THE ANCESTRY OF JAMES PATTEN THE ANCESTRY OF JAMES PATTEN 1747?-1817 OF ARUNDEL (KENNEBUNKPORT) MAINE BY WALTER GOODWIN DA VIS PORTLAND, MAINE THE SOUTHWORTH-.ANTHOENSEN PRESS 1941 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Vil I. MATTHEW PATTEN OF BIDDEFORD 1 II. HECTOR p A TTEN OF SACO 11 III. WILLIAM PATTEN OF Bosnrn 43 IV. RonERT PATTEN oF ARUNDEL HJ V. WILLIAM PATTEN 01<' WELLS ,·0 VI. JOHNSTON OF STROUDWATER. 89 INDEX 105 INTRODUCTION 'I'HE title of this pamphlet, The Ancestry of James Patten, is to a great extent deceptive, for on the paternal side James Patten's father is his only "ancestor" now, or likely to be, discovered, while on the maternal side we can trace a slight three generations to a shadowy great-grandfather. However, the pamphlet is the sev­ enth in a series dealing with the ancestry of my great-great­ grandparents, and for the sake of uniformity it is so entitled. Actually it deals with the descendants of six men who emigrated to New England in the early years of the eighteenth century, four of them being the brothers Matthew Patten of Biddeford, Hector Patten of Saco, Robert Patten of Arundel, and '\Villiam Patten of Boston. The fifth, ·william Patten of Wells, presumably a close kinsman of the brothers, is included as by so doing all of the Pat­ ten emigrants who settled in Maine are conveniently grouped in one volume, while the sixth, James Johnston, finds an appropriate place herein as his granddaughter was James Patten's mother. All of these men were of Scotch descent, springing from fami­ lies which left Scotland in the seventeenth century, encouraged by the British government, to settle in the northern counties of Ireland which formed the ancient kingdom of Ulster, where they became a tough and unwelcome minority. After nearly a hundred years of religious, political and economic struggle, siege and famine, which resulted in an ingrained hatred both for the Celtic Irish and for the English, hundreds of Ulster Scots prepared to undertake the long voyage to America. Soon all of the colonies from Maine to Georgia began to receive these new-comers, almost as foreign to the original English stock as they had been to the Irish. Some few remained in the seaport towns where their voyage ended, but, clannish to an extreme, the great majority settled in large groups on the fringes of colonial population where new land could be had for a low price. To distinguish them from the ethnic Irish whose emigration did not begin in force until the middle years of the nineteenth century, American historians have called them the "Scotch-Irish." This convenient term is very annoying to writers of Irish descent whose chosen field has been the contri­ bution of the people of Ireland to American life, but as many descendants of these later emigrants, after a hundred years in America, persist in calling themselves "Irish-Americans," or simply Irish, their objections to the use of "Scotch-Irish" seem somewhat childish. Vlll In.troduction It is my belief that our Patten family originated in Scotland and not in England. Since surnames have existed, there have been Pa tons, Pattons and Pattens in the central and lowland counties of Scotland and in the nineteenth century about fifteen in every ten thousand Scots bore the name. The few Patten families in northern England are more likely to be of Scottish stock than descendants of twelfth-century lords of "Patine" in the southern county of Essex, a place which, by the way, is not mentioned in the histories of Essex or in the topographical dictionaries of England. Burke's Landed Gentry which Mr. Lower gives as evi­ dence for "Patine" in his Patronym,ica Brittanica, is undoubt­ edly the worst possible authority. Some writers on the subject of surnames suggest that the name is occupational, being given to makers of pattens or clogs, others suggest that it is a diminu-­ tive of Patrick, that given-name having always been common in Scotland. Patterson, a frequent Scotch name, is usually said to be derived from Patrick's son. The most scientific theory in re-· gard to the meaning of Patten, however, would seem to be that it comes from the word pect (Pict) which was the Saxons' name for the tribes who dwelt in the lowlands of Scotland at the beginning of the historical period.