The Patterson’s
of East Tennessee
So, how did some of the common named places that we know as the
communities of our home here in Claiborne County come about their name. What family was so well known that soon their
name was placed on that community. One
that I have come across just recently in a book that I was reading is the name
Patterson. We know that name in a place
near the Cumberland Gap called Pattersons Crossroads,
near the trail that is known as the Wilderness Road. The trail was first marked by Daniel Boone in March 1775,
and for this reason was often called Boone's Trace. But it wasn’t until around 1912-1915 that the
trail was marked by the Daughters of the American Revolution. And but for the efforts of one particular member of that organization with family roots
back here in Claiborne County that might have never been accomplished. Following are some histories taken from
different articles that refer to descendants of the Grahams from Tazewell,
Tennessee and Patterson’s from whence the name Pattersons
Crossroads was derived.
Lucy Bramlette
Patterson, granddaughter of Hugh Graham and Catherine Nenney,
and the daughter of Colonel William Houston Patterson
and 
Cornelia Humes
“Graham” Patterson. Her grandfather was Major General Robert Patterson, was
truly blessed. Lucy Bramlette
Patterson was born on August 22, 1865. She was born in her mother’s family home in Tazewell,
Tennessee, Castle Rock. Patterson had one older sister.
She was Ulster Scot on
both sides of her family. She came from
a heritage of Philadelphia wealth and prominence and had the good fortune to be
born in the South, in Tennessee, in the bosom of another well-to-do
family. She also had the benefit of
later marrying a Patterson, so she enjoyed the convenience of never having to
change her name.
Both her father’s and
mother’s families had ancestral homes in the upper Tennessee River Valley
between the Powell and Clinch rivers.
She was born during the aftermath of the Civil War on August 22, 1865,
at the home of her maternal grandfather, General Hugh Graham, a man exiled from
Ireland in his youth. The home was called
Castle Rock and sat in Tazewell, Tennessee, not so far from the Cumberland
Gap. Some said Graham lived there like a
feudal lord. His home was a
self-contained village with flower gardens and groves in front of the home and
sunken gardens of vegetables and fruits in the rear, all kept up, of course,
with enslaved labor. It was a beautiful
home with a promenade lined with blossoming locusts; and, the Grahams were
known for their welcoming hospitality.
They were also known for having the largest library in the South, it was
said. Hugh Graham was a voracious reader,
collecting books shipped from American and European publishers and subscribing
to numerous magazines and newspapers.
Unfortunately, the war took its toll on the family and Union troops
plundered Castle Rock in the spring of 1865.
Having lived to the ripe old age of 81 without ever calling a physician,
the family progenitor’s health failed him then and he did in March only five
months to the day before his granddaughter, Lucy, was born. He was laid to rest at the Irish Cemetery in
Tazewell with the help of newly freed, former slaves of the family.
To the couple were born seven girls, who, after marrying, became Sarah
Blackburn, Margaret Neil, Mary Kyle, Cornelia Patterson, Louise Rogan, Lucy
Williams and Ellen Patton. The only son was Thomas. Thomas late in life moved
to Missouri, where he died. His son, Joshua A., whose wife was Miss Sadie Yeatman, of Nashville, was a lawyer of in St. Joseph, Mo.
The following is taken from; MEMOIRS OF
THE GRAHAM FAMILY By ANNIE KENDRICK WALKER
“One of the most brilliant of the Graham women was Louise,
who married Theophilus Rogan. She was the only one of the sisters who remained
in Tennessee, where only a few years ago, she celebrated her golden wedding
anniversary at the quaint country seat, "Hayslope,"
given her by her father over half a century ago. It was purchased from its
founder. Colonel Thomas Roddy, who obtained his commission at the battle of King's
mountain. The old house is one of the quaintest in East Tennessee. It is built of
great logs, hewn by ax, sealed inside and out with heavy oak planks put on
endwise.”
It is
now known as the Roddye Historic House in Hamblen County
and it is marked with a historical marker:
Tennessee Historical Marker 1 B 27 - Hayslope
Built 1785 by Col. James Roddye,
from North Carolina. He was subsequently delegate to the North Carolina
Constitutional
Convention, magistrate and register of Jefferson County
under territorial government and member of Tennessee's first Constitutional
Convention. The house was also a tavern on the Kentucky Road
called the Tavern with the Red Door or Red Door Tavern. Located
on U.S. 11-E, in Russellville, near the intersection with
Warrensburg Road.
