbell and Innes were left to make the best of the situation. But petitions from Washington County against the Loyal Company were presented to the House of Delegates on the 1st and 14th of December, 1781. A copy of one of these memorials, together with a copy of one from Montgomery County, is preserved in the Campbell papers. Campbell thought that the assembly had not treated him justly in connection with an expedition which he had recently led against the Cherokee, and this may have added to his discontent. He seems also to have had a grudge against Colonel William Russell, who was one of the Preston group of southwestern Virginia magnates.   Bordons Grant Name   acres Yr 140 Samuel Buchanan 240 1770 142 Samuel Buchanan 240 1770 152 William Buchanan 280 1753 190 Andrew Buchanan 250 1756 191 Andrew Buchanan 200 1770 192 Archibald Buchanan 406 1762 193 James Buchanan 415 1757 194 John Buchanan 395 1747 194 Samuel Buchanan 395 1747 195 John Buchanan 370 1753 197 William Buchanan 488 1759 1742 Augusta County Militia List from Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlements 1745 - 1800,  Volumes I, II and III, by Lyman Chalkley, Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, 1989 Alphabetical by Captain   Name Captain Jab Anderson John Buchanan Joh Anderson     James Anderson     Isaac Anderson     Will Armstrong     Edw. Boyle     John Buchanan     Will Buchanan     40 Henderson, Walker, pp. 83--85; Hines to Campbell, Sept. 17, 1781, Draper MSS. DD29; Arthur Campbell to Col. Win. Edmondson, Sept. 22, 1781, ibid., 9DD30; Pendleton to Preston, Nov. 1, 1781, ibid., >5QQ99; Journal of the House of Delegates, Nov.21, 1781,p.10. the Preston group of southwestern Virginia magnates." As a result of his Cherokee campaign Campbell was working at this time for the establishment of a military post at the mouth of the Holston River, near where Knoxville now stands, and he wrote to the president of Congress urging that Joseph Martin be made Indian agent for the Southern Department with headquarters at this place. It is possible that Martins former connection with the Henderson company may have been in his mind. Be that as it may, it is significant that it was at this time that Campbell began planning for the secession of the five southwestern counties of Virginia and the two adjoining counties of North Carolina. We shall trace the development of this movement in the next chapter. (Old State of Franklin Organized)2 "A. Campbell to Jefferson, June 20, 1781, Cont. Cong. MSS., 7111,141; Journal of the House of Delegates, Dec. 1,14, 1781, pp. 24, 39. 42 Summers, History of Southwest Virginia,p.391ff.; A. Campbell to Geo. Muter, Jan. 16, 1781, Cont. Cong. MSS., 71, II, 43; A. Campbell to Pres. of Congress, Sept.28, 1781, ibid., 78, VI, 55; Journals of the Continental Congress, XXI, 1088-4089. ------------------------- Henry and Sarah lived in the Manor of Springfield, Parish of Clondevaddock, Barony of Kilmacrenan, County Donegal. They became the parents of James, Elizabeth, Andrew, Richard and possibly Samuel Patton. James was a younger son, born in 1692 in Newton, Limavaddy, not slated to inherit any of the Patton estates, so he went to sea when very young. The book goes on to say, "A very impressive ship's master he must have been, as he was a 'man of gigantic statue, handsome and dignified and of remarkably commanding powers'. He was dark-haired and brown-eyed and over six feet two inches tall." It is said that James took part in the War with France called "Queen Anne's War" which terminated in 1713. In the 'James Patton' book, p21 is a mention of Samuel Patton, as follows: "The suggestion has been made that James Patton was responsible for the importation of the first Arabian horse into the English colonies in North America. An Arabian stallion named Bulle Rocke was imported into Virginia about 1730. One Samuel Patton had the first certificate for Bulle Rocke. It is thought that Samuel was a brother of James Patton already established in Virginia and Captain Patton, the ship's master, brought him Bulle Roche on one of his Trans-Atlantic voyages." Sarah Lynn had a brother William Lynn who married Margaret Patton, daughter of John Patton, granddaughter of William Patton. William Lynn and Margaret Patton had two children, Margaret Lynn who married John Lewis, and Dr. William Lynn who founded Fredericksburg, VA in 1727. John Lewis lived in Northern Ireland on the estate of an old Catholic, Sir Mingho Campbell. When Sir Mingho Campbell died, his son insisted that John Lewis and his family vacate the premises. He came with a posse to drive them out. John Lewis's brother, Charles, was killed and Margaret was wounded. John Lewis then killed the Irish laird, killing him with his shillelagh. Lewis had to flee and hid until a ship could bring him to America. It is said in the book that perhaps Patton's ship picked up Lewis and took him to America. Margaret and their children followed 3 years or so later, to Lancaster County, Pa, then to Williamsburg, Va. to see if they could get land. "Engraved on John Lewis's tombstone at Bellefonte, Staunton, Virginia, is the inscription, 'Here lies John Lewis who slew the Irish Lord' ". This is the family of Thomas Lewis, Andrew Lewis, Charles Lewis and John Lewis, famous in the annals of frontier Virginia. The following is from "The Family Tree" by Mary Preston Gray. Henry Patton was a ship builder and ship owner, operating merchant ships. His son James was in the royal navy and