Elijah Chastain Sr - Update on Forth-coming Book

In March this year I posted some updates on my research pertaining to Elijah Chastain Sr of Caney Fork, Haywood Co, NC (now in Jackson County). I am currently in the final stages of editing and prepping to send to the publisher for printing. Hopefully by the end of October or early November we will be good to go.

Elijah Chastain lived from 1776 to 1853. He had at least 23 children by three wives - Hannah Adams, Anna Middleton, and Catherine (Kathy) Carson. In the book I will show as many details as I've gathered on these 23 children, 20 of whom married and had their own children. 

The numbers I documented from my exhaustive research and have included in the book are:

1. 23 Children
2. 168+ Grandchildren
3. 806+ Great-Grandchildren

There were also at least 89 descendants or husbands of descendants of Elijah Chastain who served in the Civil War. Details regarding them are also included.

I do not know of any other published work that has covered all three of Elijah's families. Some have focused one or the other, or perhaps two of them, but not all three. This has been my goal in producing this next installment of Butterfly Biographies.

Wes

P.S. Oct 9, 2024 update: I have asked someone to write the Foreword for the book. I am finished with my drafts and have sent to the printer for one copy for final editing - on paper!! Maybe ready to submit in the next week actually - to the publisher!

P.S. Oct 13, 2024 update: This book has been submitted to the publisher. Now awaiting the publisher's board review and pricing decisions.

Robert Patterson of Linville Creek, Virginia and Three Court Cases v. Thomas Jefferson, Attorney

Robert Patterson of Linville Creek, Virginia and Three Court Cases v. Thomas Jefferson, Attorney

Bio | His Mark R | 1775 Will | Timeline | Sussex DE | Augusta VA | York SC | Thomas Jefferson

Last updated 17 August 2018

The Setting

Distant cousin and fellow researcher, Sam Patterson, recently shared a discovery of his with Harald (Reksten) and me. It involved some court cases from old Augusta County, Virginia from the 1760's involving our ancestor, Robert Patterson, and other men represented by attorney, Thomas Jefferson - future President of the United States of America, and author of the Declaration of Independence.

Sam had located some seven or eight references to our Robert Patterson in the personal notes taken by Jefferson during those years, which have since been published on the Internet.

Margaret Adams: Mother of Robert Patterson

Margaret Adams: the mother of Robert "R" Patterson

Last updated 27 Feb 2018

In 2010 I wrote an article about the identity (much of which is confused) of Robert Patterson's mother. I speak of the Robert Patterson who was born circa 1705-1711 and married Sarah, and made his mark "R". Robert wrote his will and died in 1775 in York Co., SC.

His mother was named Margaret but last name is not known for certain. She went by the name of Margaret, but did have land records erroneously entered under the name of Mary Adams. She was first married to William Patterson. After his death, she was married to John Adams (aka Addams). She was quickly widowed a second time, and thereafter was known as Margaret Adams or Widow Adams.

For more details on these various names and the misunderstanding of her being named Margaret Donnell... see the article I wrote in 2010.

Wes Patterson

Joseph Harrison of Sussex Co DE & Augusta Co VA

In July 2010 Harald Reksten was working the Sussex Co DE Court Records. He abstracted a set of records and emailed them to me with the following message:

While looking at the court records I came across these entries about Joseph Harrison that I copied from the microfilm. These records are not published so no one would know about them unless they looked at the microfilm. Notice the references to Joseph Harrison as early as 1725. Makes me think the Joseph Harrison that died in the 1740s Augusta was not a grandson of Isaiah. Also this Joseph could have had quite a few children since he is involved in court cases as early as 1725. Makes me think he is at least the oldest son of old Isaiah's 2nd marriage.

The Isaiah Harrison in question is the old Isaiah Sr who was first married to Elizabeth Wright and then secondly to Abigail Smith. Joseph Harrison died in 1748 Augusta Co VA. Other members of the Isaiah clan were part of the estate settlement in 1748, but Joseph has never been conclusively placed within the Isaiah family. Harald and I believe Joseph was another son, by the second wife.

The Harrisons and Pattersons migrated from Sussex Co DE to Augusta Co VA in the late 1730's. Other families who migrated from DE to VA that were associated with them were the Blacks, Cravens, Stewarts, Ponders, Hoods and others. My Robert Patterson had a sister named Elizabeth who married Jeremiah Harrison (son of Isaiah) in DE. Additionally, Robert Patterson's son, Thomas Patterson (my 5-greats-grandpa) married a Margaret Harrison.

