Person talk:Matthew Patton (8)

Mathew Patton's parents [12 December 2011]

According to all sources I know in Virginia, Col. William Patton and his wife Mary Borden Osborne had only two daughters...Mary and Margaret, and no sons. It seems more likely that Mathew Patton, who lived on Craig's Creek in Augusta County and married Elizabeth Moore Barber in 1751, had a brother named Jacob Patton and that they both were sons of Jacob Patton. I would like to know what source the Mormons used to show that Mathew's parents were James and Mary Patton. It is not listed in Chalkley's Chronicles (in the book or online). Any information you can provide will be a help. By the way, there are two Mathew Pattons who were active in Augusta County in the mid eighteenth century. The OTHER Mathew married into the Dyer family and ended up in Kentucky... He was, however, son of John Patton (brother of Col. James Patton)...It does get complicated!--InglesFerry 12:52, 9 December 2011 (EST)

I think it might be helpful to other researchers if they had more information about Col. James Patton (1692-1755) so I am writing to explain my skepticism about him being identified as the father of Mathew Patton (1726-1806)... Col. James Patton was a surveyor and an incredibly ambitious and powerful man who was leading the effort to settle Augusta County and the New River Valley, and as surveyor and head of the Woods River Land Company, was selling hundreds of parcels of land to everyone interested in purchasing land on the frontier. Patton's name is thus listed in hundreds of court records, showing land being promised or exchanged. Patton was killed in 1755 at Drapers Meadows, and his death threw all the transactions he had worked on over the previous ten years...into chaos. Furthermore, the French and Indian War frightened off many if not most of the families who had staked a claim. The court house records (Chalkley's Chronicles - Augusta County)provide tantalizing information, but also leave huge gaps in our knowledge, since so many people who were mentioned in the period of 1740-1755 simply disappear from the record. The entry about Mathew Patton stating that he is the son of James Patton claims to have been based on the Augusta County Court Records, but I can find no entry stating that Mathew (2nd husband of Elizabeth Barber)was the son of James Patton and Mary Borden Patton. I believe that researchers have jumped to that conclusion, based on the fact that Col. James Patton's name was mentioned in the entry (in 1751, at the marriage of Matthew and Elizabeth Barber), and just assuming he was the parent. I believe this is an example of what happens when scores of researchers start looking through all the records and trying to make intelligent guesses about how the puzzle pieces fit together. Inaccurate guesses get picked up by other researchers and passed along, until they begin to seem like the Gospel... In the case of Col. Patton, there are many mysteries about him, and I am trying to look for clues. His nephew, William Preston, ended up being the person to try and untangle many of the land claims, and his family had an opportunity to pass down stories about Col Patton for posterity. All of the Preston family stories seem to be in agreement that the Col. had two daughters, Margaret and Mary, but no sons. If there were any sons (such as Matthew or possibly a brother Jacob)I cannot figure any reason why they would not have been claimed and recognized by other members of the family.

It seems more plausible to think that Mathew and Jacob Patton (brother mentioned in Craig County, both moved to North Carolina, and both moved to Wilkes County, Georgia, were sons of someone else, perhaps a cousin of Col. James Patton. According to at least one entry, there may have been an older man named Jacob Patton, who could have been the father of Mathew and Jacob.--InglesFerry 17:54, 12 December 2011 (EST)