held in high esteem by the King. Sometime after leaving the navy, James married Mary Borden (some accounts say Mary Osborne and others Burden) and had two daughters, Mary Patton b.1728 and Margaret Patton. James was Captain of a ship called the "Walpole", one of Henry Patton's ships. Not sure if it was a merchant ship or passenger but I would guess a merchant ship. It is said that James made as many as 20 or 25 passages from Northern Ireland to America, specifically, Hobbe's Hole, Virginia on the Rappahannock River. He carried Ulster immigrants to Virginia and returned with peltries and tobacco. In about 1738, James Patton received a grant of 120,000 acres of land in America. The King's only stipulation was that the land should be west of the 'Blue Mountains', and that settlements should be established for worthy and dependable British subjects. James Patton made one last voyage along with Alexander Breckinridge and his wife Jane, sister of John Preston, there were McCues, McClungs, McPheeters and many other Scottish names. Counties Donegal, Derry and Antrim had given refuge to the Protestant Scots who fled from Roman Catholic persecution and these descendents of those Presbyterian Scotchmen were ready to brave the dangers of the new world to found for themselves a home of religious freedom. James Patton brought his wife and two daughters, John Preston and his wife Elizabeth Patton Preston, their three daughters, Letitia, Margaret, and Mary and their one son, William Preston (founder of the Smithfield Prestons). Johns fourth daughter, Ann or Elizabeth Ann Preston was apparently born in this country in 1739. Others were John Buchanan and his two sisters Margaret and Martha, John Preston's sister, Mary Preston who later married Phillip Barger. The Walpole arrived in Belhaven, near Alexandria on the Potomac on August 26, 1738. There were supposedly 56 passengers aboard the Walpole on this trip and it is believed 30 of them were imported to settle a 30,000 acre tract, 1000 acres each. Patton, Lewis (a relative and land speculator) and William Beverley had entered a joint venture to obtain land from the Council of Virginia. The Patton's and Preston's settled adjacent to Tinkling Spring in the southern part of Beverley Manor (near what is now Staunton).   Beverley Land Grant Name   Acres Year John Buchanan 784 1741 Beverly Land Grant     James Lynn 588 1747 196 John Lynn, Jr. 383 1749 195 John Lynn, Sr. 320 1749 See how the the Beverley Manor was divided. They were among those who in the fall of the same year formed the Triple Forks of the Shenando Congregation, which later became the Tinkling Spring Meeting House congregation. These Presbyterians were considered "dissentors", that is they dissented from the Anglican Church of England. (See also a page on James Patton which shows family connections better. John Preston is buried at Tinkling Spring Church near Staunton, VA. See pictures of the Church and its history.) Patton later built on the upper waters of the James River two villages and two forts. One was called Pattonsburg and the other, Buchanan. These two villages remain still, Pattonsburg is very small but Buchanan has grown into a thriving town. He also took up large numbers of acres in Botetourt County, Va. His own home he named "Spring Farm", which is now within the corporate limits of Staunton, Va. The other place was called "Spring Hill" and was recently owned by a Mr. Leonard Hunter, near Waynesboro, Virginia. Young John Buchanan soon married Patton's oldest daughter, Margaret, and they lived for years at Buchanan's Fort. Martha Buchanan, John's oldest sister, married a cousin newly arrived in the colony, another John Buchanan. John's youngest sister, Margaret Buchanan, married Major Charles Campbell. They became parents of General William Campbell, the hero of the Battle of Kings Mountain. James Patton took up several thousand acres on the New River, in what is now Montgomery County, Virginia. Here, on the river, Phillip and Mary (Preston) Barger built a fort and began a settlement. To this day it is known as the "Barger's Fort, and across the ridge Patton built a fort and began a settlement known as "Draper's Meadows". Here the Drapers, Ingles, McDonalds, Cloyds, etc. made their first home in the New World. Pattons home was called "Solitude" and it was here, on July 8, 1753, Col. James Patton met a tragic death when much of the settlement was wiped out on a bright Sunday morning by the savage tomahawk. (Mary Preston Gray's "The Family Tree" shows this date as 1755 and July 8th is not a Sunday, "The Preston Family" by John Mason Brown, shows it as 1753 which is a Sunday.) It is said that Patton had sent his nephew William Preston on an errand to Sinking Spring (near present day Newport). William had left early that morning. Drapers Meadows is now known as Blacksburg, the home of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, currently the largest (and best) college in the state of Virginia. Four generations of Pattons lived here (at what is now known as "Solitude") as well as Governor John Floyd. William Preston's home "Smithfield" is also located nearby. Mary Preston, granddaughter of John and Elizabeth Patton Preston was born here and married Capt. John Lewis of Sweet Springs. This John Lewis is descended from the Lewis family mentioned above. This is only a part of Mary Preston Gray's narrative and obviously only a small part of the book "James Patton and the Appalachian Colonists".

