Richard Pattinson

Richard Pattinson (1773 – January 1, 1818) was a merchant lender, investor, entrepreneur, ship owner and , parliamentarian, and the largest mortgagor in Essex in Upper Canada. He represented Essex in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada from 1812 to 1816.

Born in the Thirteen Colonies, Pattinson lived in Sandwich, Upper Canada. He was involved in the timber trade. He was a captain in the militia during the War of 1812. Pattinson was a justice of the peace for the Western District. He died in Albany, New York.

Family 1st marriage - 24 April 1802 to Judith de Joncaire dit Chabert (1783-1804) at Assumption. Sandwich. They had a daughter, Mary Anne (various spellings) (1803-1836).

The father of Richard Pattinson’s first wife was Philip Daniel de Joncaire de Chabert. He was the eldest son of Daniel de Joncaire de Chabert and Margaret Elizabeth Ursula Robert de la Morandiere, and was born at Montreal, 2 December 1752. He served as a Captain of militia in the Revolution. He married Judith Gouin of Detroit, 12 February 1783. He was buried, April 30, 1793. The three children of this union were: Judith, who married Richard Pattinson; Margaret, who married James McGregor; and Felicity, who married Denis Campau. The Chaberts became connected by marriage with several well-known Detroit families.

2nd marriage - 17 February 1808 to Ellen Phillis Askin (various spellings) (1788-1813). She was the daughter of John Askin. , senior, and Archange Barthe. They had three children:

Richard (1809-1875) Ellen Phyllis (various spellings) (1811-1861) Archange Ann (1813-1814)

Commerce At his passing in 1818, Pattinson owned 14,869 acres in the Western Distric t. His estate recorded 453 people who owed him money.

Richard Pattinson came to Detroit, from Montreal, in 1793 and engaged in what was regarded as a ruinous course of competition for the fur trade.

On 26 September 1795 - Richard Pattinson and his half-brother Hugh Pattinson were involved with several other Detroit traders including John Askin and John Askin, Jr. in an attempted to purchase from the United States 20,000,000 acres of land. This consisted of the lower part of Michigan and the upper parts of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. The scheme was not ratified and fell through.

He was raising oxen to sell on his property on the Thames River. In July 1809, John Askin, Sr. went to Sandwich to see Pattinson and to purchase an American Ox from him.

On 29 October 1807 Richard Pattinson, attempts to recover the refugees from enslavement who have come to the Michigan Territory from Sandwich, Upper Canada. His appearance before the Justice of the Peace of Huron / Detroit district was in vain. Judge Augustus B. Woodward uses his Tucker v. Denison ruling to deny extradition.

The Ellen competed with the Nancy which was twice its size in the shipping trade of the Great Lakes and War of 1812 service. The crews had fun playing pranks on each other.

In June 1812, the Ellen was commandeered at Amherstburg by the British as a transport. It was commanded by Captain Miller.

On 3 October 1813, in his retreat up the Thames River, before the advancing Americans, Major General Proctor ordered two vessels burned at the mouth of the River, one was the Ellen. On 22 November 1813, Proctor certified this fact and valued the vessel at £500.

War of 1812 As early as 1807, Richard Pattinson was a Captain in the Eighth Infantry. Later he was commissioned as Captain in 1812 with a battalion company (foot soldiers) in the 2nd Regiment of Essex Militia . He was present at Detroit (15-16 August 1812) and Frenchtown (18-22 Jan 1813).

In July 1812, American General Hul l’s troops looted Captain Pattinson’s property in Sandwich valued at eighteen hundred pounds (Halifax currency): horses, flour, timber and pelts.

“Captain Richard Pattinson (2nd Essex) suffered significant losses in 1812. But there was much worse to come. He had cut contracted timber for the British commissary on the islands of Lake Erie. But, as his schooner, Ellen, had been requisitioned for military service, his cut lumber on Big Bass Island fell into American hands as did four of his draft horses and a bateaux on Pelee Island. During the second American occupation, the invaders carried off or destroyed six more of his horses, livestock, most of the stock in his lumber yard, a large scow, two additional bateaux, eight acres of meadow, twelve acres of fencing, plus the merchandise of his Sandwich trading store which included 800 deer skins and 740 raccoon pelts. During the retreat, his schooner, Ellen, was destroyed to prevent her falling into American hands. Pattinson's crushing war time losses exceeded five thousand pounds (Halifax currency). Worse yet, his wife died during the rigours of the retreat.”

Death He died in Albany, New York on 1 January 1818, at around 45 years old, while returning to Montreal from New York City. He is buried at All Menands, New York, Albany Rural Cemetery. The inscription on his tombstone is in error lists his surname as "Pattirson."