I used to think she was a daughter of Joseph, and then I thought she was a daughter of Samuel. Samuel and Joseph Harrison were brothers. Both of these theories have proven to not hold water,  however. As of 2018, I believe she was a grand-daughter of Gideon Harrison (son of Isaiah), who died in Sussex Co., DE in 1729.

FEBRUARY 1724(5) (Microfilm)
108. 2 February 1724(5) Preservd Coggshall vs Samuel Black. Continued Withdrawn.
109. 2 February 1724(5) Christ. Tophan agt Joseph Harrison. T.C. Sherd amoried – unto the Deft – appear the first day of next Term.

MAY 1725 (Microfilm)
115. 4 May 1725 Christopher Topham agt Joseph Harrison. The said Tophaim appeared for himself T.C. Sheriff amoried ¾ unless ye Deft. appear the first day this Term with Drawer in Costs.
116. 4 May 1725 Wm. PettyJohn vs Isaiah Harrison. David French for ye plantiff appeared T.C. Isaiah Harrison appeared by his attorney Francis Allen. Continued.

Status of our Patterson Research

Just this week I sent an email to a fellow researcher (Janice Rosenthal) regarding the status of our oldest known Pattersons and the research / documentation we have to date. Harald Reksten and I have been going through many records of New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North and South Carolina, etc over the last several months (years).

Janice on the other hand specializes in researching the oldest Patterson immigrants in order to better delineate between the various branches, and also to correct many errors being propagated across the Internet. So, I thought perhaps a third perspective (Janice's) would be good concerning our Patterson family. So, I sent her an email as presented the following information to her, which will serve as a "status" for our family, as of March 2010.
~~~~~
Janice,

I was reading some of your comments / corrections posted on another researcher's website, and I must say thank you for working tirelessly to get the info right, and then to attempt to set the record straight at so many other errant sources. I'm not sure which is the more difficult task!!!

We've spoken before, but I just wanted to pick your brain for a bit. I, too, used to think I may have a connection to those various Pattersons of PA and so I'm "vaguely" familiar with them. I recognize them when I see 'em, but I have no expertise on them at all. What I've learned over the years is to focus on "my" Pattersons and follow the trail. Mine apparently came over before most of those PA Pattersons.

In the course of your research, have your ever run across any particular line of Pattersons that the following group might "fit in"? Harald Reksten (and others) and I have worked very hard for many years going through the records of MD, DE, NJ, PA, etc (still more to cover though) trying to find our group. Harald's done most of the heavy lifting, ordering books, microfilm rolls, you name it. But we both do a lot of research and we both share everything we get with each other.

We do know that our Robert Patterson was in Sussex Co DE in 1732 and 1738. That we're 100% certain of. He bought 106 acres in 1732 from Matthew Ozbun Jr, and then sold it in 1738 (along with his wife, Sarah), apparently preparing to move to the Linville Creek part of Orange Co Va along with the Harrisons, Stewarts, Cravens, Blacks, and many other families.

We have not conclusively found any record of this family prior to 1732. I believe Robert to have been born ca 1711 (1710-1715). He died in 1775 in Craven / York Co SC. His wife Sarah died there in 1790. We know for certain that his father was William Patterson. We know his mother was Mary Margaret. Many people have tagged her with the maiden name of Donnell, but I have determined in the last couple weeks (conclusively) where that assumption came from (Dellmann O. Hood in his book The Tunis Hood Family), and the assumption made was based on faulty data to begin with. So scratch the Donnell name. There may have been a connection to the Donnell / Donaldson / Donelson / McDonald family, but I say prove it!!!

She went by the name of Margaret, but one time the name Mary was erroneously used in a land patent. Her name was Margaret _____ Patterson Adams. She first married William Patterson, and they had at least two children, but no more than two are known. The oldest child (presumed oldest) was Elizabeth, first wife of Jeremiah Harrison. He was born about 1707, and they were married by 1730 or so, at the latest, probably more like 1727 or 28. I think she was born roughly 1709 ish. Next, was Robert Patterson. He obtained his first tract of land in 1732. He appears to have married after that, and certainly before 1738. I suspect he was born around 1711, but approx 1710-1715.

The Harrisons were in Long Island NY for many years, as early as 1680's, but the Pattersons are not found in any of those records, to my knowledge. The Harrisons were in Sussex Co DE by 1721, and began leaving there in 1737 and later for the Shenandoah. If Elizabeth Patterson married Jeremiah around 1727-30, then my Pattersons were certainly here in America no later than that time, obviously.

I think William Patterson must have died no later than 1715 or so. Margaret remarried by 1720 approximately, to John Adams. She was known most of her life as Margaret Adams or widow Adams. She got her Orange Co Va land patent under the name of Mary Adams, that based on later probate records of her grandson Samuel Adams, making that link. John and Margaret Adams had at least three children, but that's all we know about. The oldest daughter's name is not even known, but we know she must have been born 1720-25, and she married Andrew Donelson (b 1722), who was from Somerset co MD. I don't know where they were when they married, nor exactly when they married. They had 3 children by 1744, and she must have been dead by then which was when Margaret Adams wrote her will, naming Margaret "Dollinson" (actually Donelson) in the will. This was the oldest child of her dec'd daughter and Andrew Donelson. They also had sons Robert and Humphrey Donelson by 1744. Andrew died in 1755 leaving them as orphans.

John and Margaret Adams also had a son Samuel Adams, and a daughter Jane Adams, who married Daniel Love around 1743 or 44. Samuel must have been married by 1744 or soon thereafter, as he died by 1748, but later we see his heir, also named Samuel Adams, inheriting Margaret Adams' plantation in Va after she died in 1769/1770. Apparently John Adams died by 1725-1730 after these 3 children were born.

I don't know when this family immigrated to America. Depending on whether it was in the 1730s, or 1720s, or before 1720, you can see there would be many possible scenarios for how this family could have been recorded. Could have been a Patterson couple with 2 kids, or a Patterson widow w/ 2 kids, or an Adams family with 2 Patterson kids and some Adams kids, or even an Adams family with 2 to 5 "Adams" children listed. "Patterson" may not have even been in the names of their immigration record (I'm hoping one still exists for them).

Of course, the Patterson clan may have come a generation or two earlier for that matter.

The oldest record we know of for sure is 1732 when Robert Patterson bought land in DE. We "know" other events had to have happened a few years earlier in DE, such as his sister marrying Jeremiah Harrison. There may have even been a John Adams and Margaret Patterson wedding to find in some old church record somewhere. And of course, an Adams girl marrying Andrew Donelson, possibly in PA, around 1740 or so.

I'm shooting in the dark here. But Robert Patterson, who made his mark "R", had sons Thomas, Peter, Robert, and William. He had daughters Abigail, Mary, Sarah, Elizabeth, and Lydia. There may have been others, but these we know about, from the late 1730s to the late 1750s. They all were probably born in Augusta Co Va, before they moved south to what is now York Co SC.

Thanks, Janice.

Wes
~~~