Children of Rev. William Patton and Margaret Lynn were as follows:

Generation Two

John Patton, born January 31, 1626/27.  He married Nancy Neely on May 4, 1654 in Ireland.  John died after 1659.

Children of John Patton and Nancy Neely are:

Notes:

[1] Patricia Givens Johnson, James Patton and the Appalachian Colonists , quoted from within World Family Tree, Vol. 27, Tree #2183. Hereinafter cited as Patton and Colonists.

[2] during the King James Plantation at the beginning of the seventeenth century (the settling of Protestant colonies in Ireland to promote loyalty). Six counties were originally set aside to form the "Ulster Plantation."

[3] Johnson, Patton and Colonists, quoted from within World Family Tree, Vol. 27, Tree #2183.

[4] C. L. Patton, Coming to America: A Chronicle of the American Lineage of the Pattons (Springfield, IL: 1954), quoted from within World Family Tree, Vol. 27, Tree #2183. Hereinafter cited as Coming to America.

[5] the estate of "Groghan."

[6] Johnson, Patton and Colonists, quoted from within World Family Tree, Vol. 27, Tree #2183.

[7] Patton, Coming to America, quoted from within World Family Tree, Vol. 27, Tree #2183.

In 1736 William Beverley was granted a large tract of land embracing the present city of Staunton, 'in consideration for inducing a large number of settlers to the community.' In 1738, when Augusta County was formed, extending from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Mississippi River and south from the Great Lakes to North Carolina, no provision was made for a county seat. Beverley gave a small stone building at Mill Place, earliest name of the settlement, for use as the county courthouse. In 1761 the general assembly authorized the town of Staunton. Some say the name honored Lady Gooch, wife of Governor William Gooch and a member of the Staunton family, others that the town was named for Staunton, England. The town was advantageously situated at the crossing of the Valley Pike and the Midland Trail. Travelers westward bound and those journeying southward or northward stopped in Staunton. Here they refreshed themselves at taverns, rested their horses, and replenished their supplies. Through Staunton were shipped luxuries that East sent West, and along the streets of the frontier city great droves of hogs passed on their way to eastern markets. In 1796 Isaac Weld, an Irish traveler, wrote, 'As I passed along the road in the great valley and the village called Staunton, I met with great numbers of people from Kentucky and the new state of Tennessee, going towards Philadelphia and Baltimore and with many others going in a contrary direction, " to explore," as they call it, that is to search for lands conveniently situated for new settlements in the western country. This town called Staunton carries on a considerable trade with the back country and contains nearly two hundred dwellings, mostly built of stone, together with a church. Nowhere, I believe, is there such a superfluity of . . . military personages as in the town of Staunton.' In 1797 the Duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, a French philosopher, visited Staunton on his way to Monticello, and commented in his diary upon the town: 'There are eight Inns, fifteen to eighteen stores and about 800 inhabitants . . . The inhabitants, like the generality of Virginians, were fond of gambling and betting.' Throughout vast Augusta County Indians gave no end of trouble, for the unreasonable savages resented the white man's theft of their land. Among the Indian fighters was 'Mad Ann' Bailey, intermittently a resident of Staunton. She came to America from England as an indentured servant, married Richard Trotter, and brought forth a son. After her husband was killed by the Indians, Ann set out to avenge his death. She always carried an ax and an auger and could chop as well as any man.' Dressed in men's clothes, equipped with rifle, tomahawk, and knife, she became a spy, messenger, and scout, killed more than one person's share of Indians, saved stockades, and lived to the creditable age of 83. Staunton was once the capital of Virginia, though the distinction was unpremeditated and short-lived. In 1781, when the British Colonel Tarleton approached Charlottesville, the general assembly fled to Staunton and continued its sessions in Old Trinity Church.

