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Sunday, February 2, 2020

52 Ancestors 2020 – 5 – Far Away – Thomas Elder Patton




Thomas Elder Patton 1783 – 1840
Photo added to Find A Grave by Karen Winters

Thomas Elder Patton was born far away from me here in Oregon in 2020 in space and in time. He was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia on 29 Jan 1783, the son of John and Martha (Sharp) Patton. Thomas was one of eight children, all born in Rockbridge County. They all eventually moved west to Adams County, Ohio. All but Jane, who was listed as idiotic on the 1860 census, were married in Rockbridge County.

Thomas married Jenny or Jane Glasgow 18 Apr 1805. On her memorial page on Find A Grave, it is stated that they moved to Adams County by covered wagon in Oct 1806. I believe that it is this Thomas who was listed on the “Male Enumeration List” in 1807 in Wayne Township. He is also found on the lists there for 1811 and 1815. Scott Township was formed from the north part of Wayne in 1818, so it is reasonable that it is our Thomas who is listed in Scott Township on the lists for 1819, 1823 and 1827. I have always been thankful to the Adams County Genealogical Society for publishing these lists since Ohio does not have surviving census records until 1820. They also published voter lists for 1810, 1811 and 1812. There is a Thomas Patton for each of those years in Wayne Township.

A history of Adams County was published in 1900. I was able to obtain a reprint which had added an index. Thomas Patton has three entries in the index. In the Pioneer Character Sketches there is an entry for Thomas' father John and it says “Thomas Patton, a son, lived and died on West Fork.” (Page 608) In the Biographical Sketches there are two for Thomas' son-in-laws, which mention Thomas: “Thomas Patton, a native of Rockbridge County, Virginia, who settled on the West Fork of Brush Creek.” (Page 682) and “Thomas Patton, a native of Rockbridge County, Virginia, though he emigrated to Ohio, settled on West Fork and died there.” (Page 754) So I checked my reprint of the 1868 Atlas of Ohio and found that the West Fork of Brush Creek was in Scott Township not far from Meigs Township.

I believe that Thomas and his family are on the 1820 census in Meigs Township, as it is an adjoining county to Scott. Since no names other than the head of household are shown on these early censuses I used the children and their ages as shown on Find A Grave and they all match, Thomas and Jenny and the older 6 of their children (3 boys and 3 girls.) In 1830 they are listed in Scott Township with 4 of the older children plus 3 who had been born between 1820 and 1830. The 2 oldest were married and in households of their own by this time.

June 1st was the official enumeration date for the 1840 census. Find A Grave lists Thomas' death date as 4 Jun 1840. I have not been able to find a census entry for Thomas in 1840, so I suspect the census taker came after his death so did not list him. The household was probably in a state of disorganization at that time so it may be that none of those still living there were counted. Without having the names listed, it would be hard to find them if they were counted.

As I previously stated, there is a memorial page for Thomas on Find A Grave which gives his death date as 4 Jun 1840. It shows his burial place as Tranquility Cemetery but there is no photo of a gravestone. I checked my cemetery booklets from the Adams County Genealogical Society and found that Tranquility Cemetery is located in Scott Township. But neither Thomas or his wife are listed in their book. However my ancestor, Elizabeth (Milligan) Hemphill Hamilton, is shown as buried in Tranquility Cemetery. She was the daughter of Thomas' sister Nancy. So it is likely that Thomas was buried at Tranquility and there was either no stone or it has not survived.


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