* If the name comes from any or all of these possibilities it is obvious that, when surnames were first adopted in Scotland, many separate and unrelated individuals may have been called Patten and founded families of the ·name. It should not be necessary to point out that spelling was purely a matter of choice before the appearance of Dr. Johnson's diction­ ary, and that in proper names it has to a great extent remained so. One branch of the Maine family of PaHen was quite con­ sistently "Patting" for several decades of the nineteenth cen­ tury. Paton and Patton are at present the commoner spellings in Scotland and the southern states, while Patten is more frequent in England and New England. The public records of Ulster for the seventeenth century are, compared to those of England, practically non-existent, and we cannot hope to discover the parentage of our Maine Pattens. That the name was widely borne in Ulster is obvious from the fact that Pattens are found in more than average numbers in the Scotch-Irish settlements in Georgia, Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and :Maine. To successfully leap the gap between Ireland and Scotland is even more remotely improbable. Inas­ much as the use of a coat-of-arms is a personal right inherited • See Surnames Ma Science, by Robert Ferguson, M.P., F.S.A. (Scot.), 1884, p. 87. Introduction IX by a provable male descent from a legal grantee or an ancestor whose arms have been generally recognized, it follows that the Maine Pattens, whose European ancestry is totally unknown, have no shadow of a claim to the arms of an English or Scotch family of Patten. The common possession of a surname has in itself nothing whatever to do with the common possession of a coat-of-arms, and the proprieties arc violated in exactly the same degree when a Maine Patten adopts and uses the coat of the Pat­ tens of county Lancaster as when he adopts and uses the coat of the Stuarts or the Tudors. It was possibly the publication of Mr. Folsom's History of Saco and Biddeford in 1830 and the researches which Mr. Brad­ bury may have already begun for his History of Kennebunkport which first aroused an interest in genealogy in our Patten family. 3 1 In 1830 Capt. John Patten (Robert2, Matthew ), then living in 3 1 Portland, wrote to Capt. Hugh Patten (Actor,2 Robert ) in Topsham asking what he knew about the origin of the family. Capt. Hugh referred the matter to John4 Patten (Robert,3 2 1 John, Hector ) of Bowdoinham who wrote the following letter which has fortunately been preserved.* Bowdoinham, May 10, 1830 DEAR Sm, A letter from you to Mr. Hugh Patten of Topsham, was, a few days ago, put into my hands, requesting information respecting our ancestors. The following I have collected from my father, now nearly 87 years of age, & is all that I am in possession of on the subject. Whether correct or not, I have no means of determining; but such as it is, I com­ municate it with pleasure. My father's grandfather, Actor Patten, was born in Ire­ land, county of Derry & town of Dimbo, Colerain being the principal market town in the vicinity. He came to America, probably as you state, in company with his brothers ,viI­ liam and Hobert, about the year 1727, his oldest son, John Patten, my grandfather, being then ten or eleven years old. He landed in Boston & from Boston came to Falmouth now Portland & settled in Saco, in a part of said town then called Old Orchard. After residing in Saco about 40 years, he re­ moved, a short time before the war of the Revolution, to Frcnclmrnn's Bay where he died, but at what time or at what * Now in the hands of Eliza (Ward) LeGallee of Biddeford Pool. a great-grand­ daughter of Capt. John Patten. X fotroduction age is unknown. His first wife's name was Suter, his second he married in this country, a widow, of the name of Arm­ strong. He was an Elder in the church to which he belonged in Ireland, & was esteemed a very religious man. He was a Protestant, & in his religious opinions, a Calvinist. His an­ cestors came to Ireland from Scotland, but at what period is unknown. He had three sons, John, William & Matthew. William has no male descendants now living, those of John and Matthew are considerably numerous. His brother Wil­ liam settled & died in Boston, & his descendants are now ex­ tinct. His youngest brother Robert settled in Saco or vi­ cinity, & was the grandfather 'of Mr. Hugh Patten of Top­ sham. Of his other brother, Matthew, who came over, it seems, first to this country, I have learnt nothing in addition to what is stated in your letter. The Pattens in Topsham & vicinity all descended from Actor & Robert. Hector & Actor are names undoubtedly of the same individual, & the same, mentioned by you, as living in Saco in 1739. Yours respectfully JOHN PATTEN. Three years later John Patten again wrote to another John Patten, who from the context would appear to be John4 (Actor,3 1 Actor,2 Robert ), and there are a few additions and variations in this second letter.