I finally finished and posted the first pass at research for the Patterson family line in my genealogy.
This completed my goal of getting the families of all 16 of my second great grandparents researched and online!
I have Patterson in my genealogy through second great grandmother, Sarah E. Patterson. She married Louis Fowler and one of their daughters was Ruby Fowler. Ruby married Jim Lovelace and one of their sons was my maternal grandfather, Guy Lovelace.
One of the things I enjoyed about the Patterson family is that their migration follows a pattern I have seen over and over again in nearly every family I have researched; entry into Virginia, a move to North Carolina, a move somewhere in Tennessee and then a move to Haywood County, TN.
The first Patterson ancestor I can positively identify is John Patterson who was my 7th great grandfather. He was born in 1690 in Prince George County, Virginia in Bristol Parish. John’s parents are thought to have been Joseph and Janet Patterson and they are possibly the Patterson ancestors who first came to America from Scotland.
John’s son, Smith Patterson migrated north to Granville Co., NC and then Guilford Co. in the mid-1750s. Smith shows up in the October 1754 Muster Roll of the 8th Regiment in Granville County, NC, under the command of Colonel William Eaton.
Smith’s son, Young Patterson, spent his entire life in Guilford County, NC.
Young’s son, Wilson Patterson, served in the North Carolina militia during the War of 1812. Years later, around 1840, Wilson and many members of his family packed up their belongings and settled in the area of McNairy Co., TN part of which was later changed to Chester Co. It appears a few of them lived in Henderson, TN and a few lived in Finger, TN.
Yes, there is a Finger, TN. My family and I were passing through so how could we not stop and check out a town with a name like that?
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Downtown Finger, TN |
Finger was built right beside railroad tracks and, although its a rough-looking little town now, you can really see the spirit of the town it once was. According to a Plunk family website, in the late 1800’s, a man named George Dickey began hosting an annual barbeque and Picnic. It was held the first Saturday in August for over a 100 years. I couldn’t tell if it was happening this coming weekend or not but if I lived a little closer, I would go check it out just in case.
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Downtown Finger, TN |
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Finger United Methodist Church |
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Entrance to the Estes Cemetery in Chester Co., TN |
According to a stone placed at the entrance, both the cemetery and the church across the road was named in honor of A. G. and Eliza Estes. The cemetery has a freshly-painted wooden fence around part of it and sits next to a classically southern house. All in all, not a bad place for your weary bones to rest.
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A Patterson Headstone in the Estes Cemetery in Chester Co., TN |
For more blog entries, visit my Blog Home Page or to check out the genealogy research about my Patterson family line or any of the 15 others, go to Haywood County Line Genealogy Page.