Hugh Grahams’ wife was Catherine Nenney Graham, a
woman of legendary beauty and graciousness.
She was a secessionist as was her husband (Explain Sycamore and Hay
Slope)
Hugh went into business with
his brother William and with Patrick Nenny on Bent
Creek, in East Tennessee.
A marker was placed in
honor of the founders of Bent Creek Church in 1979, reads:
"A part and minority of the Bent Creek Church
of 1785 est. here 1881. The Cedar Hill Church merged with this church 1887.
Name changed to Catherine Nenney Memorial 1888 in
honor of Catherine Nenney Graham, wife of Hugh
Graham, wealthy
landowner and legislator, and descendant of Samuel Doak."
Buried in the Bent Creek
Baptist Church Cemetery are:
|
NENNEY
JAMES L. |
OCT 11,1811 |
SEP 17,1838 |
|
NENNEY
ADDIE ANDERSON |
No Date |
|
|
NENNEY
PATRICK |
DIED APR 28,1824 |
B IN IRELAND, NATURALIZED IN US 1813 |
|
NENNEY
AMIS |
No Date |
W/O PATRICK NANNEY |
THE PATTERSONS: AN IRISH FAMILY ODYSSEY
by Chevalier William F.K. Marmion, M.A.
Share74
Major General Robert Patterson, born in
Cappagh, County Tyrone.
William Marmion on one family’s journey across
continents and through Irish and American history in the 19th century.
Major General Robert Patterson (1792
Ireland – 1881 Philadelphia), was a renowned soldier in U.S. service. Prominent
in the War of 1812 against the British, he became quite famous during the
Mexican War and was one of the seventeen serving
Union Generals of Irish birth during the U.S. Civil War.
This article is focused on the odyssey of the
family started by his father, Francis, born in County Tyrone in 1765 And the
remarkable descents from him and his five children (which includes General
Robert and the four children born in the United States).
It is an Irish story, indeed an
odyssey, and one which reflects the migrations, trials, and tribulations of
many many hundreds of thousands of Irish families
which had to leave Ireland for the U.S. for one set of reasons or another.
While the greater success of the Pattersons may not
be ‘typical’ of the mass of emigrant Irish families, it does typify all the
families who indeed struggled to advance themselves in their new country.
Dissenters
A depiction of the Battle of Antrim 1798 at
which the Ulster United Irish uprising was crushed.
Francis Patterson was the son of Robert and an
Ann Fullerton, both born in Northern Ireland. ‘Patterson’ is an English name
and I find no early references to any Patterson family in Ireland prior to the
17th century. So, in all likelihood the Patterson’s were part of the wave of
English and Scottish Protestants who settled in Ulster in that tumultuous
century, some in state sponsored ‘plantations’ and others in unorganized
migration.
Despite their origins, many of the ‘planted’
Protestants began to detest the policies of the English government on many levels
and wanted ‘local rights’ versus London control. And especially in the
late 18th century, leaders emerged, initially all Protestant, who felt
‘Irish’ and saw the need to unite with all those who had been disenfranchised
and made subject to ‘Penal Laws’. These disenfranchised both Catholics
and all the ‘dissenters’ (Presbyterians, etc.) who were outside of the
‘official’ Anglican Church of Ireland – which among other things, forbade them
from holding public office, owning land over a certain value and which
prevented legal recognition of their marriages.
The Patterson odyssey
starts in County Tyrone, where they were Presbyterian United Irish radicals who
had to flee in the aftermath of the 1798 rebellion.
One such Presbyterian radical was Francis
Patterson of County Tyrone, who like many other Presbyterians were attracted to
the radical politics of the Society of the United Irishmen. He was thus united
with his fellow ‘Irishmen’ in the Rising of 1798 – a bloody but failed revolt
which attempted to found an Irish republic but which
was ruthlessly crushed after three uncoordinated outbreaks in Leinster Ulster
and Connacht in the summer of that year.
While not captured, Francis Patterson obviously
was known to be a participant and had a price on his head. What to do? Get out
of Ireland before the sheriff arrived, which is exactly what Francis did, along
with his wife Ann Graham (born Ireland circa 1772, married to Francis in 1790),
and their one child born in Ireland (in County Tyrone) in 1792: the Robert
later to be the famous general in the U.S.
