PATTERSON Family

in Scotland

CLAN PATTERSON  PATERSON or PATRICKSON simply means 'son of Patrick', and as such has been a favourite Christian name throughout Scotland since pre-Reformation times. Surprisingly, in Ireland it only became popular as a forename after 1600, probably due to its introduction by the Scots settlers in Ulster. As a surname Paterson belongs to no one district, and appears first in old Scottish records in 1446 when William Patrison and John Patonson appear as witnesses in Aberdeen. By the 16th century a dynasty of Patersons were landholders in Fife, and of this line Hew Paterson became a writer in Edinburgh before purchasing the Barony of Bannockburn, near Stirling. His son, also Hugh, became the first Baronet of a line of Jacobite sympathisers who entertained Prince Charlie following the battle of Falkirk in the '45 Rising. Here the Prince met Clementina Walkinshaw, whose mother was the sister of the previous Baronet. She followed him to France in 1751 and bore him a child, Charlotte, 'Countess of Albany', but whether or not they married remains conjecture. William Paterson (1658-1719) was author of the ill-fated Darien Scheme to settle Panama and was originator of the plan for the Bank of England. Paterson is a Lowland rendering of MacPatrick, a name occurring in bonds of manrent given by the Maclarens of Balquidder to the Campbells of Glenorchy in the 16th century and it is probably for this reason that the MacPatricks and Patersons are claimed as a sept of MacLaren. Likewise, some MacPatricks, Patersons, or Patricks, not related to those of MacLaren stock, are said to have been aliases of Lamonts, descended from Baron MacPatrick, ancestor of the Lamonts of Cowstone. The former claim that Patersons are also a sept of Clan Farquharson will not stand examination and such is now largely discredited. Another source of Paterson may also have been MacPhedran or MacFetridge (son of Peter or Patrick), and reference is made to a 'Clan Pheadirean' (Patersons) whose home was on the north side of Lochfyne, but they are said to be a sept of the MacAulays of Ardincaple. The MacFatridges in Nova Scotia are equated to Patersons. Those considering themselves members of the clans MacLaren or Lamont, may wear their tartans and display the relevant crest and motto of the present Chief. Loyalty must be based on available genealogical or geographical evidence but in the absence of any such definite evidence the MacLaren connection is the strongest.

Contributed by James Pringle Weavers to Clans of Scotland: Patterson History

Like many Scots, they immigrated to America via Ireland where they lived 10-15 to 100 years, and the majority of Pattersons in Augusta Co., VA sailed to the port of Philadelphia and lived in its three earliest counties of Bucks, Chester (original 1682 counties), and Lancaster (taken out of Chester 1729). Some Pattersons stayed in PA and others spread southward.

The largest Patterson family in Augusta Co. consisted of children of William Patterson and his wife from Wigtown, Ayrshire, Scotland (now the "National Book Town" of Scotland):

Wigtown Centre has monument to its Covenanters	Bladnoch Standing Stone near Wigtown

I knew that my Grandpa Ross's mother's Daugherty and Magill ancestors immigrated from Ireland to Pennsylvania in 1727 ~ on or soon after England's King George II was proclaimed ~ and were in Augusta Co., VA when its records began in Feb 1745. Augusta Co. was created in 1738 with the court's proviso that no services would be established until the population growth justified it. By 1738 both families had settled on Borden's Great Grant in what was Orange Co., VA, and became Augusta and then Rockbridge Co., VA. The two families intermarried, and to a lesser extent, also married some Pattersons in Augusta Co.

Many of the county's Pattersons had an Erwin/Irvin mother. Several Patterson children married Craigs, whose father John Craig was the first Presbyterian minister at Tinkling Springs Baptist Church ~ the first in western Virginia. Rev. Craig baptized several Daugherty, Magill, and Patterson children.

PATTERSON Family ~ PATTERSON in Augusta Co., VA ~ PATTERSON in Tryon Co., NC-SC

PATTERSON in Sevier & McMinn Co., TN ~ Wm. T. PATTERSON Estate, Austin, TX 1891

Tinkling Spring Church in Augusta Co., VA

Another William Tryon Patterson (ca 1765-1838), brother of our Samuel??

Click for a full list of surnames and individuals currently in my data on Rootsweb's WorldConnect Project, then type lastname, firstname in search window, select from list, view &/or print individual, pedigree, register, and alfentanil reports. No living individuals shown.