James Patton

Birth and early life

Little is known about Patton's early life. Much published biographical information is based on hearsay or speculation. He was born in 1690 but there is no reliable or primary source documentation to support this. Letitia Preston Floyd says that Patton had four sisters.

Career as a merchant sea captain

Documents indicate that Patton was a merchant ship captain at least by 1723, possibly as early as 1719.

Patton brought goods by ship to several European ports, including Amsterdam and Genoa. Patricia Johnson states that Patton also transported slaves to Virginia. Patton was the first person to import a thoroughbred horse to the New World.

Immigration to Virginia, 1740

The first reliable evidence of Patton's activities in Virginia is two letters from William Beverley, addressed to Patton at Kirkcudbright. Beverley was a wealthy Virginia politician who was active in importing and exporting a variety of goods. In 1736, Beverley obtained a 118,000-acre land grant, later called Beverley Manor, which encompasses much of present-day Augusta County. A grantee was able to keep 1000 acres for every family that settled on the land. In 1737 Beverley represented Virginia's Orange County (from which Augusta County was created in 1738) in the Virginia House of Burgesses. On 22 August, Beverley wrote a second letter, stating that the grant was for 30,000 acres. He offered Patton one quarter of it in payment for Patton's efforts "to procure families to come in & settle it." Beverley also wrote, "I heartily wish you success & a safe return to us," suggesting that Patton had already visited Virginia and had met Beverley in person. The letters indicate that Patton and Beverley had been corresponding for some time. Among his passengers was his sister Elizabeth, her husband John Preston, and her son, the 8-year-old William Preston, Patton's nephew, and forty-six other prospective settlers. There is some evidence that Patton's wife and two daughters were also on board. Although the original letter appears to be lost, a transcription was printed in The Richmond Standard on 18 September 1880.

John Preston, a carpenter, was employed as a shipwright during the voyage, and Beverley promised him 4000 acres of land. on Christians Creek on the South Fork of the Shenandoah River, near present-day Stuarts Draft, Virginia. one of the first recognized churches in the Shenandoah Valley. Initially a one-room log structure, it took nearly three years to finish, with some controversy between Patton and his uncle John Lewis over where it was to be located. The first service was held there on 14 April 1745, when the Reverend Craig wrote: "This being the first day we meet at the contentious meeting-house, about half-built." The log structure was replaced by a stone building in 1790. Patton's rivalry with his uncle continued for years afterwards. The Reverend John Craig wrote: "...a Difference happened between Col. John Lewis & Col. James Patton, both Living in that Congregation, which Continued while they Lived, Which of them Should be highest in Commission & power."

In 1748, Patton provided wood, stone and five acres of land to build a parsonage. He also donated land for the third Lutheran church built in Virginia, located on the Holston River,

Legal roles

On 3 November 1741, Patton was appointed Justice of the Peace by order of Governor Gooch. as well as collector of duties on all horses arriving in Augusta County. On 15 July 1752, Patton was commissioned Augusta County Coroner by Governor Dinwiddie,

On 19 April 1754, Patton was commissioned Escheator of Augusta County by Governor Dinwiddie. The grandson claimed that suspicious white settlers, thinking that this war party planned to raid Virginia settlements, attacked them. The settlers later reported that the Indians had killed several hogs and horses belonging to the settlers, and "went to Peoples houses, Scared the women and Children [and] took what they wanted." The militia were called in, and Patton ordered them to escort the war party out of Augusta County. The militia followed the warriors for two days, until one of the Indians made a detour into the forest near Balcony Falls, possibly to relieve himself, and a militiaman fired at him. The Indians then attacked and killed the militia captain, John McDowell. In the battle that followed, three or four of the Indian warriors and eight or ten militiamen were killed. The Indians then fled into the forest and later returned to Shamokin. Patton reports that he rode to the scene with twenty-three reinforcements, arriving two or three hours after the fighting had ended. Patton received reports from the militia that they had seen "white men (whom we believe to be French) among the Indians," and responded by ordering patrols "on all our frontiers, well equipp'd." Patton wrote to Governor Dinwiddie that "we have certain news of one Hundred and fifty Indians seen seventy miles above me, and about the same number lately crost Patowmack on their way up here." Dinwiddie sent powder and shot to Patton and alerted the militia in Orange and Fairfax counties, but no more intruders appeared.

On 16 July 1752, Governor Dinwiddie commissioned Patton as Lieutenant of Augusta County and Chief Commander of the Augusta County Militia. These men were present at the Battle of Fort Necessity in July, 1754.

On 8 July 1755, Dinwiddie wrote to Patton, ordering him to raise a company of rangers for the defense of Augusta County: "You will immediately list fifty Men as Rangers for guard of the frontiers of [that] county..." On 16 July Dinwiddie wrote to Colonel Stewart, noting that "Colo. Patton carried up some Powder and Shot with him, and I shall now send 4 [barrels] Powder and Lead for the Court House for the Service of the People."

In 1745, Patton received a land grant of 100,000 acres, A proclamation in the collection of the History Museum of Western Virginia and the O. Winston Link Museum, dated 10 October 1746, declaring legal ownership of 100,000 acres in Augusta County, dictates that the owners must "settle, cultivate, improve, and be dwelling thereon" by 15 April 1748, or forfeit their ownership.