There existed networks of people who had
previously emigrated, and Francis undoubtedly was absolutely helped in that
regard. He came to Pennsylvania and settled there, going into some sort of
brokerage of cotton business. It is clear that he knew
about fellow Irish people who had emigrated – specifically the Graham family,
to whom he was related by marriage.
Indeed, one might say that his ‘odyssey’ is
really part of the odyssey of the Graham family. Hugh Graham, born County
Tyrone in 1784, was the youngest of 10 children of the Graham’s. His family had
had their property confiscated, and the father of Hugh, Thomas, and Hugh’s
older brothers, were United Irishmen just as Francis was!
Francis’ wife, Nancy Ann Graham (always
called just ‘Ann) was an older sister of Hugh Graham. Hugh left Ireland at 14
in 1798-99, the same year as Francis himself left. He went to Claiborne County
in East Tennessee, a very sparsely populated region with plenty of land
available in a lovely apart of the Cumberland Gap.
In
America
A 19th century depiction of emigration from
Ireland.
Hugh’s nephew, William Houston, son of another
older sister, Mary, came to America with Hugh in 1799. The interactions between
the Graham relations of Ann Graham Patterson and her husband Francis and their
children are absolutely central to
understanding the Irish Odyssey of Francis. Virtually the whole Graham clan
eventually came to Claiborne County from Ireland, to include prominently Hugh’s
older brother William Graham in 1810 who became closely involved in the
business affairs of his brother Hugh and nephew William Houston thereafter.
The whole Graham clan became very wealthy
landowners in Claiborne County and, yes, were slaveholders. William Graham
married a Chamberlain, and thus the use of that name as a middle name. Many
children received as a middle name that of a relative and we will see how
‘Houston’ and ‘Chamberlain’ were so used by the Pattersons
and Grahams for various of their children, to include the youngest of General
Robert, William Houston Patterson, and William Chamberlain for the youngest son
of Francis and Ann Graham Patterson.
The Grahams, in-laws of the Patterson’s, had
settled in east Tennessee and became wealthy slaveholding landowners. They
helped the Patterson’s to also settle in this area.
William Graham, an older brother of Hugh and
Ann Graham: had been in rebellion with Robert Emmet 1802-03 and as said came to
Tennessee in 1810 and went into business with Hugh and his nephew William
Houston. William became very wealthy, owned a general store with William
Houston as well as extensive farm acreage. He actually went
to Richmond and was involved in purchasing slaves to be brought to Tennessee.
But, prior to his own death in 1840, William freed his 300 slaves, having
previously bought large acreage for them to settle on in free Ohio.
He saw to their transport there with all the
implements needed to be successful farmers, and free; and even put up a surety
bond with the State of Ohio against their ever becoming a charge to that State.
Rather remarkable and shows that not all the Grahams remained steadfast to the
‘peculiar institution’ of slavery. The cost of what William did have to be
enormous. Undoubtedly William’s wealth was spread among his Graham relatives at
his death (without any children), but his manumission and caring for his former
bondsmen is worthy of great note. He didn’t just ‘free’ people, he provided that they would have a future.
Francis Patterson and his wife Ann Graham had
three children born in Pennsylvania, James M. in 1799, Mary c. 1800, and
Frances Jane in 1806. It would then appear that at about the time of the start
of the War of 1812 Francis decided himself to go to live in Claiborne County in
Eastern Tennessee, that decision clearly related to the Graham relations of his
wife being there. Or perhaps she made the decision for him; so, he purchased a
large tract of land and emigrated there.
His last child, William Chamberlain, was born
there in 1813 (while the oldest son Robert was in the army fighting the
British, and beginning to build his reputation as a soldier, mustering out in
1815 as a Lieutenant Colonel, and having received a ‘regular’ army commission
as well during his service). Mary the oldest daughter married her cousin
William Houston in Tennessee circa 1825 (no children but much ’fostering’ of
various nephews and nieces as will be mentioned later).
Francis stayed on permanently in Tennessee
though documented as making trips back to Pennsylvania. We know that son
Robert took over the business dealings in Philadelphia. On that front Robert
built his business to the point of becoming a millionaire by the time of the
Mexican War mid-1840’s. And we know that Francis’ youngest son William C. born
in Tennessee went to Philadelphia to work with Robert and stayed there for the
rest of his life. More on William Chamberlain later.