 

Note: during the King James Plantation at the beginning of the seventeenth century (the settling of Protestant colonies in Ireland to promote loyalty). Six counties were originally set aside to form the "Ulster Plantation." 

The progenitor of the Irish branch of the family, William Patton, M.A. was born in Scotland; had immigrated to Northern Ireland during the King James Plantation. He was in County Donegal by 1626 as Rector of the parishes of Ramoigh and Clonmary, Barony of Raphoe and later at Aughnish, Barony of Kilmacrenan.

Rev. William Patton and his wife, Margaret, made their home at an estate called "Groghan" and reared two sons, Henry (Sr.) and John.

From "Chronicles of American Lineage": The Patton's (Paten or Patis) are supposed to have reached England from Normandy, then to Scotland and later, with many other families, induced to leave Northern Scotland to colonize Northern Ireland with Scotch Presbyterians for political reasons by James 1st.

William was Rector of the parishes of Ramoigh, Aughanish and Clonmany, Diocese of Raphal County, in County Donegal, Ireland. The home place in Ireland was the Manor of Springfield, Barony of Kilmacrenan, County of Donegal, Province of Ulster.

From " Coming to America; A Chronicle of the American Lineage of the Patton's" by C. L. Patton, Springfield, Illinois, 1954: The earliest known progenitors of the Patton Pioneers in America were of scotch origin, living in the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland, in the vicinity of Loch Linn. They were ardent Presbyterians and took their religion seriously. For many years they had opposed the tyranny of the English monarchs, who had denied them the right of freedom of worship or participation in civic affairs. For centuries, the Irish, who were Roman Catholics, independent and aggressive in Character, had been a source of great concern to England. In the latter part of the sixteenth century, Queen Elizabeth conceived the plan of planting colonies of Protestants in Ireland, to promote loyalty in that rebellious country. Six counties comprising a half-million acres were set aside to form the Ulster Plantation. The settlement of this area was at first indifferent and inconsequential but after the advent of James the Sixth of Scotland, who became James the First of England, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, colonization became more active. The great majority of the colonists sent to Northern Ireland by James, were Scotch Lowlanders and English from the northern counties of England. These people, through intermarriage with the Irish, inaugurated the "Ulster Scots" or "Scotch-Irish."

The reign of Charles the First (1625-1649) brought the Ulstermen, as well as the Presbyterians of the Lowlands of Scotland a period of vicious persecution, practically suppressing the Presbyterian religion in Ireland and demanding subservience to the Church of England, which bore heavily upon these staunch Protestants. This persecution continued throughout the reign of Charles the Second (1660-1685) and the passage of the Corporation acts and the Test Acts demanded conformity with the practices of the Church of England. Little relief was experienced by these unhappy people during the Cromwell Protectorate (1635-1658) which preceded the reign of Charles and despite the fact that all of this period was under Protestant domination, the Presbyterians and Nonconformists suffered quite as badly as they did under the persecutions of Catholic James, who ascended the throne in 1685.

