Disposition of Robert Patterson Sr's York Co SC Land

Disposition of Robert Patterson Sr's York Co SC Land

CFBC Home  |  Robert Patterson Sr  |  Cravens & John Patterson
Last Updated 2018-01-22

I've written many times regarding the disposition of Robert Patterson's lands on Clarks Fork of Bullocks Creek (CFBC) in York Co SC. I am tracking well over 50 specific tracts along Clarks Fork - some of which are overlapping. Nonetheless, I believe I am getting much closer to determining what happened to his land - at least over time. All of this is very near Smyrna, SC and just south of Kings Mtn Military and State Parks.

Robert (d.1775) had two known tracts in SC - the 200 ac tract he was granted in 1767 from NC, and the 150 ac tract he inherited from his son James Patterson, formerly owned by Robert Cravens Jr.

I have plotted these tracts in Deedmapper and am continuing to fine-tune the precise placement of these and surrounding tracts. Of the 50+ tracts I've already plotted, many are subsequent transfers of ownership of existing tracts already plotted. But in many cases, I need clearer descriptions. So here's hoping later deeds pertaining to these tracts will be clearer and more accurate. I'm in the process of increasing my field of work to look at over 125 tracts around Clarks Fork and Kings Creek.

Thus far, here is my interpretation of what I've found regarding Robert Patterson Sr's land. His two tracts on my index are #1 (200 ac) and #8 (150 ac). The following image shows the dimensions of the 200 acre tract (#1).

Clarks Fork of Bullocks Creek, York Co SC - Cravens & John Patterson

Clarks Fork of Bullocks Creek, York Co SC - Cravens & John Patterson

CFBC Home  |  Robert Patterson Sr  |  Cravens & John Patterson

Last updated: 2018-01-17

For years I have tried to determine where Robert Cravens' 150 acre tract was located in relation to Robert Patterson Sr's 200 acre tract. I had assumed that when Cravens' survey was described as adjacent Robert Patterson, it meant Robert Sr, but I always knew there was a possibility it could have been referring to Robert Patterson Jr. Turns out, it was Jr.

Recently, I began working on a presentation for Harald Reksten regarding this very issue. However, the actual process of documenting all of it helped to open several road blocks I had encountered along the way. The major discovery made during this process is that there had been at least two later deeds that made reference to separate deeds being "adj. John Patterson" - and that this Robert Cravens tract has to be the land that was later in the possession of John Patterson. Well, that has to be my ancestor John Patterson, son of Thomas, and grandson of Robert Sr. But there has never been any deeds or grants showing John receiving or disposing of any York Co SC land.

The following map shows seven (7) primary tracts of land and their fairly accurate proximity to each other along Clarks Fork of Bullocks Creek in York Co SC.

Clarks Fork tracts, mapped in Deedmapper by Wes Patterson

The Pattersons

Robert Patterson Sr (who died in 1775) was the father of Thomas, Peter, James, Robert Jr, and William Patterson. He also had daughters who married Daniel Ponder Jr, John Black, and Joseph Black.

New photo of William Harden "Billy" Patterson

William Harden Patterson, aka "Billy" was born in 1832 in north Ga. He died from blood poisoning - perhaps Rocky Mountain spotted fever - in 1883. He served in the War for Southern Independence - aka "Civil War" from 1862 - 1864. He was first in Smith's Legion, part of the Georgia Partizan Rangers, and then later his company was merged into the newly formed 6th Georgia Cavalry. 

This picture is from a large framed photograph that was formerly in the possession of the late Nellie Patterson Mason, a granddaughter of Billy Patterson. In the 1980's, my father, the late Frank Patterson (nephew of Nellie) and I both visited Aunt Nellie at her home. We took the picture outside and dad took a few slides of the framed photo. 

In 2017 I was going through some of dad's slides and found these pictures. I in turn took digital pictures of these slides, and these are the pictures I took.

William Harden "Billy" Patterson (1832-1883)

Nellie Patterson Mason and Frank Patterson

Nellie Patterson Mason and Wes Patterson