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Descendents of William James Patterson (6 Mar 1812 - 11 Dec 1892)
and Sarah Ann Jane Dibblee (3 May 1820 - 8 Nov 1855)

Patterson genealogy in a single pdf or MS Word file.

Digital extracts from the family bible of William Patterson.

Link to maps showing relative concentration of the
Patterson surname in the United Kingdom in 1881 and 1998.

 

First Immigrant Generation
**************************************************
Entry last updated 22 January 2008
Please contact Tim Patterson (tim.patterson@carleton.ca)
to provide additional data, or to correct any errors.

1. William James Patterson. Born 6 Mar 1812 in Berwick, Scotland. Died 11 Dec 1892 in Harvey. Buried in Harvey Settlement Cemetery. Occupation Farmer.

	Nearly perfectly preserved large format hand tinted *crayon portrait photograph of premmaturely gray widower William Patterson dating from the early 1860's. Photograph was accidentally discovered acting as the backing of another portrait photograph of James 'Jim' Coburn and Elizabeth H. 'Bessie' Swan on July 27, 2006. The Coburn portrait hung in the home of George 'Hazen' Patterson and Elizabeth Etta 'Pearl' Coburn' before being passed to descendants. The portrait was placed in 'storage' and forgotten some time after their marriage in 1918 until its rediscovery. *Hand colored crayon portrait photographs were created by first making a thin print enlargement from a glass negative using a solar enlarger. This was quite a tricky technique as the photography had to track the sun with his lens and it took from 20 mins to 2 hours to complete the process. Unfortunately the enlargments were usually mounted on a cheap back board, impacting their long-term preservation. The artist then set to work with various charcoal pastes or 'soups' as they were known, blending and erasing as required. Later techniques employed airbrushes and india ink as the advance speeded up the process considerably.
Medium sized pop up image 700 X 884, 180 dpi, 164 k	Full sized pop up image 1852 X 2340, 180 dpi, 2893 k
Full sized pop up image (4X6 crop for printing) 1872 X 2808, 180 dpi, 3021 k Full sized pop up image (8X10 crop for printing) 1852 X 2315, 180 dpi, 2877 k	Source: Original photograph in collection of Luanna (Patterson) Culberson, Woodstock, New Brunswick. Posted image taken by Tim Patterson July 27, 2006. Only modification from original image is a slight increase in saturation and repair of three minor rips in the margins.

    William Patterson came to New Brunswick as a single young man on the Brig Cornelius of Sunderland in 1837, with the first settlers of Harvey.    He formally commenced settlement of Land Grant Lot #9 second tier (South), 98 acres, in Harvey Settlement in 1841, receiving formal title to the land in 1851 when he received his deed along with many other of the Harvey Settlers.

He was married to Sarah Ann Jane Dibblee on 28 Mar 1842 in Fredericton. By Reverend Daniel McCurdy (Presbyterian) 

    From Weekly Chronicle, Saint John, 8 Apr 1842:   "Married Fredericton, York Co., by Rev. D. McCurdy, Wednesday, William Patterson, Harvey and Miss Sarah Ann Jane Dibblee, Fredericton parish."

    PANB #F15551, p. 189:   "William Patterson of the Parish of Kingsclear and Sarah Anne Jane Dibble of the Parish of Fredericton were married by Banns being of age this Thirteenth day of March one thousand eight hundred and forty two by me   -- Danl McCurdy, Minister.  

    This marriage was solomnized between us:   William Patterson, Sarah Anne Jane Dibble

    In the presence of Isabella Johnston, John Johnston, William Robison."

