James Patten of Belpre

This is a supporting article for Combine Record Table for there presence of "Pattens" in Washington County Ohio, 1800 to 1830

Life History

The following has be adapted from A university of Michigan William L. Clements Archival discussion of the James Patten Papers URL:https://findingaids.lib.umich.edu/catalog/umich-wcl-M-2730.1pat

James Patten of Belpre was born in in Bedford, New Hampshire in 1755. His Parents were Matthew Patten (1719-1795) and Elizabeth McMurphy (1729-1817). As a single man, he traveled west to settle in the Ohio Territory, arriving in Marietta, Washington County, Ohio in 1789. In the Fall of 1790 he joined a party of men who were intending to settle further north on the Muskingham River. They established themselves in an area on the River known as Big Bottom. At the start of the Northwest Indian War their settlement was attacked by Native Americans, who resented the intrusion of the settlers into their lands. Most of the settlers were killed in what is known as the Big Bottom Massacre. James was taken captive, and did not regain his freedom until the end of the War. On release he returned to Washington County settling in Belpre Township, where he lived out his life, dying there in 1827.