Wes Patterson's Research Blog
Wes Patterson's Website

Margaret Patterson Adams - Not Donnell

Margaret _____ Patterson Adams - She Never was a Donnell

Bio | Why Not Donnell | 1744 Will | Timeline | Sussex DE | Augusta VA 

By Wes Patterson (Last Revised: 15 August 2018)

Who was Margaret Adams?

Answer: She was the mother of Robert "R" Patterson who died in York Co SC in 1775.

She has been hailed as Margaret Donnell Patterson Adams in certain published works, and especially on the Internet. I have also perpetuated that name Donnell, but with a "?" in front of it. I have always said that I didn't know where the name Donnell came from, but I couldn't prove OR disprove it.

That has now changed (in 2010), in my opinion. I believe I can disprove it. In other words, I believe I can prove that her maiden name was not Donnell, at least not for the reasons previously assumed.

D.O. Hood and his theory about Donnell

You see, it begins with Dellmann O. Hood's book, The Tunis Hood Family. On page 465 Mr. Hood takes a stab at why he thinks her maiden name would have been "Donnell". Quote:

"...As a general rule in those times middle Christian names were not bestowed on children, but were given occasionally to honor the mother or grandmother. The only middle Christian name accounted for in the immediate family of Jeremiah Harrison and Catherine Adams was in the case of their daughter, Lydia Donnell Harrison.... Hence it seems likely that the maiden name of Margaret Patterson-Adams was Donnell..."

Jeremiah Harrison and his wives

Jeremiah Harrison married his first wife in or around Sussex Co DE about 1730, give or take a year. Mr. Hood believed Harrison's only wife was Catherine, but he had missed the fact that Harrison's first wife was Elizabeth Patterson.

The "daughter" Mr. Hood names as Lydia Donnell Harrison, was born in the early to mid 1730's. We know that Jeremiah's wife Elizabeth was still alive in 1744 when her mother (Margaret Adams) wrote her will. Elizabeth later died, and Jeremiah remarried to a Catherine, last name unknown.

People have always assumed Catherine was an Adams since her "daughter" Esther Harrison was named in Margaret Adams' 1744 will. However, that is another wrong assumption, as Esther was Catherine's step daughter, and the connection was a Patterson connection. In fact, none of Jeremiah Harrison's children (16) descend from the Adams lineage.