    They had the following children:
2 i. William George Patterson
3 ii. James Wesley "Jim" Patterson
4 iii. Margaret Isabel "Belle" Patterson
5 iv. Alexander Robert Patterson

According to the 1844 agricultural return by L.A. Wilmot, Commissioner for Harvey Settlement (p. xciv) in 1843 William Patterson had 10 acres in crop, 4 acres of new land prepared for crop the next year, 6 acres of meadow, 1 acre in pasture for a total of 21 acres of improved land. During the 1843 season he produced 5 tons of hay, 3 tons of straw, 330 bushels of potatoes, 16 bushels of wheat, 100 bushels of oats, and 15 bushels of barley and buckwheat. He had 2 cows and 3 calves, 1 horse, 4 swine. He had a house, barn and two other out buildings. The total value of his land and improvements was estimated at £120, although Commissioner Wilmot notes that as these estimates “is exclusive of the Buildings,... no Settler would part with his Lot at the stated value.” These returns compare very favorably with the agricultural production of settlers who had taken up their farms as much as 5 years earlier. This suggests that although William Patterson only took up formal occupation of his farm in 1842 he obviously was working his eventual grant at least part time prior to moving to Harvey with his new wife. With the long commute through the woods it would have taken a lot of effort to prepare this much land. Perhaps he boarded with friends in the community for months at a time in the years between 1838 and 1842 to get his land ready for occupation. Some settlers (e.g. William Grieve - see Johnstone 1851) took advantage of higher wages earned elsewhere to hire men within Harvey Settlement to clear land for them when they were not in residence. William Patterson may also have made a similar arrangement to have had so much land cleared and in crop, not to mention a house, barn, and outbuildings, within a year of obtaining his grant.

    The 1851 Census indicate that both William and Sarah Ann are "Scotch" and came to N.B. in 1837, and were farmers.   In 1851 they had four children, all born in New Brunswick.    Sarah Ann was actually a New Brunswick native and most likely a descendant of one of two Dibblee brothers Frederick or more likely Fyler, United Empire Loyalists who came to the province from Connecticut in 1783.

Sarah died in 1855 of unknown causes when she was only 35 leaving William to care for their young family. She is buried in the Harvey Settlement Cemetery. Date of death was determined from an entry in a Patterson family bible (Beryl Johnston, April 1990) and from the inscription on a heavily damaged gravestone in Harvey Settler Cemetery, which reads “In memory of Sarah A.J. wife of William Patterson, died 8th Nov 1855 (rest broken off). In 1998 the pieces of the broken stone were placed in a bed of marble chips.

	Gravestone in Harvey Settlement Cemetery; Section A, Row 13, Plot 146 (on north side of gravel road # 1). Stone broken off, pieces placed on bed of marble chips, 1998:   In memory of SARAH A.J. wife of William Patterson, died 8th Nov 1855 (rest broken off) Medium Sized Pop-up Image 700 X 1050 jpeg; 178 k; 72 dpi Full Sized Pop-up Image 2048 X 3048 jpeg; 3372 k; 72 dpi

	Medium sized pop up image 700 X 1051, 72 dpi, 231 k Full sized pop up image 1909 X 2867, 180 dpi, 3053 k

Unaltered tintype images of Widower William James Patterson (6 March 1812 - 12 Dec 1892) flanked by sons Alexander 'Sandy' Robert Patterson (20 March 1849 - ? left) and James 'Jim' Wesley Patterson (29 February 1844 - 19 May 1918). The apparent ages of Sandy and Jim are about 7-8 and 12-13 respectively indicating that the photograph was probably taken circa 1857-1858, during the spring or summer months, after the death of William's wife Sarah A.J. Dibblee in Nov 1855. The photograph may have been taken out doors at the Patterson farm by a traveling photographer. This scenario is suggested by there being grass under foot and by a tarp hung up behind them. A bit of the yard is visible in the lower right corner of the photo that the tarp does not quite cover. The two images are nearly identical with the exception of there being a piece of hay sticking up in front of William Patterson's crossed let in the left image and Alexander Patterson's face being somewhat out of focus. These problems undoubtedly resulted in the photographer taking the more successful image to the right. The tarp used as a background in this image is remarkably similar to that found in a similar tintype image of John Moffitt (who died in 1859) and his wife Ellen (Nellie) Davidson. An itinerant photography may have passed through Harvey Settlement taking photographs of several families. It is interesting that entrepreneurial photographers were fanning out to rural communities like Harvey Settlement so soon after tintype technology was developed in 1855. Although the images may have been taken at roughly the same time the images were not taken during the same sitting as the Moffitt image though as the chair that was used in each image is different and the folds in the tarp are different. The boys were growing quickly as indicated by the tight fit of their Sunday jackets. There are unfortunately no known photographs of Sarah. William Patterson emigrated to Canada aboard the Cornelius of Sunderland in 1837 and was a founding pioneer of Harvey Settlement. Source: Left image: Original tintype image was in possession of Hazen Patterson, Tweedside and was rephotographed by Tim Patterson in 1985. Right image: Original tintype image is in collection of Beryl (Swan) Johnston, Harvey Station, N.B. Rephotographed by Tim Patterson, summer 2005.

