I would appreciate learning any clues about my ancestor, Tristram PATTON. This is what we know about him, nearly all of which is anecdotal and from many different sources, some published and some from family tradition. (The paper trail in the US is very sketchy and includes nothing about his origins.)
He was born about 1758 in County Tyrone. One source gives his mother’s name as Anne Eliza SIMPSON and his religion as Episcopal.
He came to North America in about 1777 (another source gives the year 1771), working first as a schoolteacher in Philadelphia before moving inland and settling in Virginia sometime after the Revolutionary War.
He married in Virginia in 1808. (We have documentary proof.) His marriage was performed by Rev. William Adair, a Presbyterian minister known as a “Seceder”, and it is of Adair’s church, Associate Reformed Prebyterian, that Tristram is said to have been a member.
The date of Tristram’s death is given as 17 July 1843. (We have documentation for the settlement in April, 1844, of his estate.)
Tristram had an older brother, William, who inherited the family estate in Ireland and did not emigrate. One source writes that, “William, eldest brother of Tristram, inherited the family estate in Ireland according to the British rule of primogeniture, but in default of heirs of his own the property would have gone to those of Tristram”, and “Not long before Tristram Patton's death he was notified to return to Ireland and claim his estate, his elder brother, William, having died without children”.
Tristram had a younger brother, Robert, who came to the United States after Tristram did and lived near Tristram in Virginia, marrying there in 1797. (We have documentary proof of the marriage.) This brother is believed to have died in an accident in 1808, leaving two small sons.
Tristram is said to have had cousins, Robert and Tristram (“Trussy”) PATTON who settled in the same area of Virginia, Robert immigrating in about 1805 with his wife Jean (one source gives her maiden name as RAMSEY) and several children. We believe “Trussy” to be one of Robert’s offspring. Ca. 15 August 1793 is the date given by one source for the birth of Trussy.
William, another child of this cousin Robert, is said to have been born in Londonderry (city? county?) in 1778. Robert, the father of William and Trussy, was born in County Donegal. The same source gives him a death date in Virginia of 1823.
Linda Reverchon
Monday 4th Feb 2013, 06:14PMMessage Board Replies
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Hi,
Thank you for your message.
Unfortunately, it may be difficult to find information on Tristram for two reasons:
1. No exact place of origin- Most Irish record sources- church records, land records, census records- are based on specific locations. Until you know a specific location within Ireland, preferably a parish or placename, it may be difficult to do anything more with these records.
2. The reality of finding documentation pertaining to births/baptisms/marriages/deaths in Ireland prior to 1800 ? particularly in rural areas ? is that they simply may not exist.
One possible course of action is to do a search for William in the Tithe Applotment Books. These were land records that were compiled between 1823 and 1837 in order to determine the amount which occupiers of agricultural holdings should pay in tithes to the Church of Ireland. Although they do not give any genealogical information they can sometimes be used to tie a person to a specific place. I did a search for William Patton and found one result in Tyrone. You can see this here:
The parish listed is Urney-this may be as good a starting point as any for your search. If you would like to look into what church records are available in Urney parish check:
http://ireland.anglican.org/about/42 and http://www.nationalarchives.ie/. The Anglican Record Project is has created an index to their records: http://ireland.anglican.org/cmsfiles/pdf/AboutUs/library/AngRecord/bunclodyunionindex.pdf
You could also try searching for records of William at www.familysearch.org or www.rootsireland.ie (please note that you have to pay to use Roots Ireland)
Some other websites which may be useful to you are:
The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/
The National Library of Ireland http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx
The National Archives UK ? genealogy search: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/
The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm
The Irish Times: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/townlands/index.cfm?fuseaction=TownlandsInCivil&civilparishid=2368&civilparish=Urney&citycounty=Tyrone
Genealogy Links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/tyrone/index.html
You could also contact the Irish World Heritage centre for assistance-a fee may apply.
Irish World Heritage Centre,
51 Dungannon Road,
Coalisland,
Co. Tyrone
B71 4HP
Phone: +44 28 87746065 Email: info@irish-world.com
I hope some of these suggestions are helpful. Best of luck with your research!
Kind regards,
Genealogy Support
Tuesday 9th Apr 2013, 10:21AM