It was during the reign of James the Second that the discontented and oppressed English invited William of Orange to accept the throne; jointly with his cousin Mary, daughter of James the Second. This precipitated war and induced many of the Scotch Lowlanders to join the army of William and proceed to Ulster to oppose the army of James. A successful resistance to the Siege of Londonderry in 1689 and a victory over the forces of James at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 terminated hostilities and established William and Mary upon the throne of England. Despite these victories, life became almost unbearable in Ulster because of the many years of guerilla warfare with the Irish Celts. This, together with the desire for more religious freedom and political independence and because of the glowing accounts of life in the New World, was a determining factor in causing the Ulsterites to seek their fortune in America.

It is estimated that twenty thousand of the Scotch-Irish left Ireland in the first three decades of the eighteenth century. More than six thousand entered the Port of Philadelphia in the year 1729. These adventurers, however, did not tarry long in "The City of Brotherly Love" but moved into adjoining counties in the Province of Pennsylvania and acquired parcels of land, particularly in the County of Lancaster.

After a comparatively short residence in the Pennsylvania country, these hardy Scotch-Irish pioneers developed an urge for further exploration. Large numbers of them proceeded up the valley of the Shenandoah to the mountains and fertile valleys of Virginia. Coincident with this immigration was the movement of the Germans into the valley. They, for the most part, settled in the lower part of the valley in the region of the present town of Winchester, while the Scotch-Irish continued their trek up the valley into the county of Augusta and across the Blue Ridge into the present county of Pendleton, West Virginia.

Their first settlement was near the present town of Staunton, which had been founded by John Lewis in 1732. From thence they spread to other parts of the Virginia Frontier, into North and South Carolina and Tennessee. By mid-century they were exploring the Ohio and Kentucky country and had established themselves on the headwaters of the James River and the region of the Cumberland.

In all of these adventures the Patton's took an active part and left ehri imipress upon the communities in which they lived. It seems certain that the various Patton's settling in Augusta County, Virginia, in the early part of the eighteenth century, were of the same origin, the father of whom was John Patton, brother of Colonel James Patton and Elizabeth Patton Preston.

Colonel James had come from Ireland in 1730. Probably one of the compelling reasons for the mass migration at this time was the forced exile of John Lewis in 1729. He was a brother-in-law of Henry Patton, having married Margaret Lynn, sister of Henry's wife, Sarah Lynn. They were daughters of the Laird of Loch Lynn (Linnhe).

John Lewis first took up his residence in Philadelphia but he soon went into Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, purchasing several tracts of land in that county but later moving on to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. The early attempts at colonization in America by the English were made at the incidence of the Crown and were not particularly successful. At a later period independent immigration took place but was sporadic and disorganized. It was not long however before certain small groups found their way to the New World seeking a greater religious and political freedom than they had experienced in the mother country.

Later, independent ship-owners brought increasing numbers of colonists to the small communities established by the earlier pioneers, hoping to find a haven where they might better their fortunes and social standing. Companies were organized and controlled by groups of men in England, under the protection of the King, for the purpose of increasing immigration and developing the resources of the colonies. The immigrants were largely of the "middle class" of society and were composed of farmers, tradesmen, artisans, laborers and apprentices.

The limited number of the "nobility" to venture to this new land were, as a rule, representatives of the Crown and therefore not permanent residents. At a later time, considerable numbers of "redemptioners" and "political offenders" were transported to the colonies. There were two main sources of ingress in the early 1700's; one being direct to Virginia and Massachusetts and the other up the Delaware to the Port of Philadelphia.

A small number of the Scotch-Irish landed in Charleston, South Carolina, but by far the greater number came direct to Philadelphia because of the liberality of the Pennsylvania government, but the inhabitants of this part of the colony preferred to see the newcomers pass on, so they moved inland in search of unoccupied land.

The Scotch-Irish being on the whole the more venturesome, went further and penetrated the mountain valleys and spread northward and southward and thus formed a solid rim of settlement all along the Virginia frontier. Their first abode was in that part of Augusta County that later became Pendleton County, West Virginia.

From this stopping point they soon advanced up the valley to southwestern Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee and on to Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri. When the Scotch-Irish began to arrive in Philadelphia, the Secretary of the Province of Pennsylvania wrote, "It looks to me as if all of Ireland is to send its inhabitants hither, for last week not less than six ships arrived. It is strange that they thus crowd in where they are not wanted." The Scotch-Irish were accustomed to not being wanted. This did not deter them from a continued and steady advance into more remote parts of the country.

