John and Margaret Black Patterson appear to have been in York Co., SC in 1790 after all
Last revised: 26 Dec 2018
For years we have searched for John Patterson and his young family with wife and one-year-old son, Joseph B. Patterson in the 1790 census. Thirty years ago I was given family group sheets listing my GGGG-Grandparents as living in Pendleton District, SC in 1790. About a decade ago, Marty Grant showed credible evidence to indicate the John Patterson on page 8 of that census (1-1-1-0-0) more accurately fits with the Patterson / Chapman family group, not the Patterson / Black family group. I agreed with him then and still do.
So where were John and "Peggy", if not in Pendleton District? Family stories always stated they were from Camden District, which included York Co., among others. Overwhelming evidence has been discovered in the last 15 years that proves my John and Peggy were from York Co. having lived along Clarks Fork of Bullocks Creek. But no household was enumerated under the name of John Patterson in 1790 from there.
Other possibilities were looked into in Randolph Co., NC and Lancaster Co., SC, but those records end the end proved to not fit. Other records from York Co. in 1790 and following years place John and Peggy there, from 1790-1797, and most likely during the 1780's as well.
In 2017-18, extensive land records have been captured, perused, documented, and plotted on maps by yours truly, in an attempt to located where John Patterson's land was located along Clarks Fork. No records show him buying or inheriting or selling land there, but other records show tracts lying adjacent to his land. I was able to prove that the tract known as John Patterson's in 1792 and 1794, turns out to be the 150-acre tract previously owned by Robert and Esther Harrison Cravens from 1767-1774, then by James Patterson (uncle of John - and uncle of Peggy, too, for that matter) from 1774-1775/80. Thereafter, the land passed to the estate of Robert Patterson Sr. (grandfather of John), and in 1790 court records from York Co. show John Patterson and his uncle Peter Patterson administering the estate of James Patterson (deceased). That was in January 1790. A few months later, Peter then administers the estate of Robert Patterson, who had died in 1775, but his wife Sarah did not died until 1789/90, and the estate was undergoing its final probate in 1790.
It is my belief that the land was inherited by James' father's estate as James had no heirs. Since Robert was deceased also, it apparently would have passed to the eldest son, Thomas, but appears to have passed to Thomas' eldest son, John.