Lydia Donnell's Baptism Record

So what? you might say. Well, here's where it gets interesting. Rev Craig baptized this Lydia Donnell girl on 17 May 1743 near the Halfway House, which is where Jeremiah Harrison was baptized in 1740. Here's the entry in Craig's diary:

"Jeremiah Herison, stood sponsor for a child baptized named Lidea Donnel at Halfway House."

The key phrase to notice is where it says "stood sponsor". In all other baptism records for children in Rev Craig's diaries, it names the father then the child's name, but no such phrase like "stood sponsor". To me, this proves that Lydia Donnell was named just that - and not Harrison. She may have been raised by the Harrisons. Perhaps Jeremiah became her guardian, but she wasn't a Harrison by birth.

With that in mind, I'm afraid it renders Mr Hood's assumption utterly baseless. Remember, his declaration of Margaret Patterson-Adams' maiden name being Donnell was based on this girl being named Lydia Donnell Harrison and her being the daughter of Jeremiah Harrison and his wife, which we know now to have been Elizabeth Patterson.

So what WAS the full name of Margaret Adams? We know that she entered a land patent in old Orange Co Va under the name of Mary Adams. This we learn from the following record in Augusta Co Va following her death in 1769/1770:

"15th May, 1770. Samuel Adams, of North Carolina, to Joseph Dictum, power of attorney to convey 340 acres on Linvel's Creek, devised by Margaret Adams and from him descended to Samuel as eldest son and heir, having been patented in the name of Mary Adams. Title yet to be made to Samuel."

However, we have learned in 2018 according to Thomas Jefferson's Memorandum Books that there was a court case involving Margaret Adams' land that cleared up the fact that the name "Mary" was in error. Her name truly was Margaret Adams - not Mary Adams. Therefore, we believe that her name was Margaret ______ Patterson Adams. I can no longer record her maiden name as "?Donnell". I have that info in many places and this is my first attempt at explaining what I consider to be an error. Things like this happen. We all try to uncover hidden clues. But this is a great example of an assumption gone awry.

Hope this makes sense, and perhaps helps clarify some of the mystery surrounding this lady. Margaret Adams (as she was known most of her life) was my 7x-Great-grandmother.

Wes

P.S. Jeremiah Harrison, and the Pattersons and Adams families, all came from Sussex Co DE to the Shenandoah Valley of Va in the late 1730's. What many researchers did not know until the last few years is that Jeremiah Harrison was first married to Elizabeth Patterson, daughter of Margaret Adams. Margaret was first married to William Patterson, and they were the parents of Elizabeth and Robert (d. 1775 SC). Thereafter, William died and his widow then remarried to John Adams, who likewise died in the 1720's.

George Forbush and Samuel Adams

Who? you might ask.

In 1748, George Forbush was still living in Augusta Co Va, as were the Pattersons, Stewarts, Linvilles, Boones, Bryan(t)s, Harrisons, and many other families who would later migrate to the Yadkin River valley of NC.

Forbush settled in modern day Yadkin Co NC, and was the namesake for the river, community, and high school with the same name. I have some close friends whose sons both went (or are going) to Forbush High School, some 15 minutes west of my residence.

A distant cousin of mine, Harald Reksten, sent me some images via email last night regarding the estate of Samuel Adams, Augusta Co Va, from August of 1748. Adams was the younger half-brother of Robert Patterson, my gggggg-grandfather. Robert Patterson's mother, Margaret Patterson, remarried to John Adams, after her first husband died in the 1710's. She was thereafter known as Margaret Adams, but was the mother of Robert Patterson.

In 1748, she was the administratrix of her son's estate (Samuel Adams), and one of the appraisers of his estate was none other than George Forbush. When I saw this last night I just about fell out of my chair. What a small world.

Many of these families began their migrations south about that time - 1748. Other members of the same families following over the next few years, settling the Yadkin River valley in the modern day counties of Wilkes, Surry, Yadkin, Stokes, Forsyth, Davie, and Davidson. At the time it was Anson and soon thereafter, Rowan.

Our Margaret Adams

Courtesy of Harald Reksten:

Augusta Co, Va Court Records:

11-754. 19 November 1764 Thomas Harrison and Sarah to John Harrison for £---, 150 acres on a Sinking Spring Branch of Linvel's Creek; corner Mary Adams.

Our Margaret Addams received her Va land patent under the name of Mary Adams. She was the mother of Robert "R" Patterson, and the widow of William Patterson first, then later a widow of John Addams.

While her land patent was recorded under that name of "Mary", however, that was in error. Her name was not Mary, but Margaret. Thomas Jefferson's Memorandum Books shows a court case that clarifies that issue of her name.