By 1738 when the first valley counties were established, they were in such numbers that a petition was sent by them to the Governor of Virginia, asking "that we might be allowed the liberty of our consciences in worshipping God in a way agreeable to the principles of our education." The Governor graciously replied that "they would not be interfered with so long as they behaved peaceably, registered their meeting places, abjured the Stuart Pretender, the doctrine of transubstantiation and the Pope at Rome." Nothing in this request disturbed a Presbyterian conscience so they, in turn, agreed to pay their tithes to the Established Church so long as they did not have to attend its services. His Honor welcomed an increase in quitrents and the Governor took pleasure in establishing a group of hardy people between the rich plantation owners and the inhabitants of the frontier.

There was no one to object to the Scotch-Irish in the Valley and this time they found rest and peace and these descendants of the "persecuted" found contentment and dwelt amicably, one with another. There, early settlers in Western Virginia were descended from nonconformist Presbyterians and the Covenanters. It has been said "They had such a fear of God that it left no room in their hearts for any fear of Man." Certainly man they did not fear and persecution had taught them only to adhere more firmly to their principles, their customs and their faith.

The Patton's, on the whole, were a God-fearing, earnest and industrious lot and, despite trials and tribulations, became influential and aggressive members of their communities. They occupied positions of trust in both military and civic affairs and in general were successful in the pursuit of fortune. Descendants of the early settlers, either from the Pilgrim fathers or from the colonists of Virginia, should take a justifiable pride in their early American ancestry. This feeling of pride, however, should rise from the sturdy character of the pioneers and from the things they accomplished and not from any false idea of an aristocratic heredity imported from the Mother Country. Those individuals who became prominent and influential in the development of the colonies did so through their own initiative, energy and ability and not through the influence and favor of the "Hierarchy."

CHRONICLES OF THE Scotch-Irish Settlement IN VIRGINIA EXTRACTED FROM THE ORIGINAL COURT RECORDS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY 1745-1800
ABSTRACTS OF WILLS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY, VIRGINIA. AUGUSTA COUNTY COURT. WILL BOOK NO. 2.

ADDITIONAL MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

page 41

Page 131.--1st September, 1750. James Patton's will--Daughter, Mary, wife to William Thompson, 1 negro woman; tract called Spring Hill; 3,000 acres on which Saml. Stalnaker and others is living, known by name of Indian Fields, on waters of Houlston's river, a branch of the Missisipio. Grandson, James Thompson, infant, remainder in above in fee tail.  Daughter, Margaret, now wife of Col. John Buchanan. To son-in-law, William Thompson, the tract called Springfield, joining where widow Gouldman now lives and on which Henry Patton lives. William is to keep the estate intact for his son, James, until 1772. To Margaret. tract called Cherry tree bottom, near Robert Looney's tract at mouth of Purgatory, tract on which there is a small stone house. Margaret's daughter, Mary; sister, Preston, and her son, William Preston, £10 to be paid to Rev. John Craig, pastor at Tinkling Spring, to pay his stipends from 1740 to 1750, to be paid by the congregation out of the money advanced by him to help build the meeting house. £10 of same to be laid out for a pulpit and pulpit cloth. John Preston's bond to be given up to his son, Wm. Preston. All debts due by George Wilson, who is married to testator's wife's niece, Rebecca Vicers (Viers?), to be given up. Granddaughter, Mary Buchanan. Executors, John Buchanan, Wm. Thompson, nephew, Wm. Preston, Silas Harte. All disputes between executors to be left to arbitration of the minister and elders of Tinkling Spring church. Testator was agent for John Smith, Zachery Lewis, Wm. Waller, Wm. Green, Wm. Parks for the Roanoke and James River grants. As to the Great Grant on the waters of Misicipia, James Gordon, James Johnston, John Grimes, John ----, Richard Barns, Robert Gilchrist, James Bowre, Robert Jackson. have assigned their parts to testator. Richard
Winston's part is assigned to little John Buchanan. To Mary Preston, horses. Teste: Thomas Stewart, Edward Hall, John Williams. Proved, 26th November, 1755, by Stewart and Hall. Wm. Preston refuses to execute, also Silas Harte.