Patton decided in 1745 to form his own company, known initially as the Wood's River Company, and later as the New River Company. Among his 20 company members were John Buchanan, George Robinson, James Wood, Adam Harman, Israel Lorton, and Peter Rentfroe. Patton wanted corporate power to negotiate profitable purchases and sales and to participate in treaties with Native Americans, but the company made only a few purchases and dissolved after Patton's death in 1755.

In 1745, Patton assisted a group of German anabaptists of the Schwarzenau Brethren who established a community called Mahanaim (Dunkard's Bottom), south of Radford, on the New River. Patton had claimed this area but because the Germans were (unbeknownst to Patton) already living there,

In 1748, Patton collaborated with his uncle, John Lewis, and Dr. Thomas Walker in the formation of the Loyal Land Company of Virginia. That same year, he accompanied Walker on a journey west, as far south as the "Fork Country of the Holston" (present-day Kingsport, Sullivan County, Tennessee), to survey the westernmost lands which were included as part of his 1745 land grant. Patton may have constructed a small fort in what is now Chilhowie, Virginia, likely just a blockhouse, which was converted in 1752 into the Town House, a tavern operated by Samuel Stalnaker. Due to the vague description of various land grants, the Loyal Company entered into several disputes with the Ohio Company and Patton's New River Company. but this was not immediately approved due to objections by Patton's uncle, John Lewis, and by the Ohio Company. These sales added up to a little over £2,050, Virginia currency (equivalent to about $504,346.00 today ). Much of this land had come from the 100,000 acres Patton had acquired in the 1745 Woods River Grant.

Homes

Patton's first home was a log cabin he built in 1741 at Spring Hill, on what is still known as the Patton Farm Road near present-day Stuarts Draft, Virginia. On 15 January 1754, Patton signed a contract with two Augusta County carpenters to construct a new home for him at Spring Hill: "a solidly-made a one-room log house, twenty feet square, to include...a wooden floor, high ceiling, and spacious loft."

In early 1754 Patton sold 17 subdivisions to 18 settlers, including John Draper and William Ingles, although the Drapers had established a homestead on the land as early as 1746, and William Ingles had started farming in the area after marrying Mary Draper Ingles in 1750. John Buchanan surveyed the land in October 1747, recording in his notebook: "Surveyed for James Patton Seven Thousand five Hundred acres of Land in Augusta County, part of an order of Council granted to ye said Patton &c. to take up 100,000 acres, Lying on the west side of the Ridge that parts ye waters of Roanoke from those of the new River (at a place called Drapers)." The treaty promised the Iroquois "a marked path up the Valley," which, as the commissioners stated, "shall be the established Road, for the Indians our Brethren of the Six Nations, to pass to the Southward, when there is War between them and the Catawbas." Preparations began immediately to construct a road connecting western Virginia with Maryland and Pennsylvania, later known as the Valley Pike.

Cherokee conference, 1751

In July 1751, Cherokee chief Attakullakulla and a party of thirty or forty Cherokees traveled from East Tennessee to meet Patton, anxious to improve trade relations with the Colony of Virginia, as trade routes to South Carolina were stretched thin and French goods were too costly. After several weeks of negotiations, the Virginia Council accepted a trade agreement, and Patton escorted Attakullakulla and the others homewards, reaching the Tennessee border in September.

Logstown Treaty Conference, 1752

In June 1752, the British held a council at Logstown with representatives of the Six Nations, and the Lenape and Shawnee who had been tributary to them. Colonel Joshua Fry, James Patton, and Lunsford Lomax represented the Colony of Virginia, and Christopher Gist, Thomas Lee, William Trent, and William Beverley represented the Ohio Company. The purpose of this treaty was to confirm and clarify the agreements made at the 1744 Treaty of Lancaster. William Preston accompanied Patton as his personal secretary. Patton kept a journal of the conference (now lost), in which he recorded the speeches of Chief Oconostota. Parts of Patton's original road later became U.S. Route 11 in Virginia and other parts follow Virginia State Route 42. Mary Borden or Burden, and also Mary Osborn or Osborne.

Tinkling Spring monument, bottom, naming his wife Mary Osborne, and indicating that Patton is buried at Draper's Meadow.Patton's wife is not mentioned by name in his will, aside from a request that he be buried beside her: "My body I commit to Providence, but if convenient to where I resign my last breath, to be buried at the Tinkling Spring, where my wife now lays."

As he had no sons, Patton took much interest in the education of his nephew, William Preston.

Death and burial, 1755

After the Braddock Expedition ended in the defeat of British forces at the Battle of the Monongahela on 9 July 1755, Native American warriors began raiding British settlements in Pennsylvania and Virginia. Realizing the danger to Draper's Meadow, a vulnerable settlement on the New River, Patton brought a supply of gunpowder from Williamsburg, arriving on 29 July with his nephew William Preston, accompanied by a convoy of militia.

Letitia Preston Floyd described Patton's death in an 1843 letter to her son:

After breakfast Col. Patton had sat down to his table to write. The Indian war-hoop was heard and some five or six of the surrounded the cabin to set it on fire. The colonel always kept his sword on the table, he rushed to the door with it in hand and encountered two of them. (Patton was almost gigantic in size.) He cut two of them down, in the meantime another warrior had leveled his gun, fired, and killed the brave old pioneer – Patton fell. It was later incorporated into the town of Buchanan, Virginia, named after Patton's son-in-law, John Buchanan.

William Preston's son James Patton Preston, who served as Governor of Virginia during 1816–1819, was named for James Patton.