Family:Robert Francis Patterson and Catharine Perry (1)

From "Concerning the forefathers: being a memoir, with personal narrative and letters of two pioneers, Col. Robert Patterson and Col. John Johnston, the paternal and maternal grandfather of John Henry Patterson of Dayton, Ohio for whose children this bookis written.  New York: Winthrop Press, 1902  503p.

Bedford County in the early days comprised all Western Pennsylvania, forty years later sending many prominent families to settle in Kentucky and Ohio. The Pattersons, Francis, Thomas and Mary, were near Bedford Springs, owning rich tracts surrounded by heavy timbered mountains. Patterson Creek, emptying into the Huniata, was named for them. Their cabin homes, two miles apart, formed the outpost on the Indian trail leading from the Potomac to the Ohio River.

Jane, mother of Robert, died when he was just passed three years and within a few months, a short time previous to General Braddock's ill-fated campaign, Robert's uncle, THomas, while on an expedition against the Indians, was ambused and killed.

Francis Patterson's cares were grievous, with four little children to provide for, cattle to look after, and liable at any hour to be called for military duty. His second wife was Catherine Perry, daughter of a family who had come to Fort Bedford with the British troops that continued as the garrison at that point for twelve years. For five years, 1758-1763, Francis and his brother Robert of Lancaster County were in almost constant mounted service on the frontier.

William Nisbet wrote" Catherine Patterson proved to be a noble woman and mother, affectionately remembered for her loving care by her stepson, Robert Patterson, all his life. She knew no difference between the little ones she found in the cabin she entered as a bride, and the larger number that came after, and Robert's heart was always filled with a son's love for her."

Patterson Family Index

1. ↑ Conover, Charlotte Reeve. Concerning the forefathers: being a memoir, with personal narrative and letters, of two pioneers, Col. Robert Patterson and Col. John Johnston, the paternal and maternal grandfathers of John Henry Patterson of Dayton, Ohio : for whose children this book is written. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1974).