Buchanan and Thompson qualify, with sureties David Stewart, Joseph Culton, Wm. Preston, Edward Hall, Thomas Stewart. 16th August, 1769, Wm. Preston qualifies executor. [p.41] From Ireland to America with brother John Patton and sister Elizabeth Lt. Col. then Col. of militia (in May); appt. co. lt. in 1754 Burgess Killed by Shawnee Indians at Draper's Meadow. This was the massacre in which Mary Draper Ingles and two children were taken captive.

Signed the Treaty of Lancaster, one of the most important treaties ever negotiated between the Iroquois and the British colonies From "James Patton and The Appalachian Colonists", by Patricia Givens Johnson:  James Patton was born in 1692 in Newton, Limavaddy, Derry Co., Ireland. He married Mary Borden (Mrs. Osborn). James, being a younger son, wasn't scheduled to inherit anything so he went to sea in the Royal Navy. He became a ships captain and was held in high esteem by the King. His father, Henry, was a ship builder and/or merchant fleet owner and operator. The King granted James Patton 120,000 acres of land with the only stipulation that it be located on the west side of the Blue Mountains and that it be settled by loyal British subjects. James sailed in one of his father's ships, the "Walpole." This ship is said to have made 20 or more passages to the states. He carried Ulster immigrants to America and returned with furs, skins and tobacco. In one of the passages in 1738, James and his wife Mary, and his two daughters, Margaret and Mary, along with John Preston, his wife Elizabeth Patton Preston, their children Letitia, about 10 years old, Margaret, about 8, William, about 7, and Mary Preston, about 6, along with John Preston's sister, Mary Preston, who later married Phillip Barger, and supposedly another of John's sisters, Jane Preston Breckinridge and her husband, Alexander Breckinridge, arrived in Belhaven, near Alexandria on the Potomac on August 26, 1738. One of James Patton's settlements was known as "Drapers Meadows," located at the present site of Blacksburg, Virginia. One sunny Sunday morning on July 8, 1755, Indians wiped out much of the settlement including James Patton. James and his wife Mary Borden had two daughters and no sons. He adopted (officially or unofficially?) William Preston, son of John Preston. Margaret "Peggy" Patton married John Buchanan. John's sister, Martha Buchanan married a cousin newly arrived in America, another John Buchanan. His other sister, Margaret Buchanan, married Maj. Charles Campbell, parents of Gen. William Campbell. Mary "Molly" Patton (1728-1778) married Capt.. William Thompson. They had 10 Children.

James served in the Navy in Queen Anne's War. After the Treaty of Utrecht, he procured a passenger ship and traded to the Colony of Virginia at Robbs Hole on the Tappahannock. He penetrated the then wilderness of the state as far as Orange County, thence across the Blue Ridge and commenced a settlement near Waynesborough in Augusta County. He crossed the Atlantic 23 or 25 times as Master of a ship in and around 1728. In his private shipping enterprises, Capt. James Patton made contracts with promotors of the settlement of the western part of Virginia. He sailed on the ship Walpole to Virginia, arriving August 26, 1738. His first residence was Beverly Manor on the south fork of the Shenendoah. From his headquarters there, Adventurer Patton soon extended his interest to the management of the Roanoke & James River Grant of 1740 and the Woods River Grant of 1745.

After the organization of Augusta County, Patton became county lieutenant, justice, sheriff, burgess and general leader in county affairs. He was an alert, energetic businessman imbued with a definite purpose and equipped with enough education and intellect to be a successful community leader.

While tending to affairs of the community, Colonel James Patton was killed by Indians in July 1755 at Drapers Meadow.

From "Early Adventures On the Western Waters" by Mary B. Kegley and F. B. Kegley:

James Patton Sees An Opening.

It would be interesting to know how much James Patton and his brother-in-law, John Preston, knew about opportunities for the acquisition of land in the region of western Virginia before they decided to leave Ireland and take their chances on the Virginia frontier. An historian of the Patton family has said that the Patton's were an outstanding family of Scottish origin, a number of members of which in different generations served with distinction in the Royal Navy, in the British Army, and in civil offices. The progenitor of the family in Ireland was William Patton, rector of several parishes in County Donegal. The father of James Patton was Henry Patton, a grandson of William. His mother was Sarah Lynn of a prominent English family seated in Donegal County, Ulster, Ireland. James, the fourth son of Henry and Sarah, was born in 1692 and married a Ms. Osborne; a sister, Elizabeth, married John Preston, a ship's carpenter. James served in the Navy, taking part in Queen Anne's War. He appears to have crossed the Atlantic as master of a ship only once in 1738 (Wilson, Tinkling Spring, p. 22). About this time economic opportunities in Scotland and Ireland were not encouraging, so many Scotch-Irish families were looking toward America for a better field to cultivate. The Pattons and the Prestons became a part of this great exodus of the 1730's and 1740's. The Patton home place in Ireland was the Manor of Springfield, Barony of Kilmacrenan, County of Donegal, Province of Ulster. Later in Virginia the names Springfield and Kilmacrenan remained associated with the family.