William Graham a lifelong slave-owner, freed
his slaves shortly before his death and paid for them to live in the free
State of Ohio.
Francis died in 1845, but well before that
strong connections were also made with the prestigious, wealthy and influential
Fulkerson family of East Tennessee and Lee County, Western Virginia – all in
the Cumberland Gap area. Peter Fulkerson (1764-1847) had a total of ten
children, and one, Dr. James, became the husband of Francis’ daughter Frances
J., in 1832. And another of his children, Margaret, became the wife of
Francis’ son James M. This is documented as happening in 1832 in Lee County,
Virginia.
This was probably a ‘double wedding’ of sister
and brother to sister and brother! All then living in Claiborne County,
Tennessee for their lives! And parenting many children which I will also cover
– for their story is part of the military conflict of the Civil War. Families
in Tennessee ended up fighting on opposite sides and the Patterson’s were one
such family.
Robert Patterson:
American Soldier
The battle of Chrubusco
in 1847 during the Mexican American War.
Robert Patterson of Philadelphia, War of 1812 veteran, volunteered for the
colors for the Mexican War, and indeed he performed conspicuously gallant
service. He rose to be Major General of U.S. Volunteers, in charge by war’s end
of all the volunteer regiments/brigades.
He was one of the heroes of the war. Mustered
out, he started the to be very prestigious ‘Aztec Club’, based in Philadelphia
and limited to all officers who served in Mexico, as an
hereditary society. He remained active in that endeavor until his death, being
President of the club – which kept him in contact with all the major military
figures who were members.
Robert Patterson, a first-generation Ulster
Scots immigrant became a prominent US soldier and served in the War
of 1812, the Mexican American War and as a Major General in the Union Army
in the Civil War.
Summoned to active duty again for the Civil
War, one of the oldest for field command at age almost 70, he won a few small
skirmishes in the Shenandoah Valley as Major General of Volunteers. But was severely
criticized for not supporting properly during the First Battle of Bull Run.
Robert left the army and was never asked back, in July 1861, at the time of the
termination of service for the ‘3 month’ Pennsylvania troops which were within
his command.
He wrote a book published in 1865, justifying
his record. And continued with his business and Aztec Club activities right up
to his death in 1881 at close to 90 years of age! Whatever his error in the
Civil War, he remained in high regard for his life’s work. At his Presbyterian
funeral, his pallbearers ex-President General Grant, then General-of-the-Army
General Sherman, and Generals Porter and Hancock, as well as there being
attendance by numerous other generals and by many of the top political and business
echelon of the United States. An impressive sendoff for a boy born in County
Tyrone who escaped to the U.S. with his fleeing father in 1798-99!
Now turning to his brother William
Chamberlain, born Tennessee 1813 but who went back to work with Robert in
Pennsylvania: he was not only in the family business, but he also became the 2nd President of the
Pennsylvania Railroad and altogether had a most prosperous career. He died in
1883, much praised also but for his civilian accomplishments and not for anything
military. He had married Caroline Ellmaker, born 1816
in Pennsylvania, and had 6 children, 3 boys and 3 girls.
He was referred to later in life as ‘Colonel’
but there does not appear to a record active Civil War service for him, so most
probably that was from some service in a militia regiment which was not called
up. No Civil War service noted for the sons of William Chamberlain, whose own
middle name reflected the surname of the wife of his uncle William Graham (died
1840, previously discussed).
As stated previously, James M., the brother
born 1799 in Pennsylvania, stayed on forever in Tennessee, and died in 1883. He
as said had married Margaret Fulkerson. They had 6
children, 4 of whom were boys. Likewise, his sister Frances Jane
lived her life in Claiborne County from the first emigration of her father
Francis and mother Ann Graham, being married to Dr. James Fulkerson (who died
relatively young in 1859, prior to the start of the Civil War).
Frances J. (‘Fanny’) was born in 1806 and
still alive at the Census of 1880 with some adult children living with her. She
and her husband had had a total of 8 children, 6 boys. It was mentioned that
James M’s and Frances’ older sister, Mary, had married her cousin William
Houston and lived her life in Claiborne County also, but left no children.
A family divided by Civil
War
Union propaganda in Tennessee, depicting
secessionist John Bell as a traitor to the Union. (courtesy of Middle Tennessee
State University)
Let us turn now more specifically to the
descents from five children of Francis Patterson and Ann Graham Patterson.
