Biography of Matthew Patton
MATTHEW PATTON. – This well-known and now venerable pioneer was born in Monongahela county, Virginia, November 15, 1805. As a child he moved with his parents to Highland county, Ohio, and four years later to Brown county, remaining until he was sixteen years old. Being naturally mechanical, he was sought and gladly received as an apprentice to a cabinet business by a certain Mr. Eli Collins, and at the end of four years of diligent application mastered the trade. Being young and ambitious, he turned his face to the far West, as Ohio, Indiana and Illinois were then called. After five years of labor and saving, he established a cabinet business at La Fayette, Indiana. In that city he wedded the daughter of Joshua and Ellen Grimes of Adams county, Ohio, on the 15th of April, 1830. Owing to the scarcity of money, and the limited demand for the products of his skill, he was obliged to take produce from the farmers as pay in exchange for his goods; and, having a large surplus of manufactured stuff, he determined to build a flatboat, load her with furniture, and embark for New Orleans. After encountering many dangers and hardships, he accomplished the trip, exchanging his load for merchandise; and, returning, he established himself as a merchant at Frankfort, Indiana. He removed subsequently to Newtown, and thence to the locality where he laid out and founded the town of Pattonsburg, Missouri, which he made his home until 1847, building during that time a saw and grist mill.
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/locations/fountain-county-in/page/2