In his private shipping enterprises, Captain James Patton had made some contacts with the promoters of the settlement of the western part of Virginia. There is no record that he made frequent trips to the coastal towns carrying indentured servants to Virginia shores, but as early as 1737 he had some acquaintance with William Beverley and considered joining in the acquisition of a grant to be located on the Calf pasture River. With these arrangements completed, the ship Walpole, owned by Walter Lutwidge, was chartered to bring the Patton and Preston families with fifty-six others, including personal and indentured servants, sixty-five in all, to Virginia. They arrived at Hobb's Hole (Tappahannock) August 26, 1738. Once here the first land Patton owned was in the Calf pasture grant; but his and Preston's first residences were in Beverley Manor on the south fork of the Shenandoah. From his headquarters there, Adventurer Patton soon extended his interest to the management of the Roanoke and James River grant of 1740, and the Wood's River grant of 1745.

Since John Preston had not been a landowner in Ireland, he was willing to take chances with his brother-in-law in at least acquiring a homestead in the New World. In proving his importation into the colony of Virginia, he said that he had come to America at his own charge "in order to partake of his Majesty's bounty for taking up land." He made this declaration in 1746 and died in 1747. He was satisfied with only a few tracts of land for which titles were later made to his son, William. His home was on Lewis Creek near Beverley's Mill Place. The family consisted of his wife, Elizabeth, his son, William, and his daughters, Mary, Lettice, Margaret, and Ann.

James Patton was more ambitious. He had in mind acquiring as much as 30,000 acres in his own name. In the first surveys made for him in 1738, he was designated as captain. Following the settlement of Borden's grant, a number of tracts were entered in the Forks of the James and on the Catawba, a south branch of the James some distance away. These scattered settlements were made prior to 1740 when the Virginia Council granted permission to John Smith, Zachary Lewis, and others for surveys totaling 100,000 acres (with no specific boundaries) on "River and Branches of the Roanoke and the Branches of the James River" (Virginia Executive Journals, V, 173. As a result of purchasing shares of all partners (except John Smith and Zachary Lewis), James Patton became the controlling agent of this company, all patents issuing in his name and all land being transferred by him by deed to the people who bought the land.

The surveys and plats for the first grants in this territory were not preserved in the Orange County records and no trace of them has been found in the Secretary's office. However, it is from the Augusta County surveys, deeds, and grants that the account of the early western settlement can be carried forward. For further details, see Kegley's Virginia Frontier, pp. 60-62.

After the organization of Augusta County, Patton became county lieutenant, justice, sheriff, burgess, and general leader in county affairs. He was an alert, energetic businessman imbued with a definite purpose and equipped with enough education and intellect to be a successful community leader. His first interest was to secure the land he wanted; his first action was to select choice tracts while they were still available. The terms of the Wood's River grant allowed him the privilege he wanted -- to select small or large tracts, in any shape, anywhere in the region covered. His scheme was a good example of competitive private enterprise, and although there were
groups of family relatives settling in contiguous valleys, there was no suggestion of a socialistic colony.

It was unfortunate that western Virginians lost their first prominent early adventurer soon after the beginning of the settlement. While tending to affairs of the community, Colonel James Patton was killed by the Indians in July 1755 at Draper's Meadow. For further details of his life, see Johnson, James Patton and the Appalachian Colonists.

"Memoirs of Mrs. Letitia Floyds": James Patton was bred to the sea and in the wars of England with the low countries served as an officer in the royal navy. After the treaty of Utrecht he procured a passenger ship and traded to the Colony of Virginia at Robbs Hole, on the Tappahannock. He penetrated the then wilderness of the state as far as Orange Co., thence across the Blue Ridge and commenced a settlement there near Waynesborough in Augusta County.