Firstly, it is obvious that there was strong intercourse between the
branches of the family in Philadelphia (Robert and William Chamberlain) and
those in Tennessee (Mary, James M. and Frances J.). Clearly there was much
travel both ways, visits, etc. from 1815 until the start of the Civil War (with
a few of the Tennessee children working in the Philadelphia business – nephews
of Robert and William C.). Let me start with a digression to explain the
situation ‘on the ground’ in East Tennessee at the beginning of the Civil War.
While Robert Patterson
served as a senior officer in the Union army, the Grahams, his cousins, were
diehard Confederates.
That part of Tennessee had voted for Abraham
Lincoln and remained strongly unionist in general. But there were many
Confederates as well of course, with military formations formed for service in
the Confederate army. It was a major objective of President Lincoln to control
East Tennessee after the larger portion of the state was captured early in the
war. But the ‘rebs’ held on until after the battle of
Chickamauga in September 1863, and it wasn’t until January 1864 that East
Tennessee was freed from Confederate control. While the area was strongly
unionist in general, there was as said a not insignificant number of “secessionists”.
And these included mainly those of the
wealthier class. And those in Claiborne County were the Grahams and Fulkerson’s,
all related to Francis Patterson and his wife Ann Graham. Ann’s brother Hugh,
the 1798 emigrant from Ireland was indeed extremely wealthy and his home was
the ‘showcase’ mansion of the county, shades of ‘Tara’ in Gone With The Wind.
Used as a headquarters for the Confederates,
after the occupation by the Yanks it served that purpose for them as well. Hugh
Graham had died in 1863 having sired seven lovely daughters and brought them up
with a classical education and with much ‘courtly’ refinement – a history
covered in several books and only mentioned here to complete the situation ‘on
the ground’ for the Patterson’s in East Tennessee.
It should finally be pointed out that the
Civil War from the ‘Yank’ viewpoint was one to ‘save the Union’, and from the
‘Reb’ viewpoint to safeguard ‘States Rights’. Lincoln stressed that it was
about the indissolubility of the union, and not as a battle against slavery as
such or even for the freedom of the slaves (though by 1863 with the
Emancipation Proclamation the slaves were all eventually freed). The
overwhelming number of southerners who fought and died for the Confederacy were
non-slave-owners and were fighting for ‘local’ rights.
On either side, in short, the vast numbers who
fought would never have rallied to the colors on either side if the war was
presented as fundamentally for or against slavery. The Grahams and Patterson’s
in Tennessee, having fought for ‘local’ rights in Ireland, were by disposition
in favor of the same in the U.S. and while slaveholders those who went ‘with
their state’ did so for ‘States Rights’. While others in the family who went
with the Union did so because of belief in the permanency of the ‘United’
States as ‘the’ issue.
In terms of actual service, three sons and a
son-in-law of our General Robert Patterson served on the Union side during the
Civil War, to include three being generals, two of whom were West Point
graduates. And he had eight nephews who served with distinction in the
Confederate Army – to include several receiving battle honors/wounds and one
being killed in action. The nephews were the sons of Robert’s sister
Frances and brother James M.
Conclusion
Francis Patterson and his wife Ann Graham
Patterson wound up having a total of 27 grandchildren. This paper has not gone
into any detail about the marriages and children of the grandchildren (the
great-grandchildren had to number close to 100)! There are many many descendants today and they can point back to a most
interesting family odyssey, all started by the escape from Ireland by Francis
Patterson, United Irishman!
by Chevalier William F.K. Marmion,
M.A.
Main
Sources
T. Pakenham, The Year of Liberty:
the Great Irish Rebellion
of 1798 (1969)
W.E.H. Lecky, History of Ireland in the 18th Century (1881)
Lt Col M.M. Boatner, US Army, The Civil War
Dictionary (1959)
Life of General Robert Patterson, Wikipedia article on the
internet
Civil War Records of Tennessee Confederate Soldiers 1861-65,
available on the internet
Robert Patterson complete family history on Find A Grave
website, plus various obituaries of General Patterson from
a number of Philadelphia and Washington D.C. newspapers
U.S. Census Reports, 1820 to 1870, for Pennsylvania and
Tennessee
S. Cottrell, Civil War in Tennessee (2002)
O. Temple, East Tennessee and the
Civil War (1899)
Return to Lost pieces of the history
of the little town of Tazewell, Tennessee