There are volumes of information about our Patton family. Rather than trying to cover it here, I will begin with a little information about the parents of our great grandfather, Samuel E. Patton. They were Col. James Erwin Patton and Mary Catherine Cowsert. James Erwin Patton was born in Buncombe, North Carolina, but moved with his parents to Bedford, Tennessee as a young man. There he met Mary Catherine, and they were married 16 October 1817. By 1830 James and Mary had moved to Ray County, Missouri, and had 6 children, 3 boys and 3 girls. They kept slaves in those years, like the Agees, but in far fewer numbers. In 1820 in TN they had 2 female and 2 male slaves all under 14 years of age. In 1830 they had but 2 female slaves and by 1840, they had none. And, by that year, James and Mary Catherine had 9 children, the last of whom was Daniel. He would live with family for the rest of his life, having been born apparently mentally challenged. (Amusingly, Daniel was referred to as a “priest” in the FamilySearch website of the Mormon Church in their interpretation of the handwriting of a notation on the 1880 census that he was an “idiot,” which rings harsh to our modern sensibilities and ears, but was in common usage in those times. This is a good example of the vagaries and challenges of reading the census.)
Patton family stories tell of the colorful nature of Samuel's father, Col. James Patton. Natalie Campbell Patton said:
James Erwin was quite a "Wheeler-dealer." He first came to Texas about 1832, leaving his family in Ray County, Missouri. By 1844 James had moved his family to the settlement of Red Oak, Ellis County, Texas, near the present site of Ovilla. James was known as "Colonel" to the folks around town as he served in the Mexican War. James has been described as an enterprising, generous and charitable man.
Family Lore #9 - Was this the military title in the Patton line that we heard about?)
Not to belabor, but I thought this was interesting as well, from the Ellis County History Book:
James Erwin Patton was born in North Carolina, lived in Tennessee and by 1830 had moved with his family to Ray County, Missouri. He was a relative of a numerous family in that state, several of whom were ministers of that state. He was a man of honesty and integrity and so un-expecting that he suffered considerable loss financially, believing others as honest as himself. Devoted to his church, though not a sectarian, his hand ever open to the wants of suffering humanity, giving of his means to the institutions of the church and the cause of Christianity. James Erwin had limited education, but was a close observer, reader and thinker, so that he was well posted in church and governmental affairs. He engaged in locating and surveying land, which he continued to follow till the close of his earthly career.
Family Lore #8 - Here is the legend of a Patton Surveyor of Texas.
Samuel E. Patton, our great grandfather, was the 7th child and 4th son of James and Mary Catherine. When the family did finally make the move from MO to TX, when Samuel was about 14, it was to a more stable environment as Texas had by this time eased some of the more volatile of its birth pains. The Handbook of Texas Online has this entry:
RED OAK, TEXAS. Red Oak is on Interstate Highway 35 twenty miles south of Dallas in northern Ellis County. In 1844 James E. Patton and his family settled on Red Oak Creek a few miles southeast of Billingsley Fort, at the site of present Ovilla. The first post office came to the area in 1847 from Mitchell's Branch, two miles from the site of future Red Oak. The settlement was originally called Possum Trot because of the abundance of possums in the area. It was renamed Red Oak after Ellis County was formed in 1849 for the creek. Before the Civil Warqv the principal crop of the local farmers was wheat. In the 1860s an increase in cotton production occurred because more slaves came to the area from other southern states. Cotton was still produced in 1988, although farming was not central to the local economy.
James E. Patton also founded the first church in the area, the Shiloh congregation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, on July 25, 1847. Other churches, including the Baptist and the Methodist, were founded at cemeteries. In 1884 the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad reached Red Oak. The townspeople did not want the trains to disturb the tranquility of the community, so the tracks passed by a mile northwest. The line was finally finished in 1890, connecting Red Oak with Dallas and Waco. The town eventually moved out and centered along the railroad. Fires in 1909 and 1919 caused extensive damage first to the southern and later to the northern part of town. Red Oak was incorporated in 1949. The population was 350 in 1950 and 1,882 in 1980. In 1967 Red Oak was used as the site for three days of filming for the motion picture Bonnie and Clyde. A local woman, Mrs. Mabel Cavitt, made a brief appearance as Bonnie Parker's mother. In 1987 Red Oak had an estimated 2,425 residents, most of whom were commuters to Dallas or Fort Worth. In 1990 the population was 3,124.
Col. James Erwin Patton
1799-1874
Pattons of Texas said of James surveying career:
"Colonel Patton was a surveyor and had much to do with the location of the lands in this (Ellis) and other counties. He was employed to locate the Ellis County school lands. The Colonel was a tall angular man and somewhat eccentric. It is told that the lack of chain or chain-carriers was no obstacle to him. James would take a piece of rawhide, hobble his feet together the length of a foot apart and thus equipped, performed the duties of surveyor and chain-carriers."
The Bureau of Land Management has so many entries for James E. Patton during his lifetime that it defies absorbing. Probably he was privy to a great deal of land speculation during his years as a surveyor. The lands that came and went through his hands were fairly far flung throughout the state. By the time of his death in 1873, his estate was considerably reduced, from what I can gather, however, there were transactions and clarifications being made even after his death, which were attended to and signed by Samuel E. Patton. I have gathered several land transactions of this nature from the Ellis County Court records.
The Texas General Land office has historic maps of the Ellis County area for "surveying location." The images online are too difficult to read, but it would be interesting to find Patton's name on something like this. They do offer copies for sale.
Col. James and Catherine's son, Samuel E. Patton, married Susan Louisa White, the daughter of Robert Macklin White and Mary Jane Gregg, 1 April 1852, in Ellis County, Texas. Louisa was born 28 Dec 1822, and was eight years older than Samuel. Together they produced a family of two sons and three daughters, the last born in 1861.
Samuel served with the Confederacy during the Civil War. He was with Parson's Mounted Volunteers, the 12th Regiment Texas Cavalry. He was a private going in and coming out. This is what we know about this unit.
12th Cavalry Regiment was organized with about 940 men in August, 1861, by Colonel W.H. Parsons. Most of the men were from Hempstead, Fairfield, Georgetown, and Waxahachie, and Ellis and Hill counties. This unit served in Hawes' and Steele's Brigade, Trans-Mississippi Department and skirmished the Federals in Arkansas and Louisiana. During 1865 it was in Northern Texas guarding approaches from the Indian Territory. The regiment was included in the surrender on June 2. Its commanders were Colonel William H. Parsons, Lieutenant Colonels Andrew B. Burleson and John W. Mullen, and Majors Locklin J. Farrar and E. W. Rogers.
After the war, in 1870, Samuel and Louisa were living in Red Oak. Samuel was listed as a 38 yr old farmer with real estate worth $2000, and personal estate of $800. Louisa was a 48 yr old homemaker with all five children still at home. They were; Mary Jane, 16, James E., 15, Cynthia, 13, Sarah M., 11, and Robert, 9.
I have looked high and low for years trying to locate Samuel and Louisa in 1880 without results. I had concluded that Louisa had died by that time and that Samuel was at loose ends, perhaps traveling and so was not listed by the census, however, I finally found at least one Patton researcher who gave a death date for Louisa of 23 Nov 1886. So many of the Pattons and Whites (Louisa's family) were buried in the Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Ovilla, TX, very near Red Oak, that I was sure I would find her there, but she isn't listed in their records online, which is not conclusive evidence. She may be buried there. Some of her children are.