    In the 1861 Census, William owned 70 acres improved, and 28 acres unimproved land; cash value of farm, 250 pounds, value of implements and machinery, 12 pounds.    He had two horses, 3 milch cows, 2 working oxen, 5 other neat cattle, 16 sheep, 3 swine, slaughtered 700 lb. pork; produced 150 lb. butter, 40 lb. wool, 15 tons hay, 300 bu. oats, 30. bu. buckwheat, 2 bu. peas, 4 bu. timothy, 20 bu. turnips and 150 bu. potatoes.

_________________________________________________________________________
Census 1881 District No. 30 York County S. District of Manners Sutton page 23, Line 14
Schedule No 1 - Nominal Return of the Living
Enumerator: Alexander Hay
Houses Inhabited: 92; Families: 95
Scanned image of original census page 1333 X 1000; 466 k

Name	Sex	Age	County or Province of Birth	Religion	Origin	Occupation	Marital Status	Going to School
Patterson, William	M	69	Scotland	Prseby	Scotch	Farmer	W
" William Jr	M	38	NB	"	"	D	M
" Margaret	F	40	"	"	"		"
" Jane	F	13	"	"	"			I
" Wesley	M	11	"	"	"			I
" George	M	9	"	"	"
" Sarah	F	5	"	"	"
" Charles	M	7	"	"	"			I
" Olive	F	2	"	"	"
" Isabella	F	35	"	"	"	Servant
" Alexander	M	32	"	"	"	Shoe Maker
Craig, William	M	23	NB	Methodist	English	Labourer

 

Carte-de-Visite image of William Patterson taken late in his life. Photographer was UK photographer J. Beard, Reigate, Surrey. Since William never returned to the United Kingdom the photographer must have been making a swing through New Brunswick. Source: Hazen Patterson collection, Tweedside. Rephotographed by Tim Patterson, 1985. Hazen Patterson has subsequently passed away and location of original is now unknown. Medium sized pop up image 700 X 1050, 350 dpi, 223 k Full sized pop up image (4X6 crop for printing) 1399 X 2098, 208 dpi, 1,140 k Full sized pop up image (8X10 crop for printing) 1661 X 2081, 208 dpi, 1,176 k

William Patterson died at his home on 11 Dec, 1892 after being in failing health for about three years.

    Copied from newspaper obituary, Dec 1892:
    HARVEY STATION
    Dec 15 -- Wm Patterson, sr., one of the oldest residents of Harvey, died at his home on Monday morning, the 12th inst., aged 81 years.
  He was a native of Berwick, Scotland, and came to Harvey fifty-six years ago.
  Among the first settlers, he went into the green woods and by hard work he made for himself a fine farm on which he lived till the time of his death.  Deceased was an elder in the Presbyterian church for upwards of thirty years, and took a leading part in church and Sunday school work until about three years ago, when failing health compelled him to retire.   He leaves two sons and one daughter, the latter residing in Haverhill, Mass.   The funeral took place on Tuesday afternoon and was well attended.   Mr Patterson was a man of much worth and had many friends.

From The Daily Sun, Saint John, 21 Dec 1892:
Harvey (York Co.) Dec 18 -- Thomas Mowatt, who died at Harvey 13th inst., was born in the village of Ford in the North of England on May 4th, 1809 and thus in the 84th year of his age. Before emigrating to New Brunswick he was in charge of a grist mill. He joined a colony of emigrants who sailed from Berwick-on-Tweed in the "Cornelius" in May 1837 and landed in St. John in July and was located at Harvey at that time an unbroken forest. He had charge of a grist mill at Woodstock for two years, but after that he joined the pioneers at Harvey and shared with them their struggles. The 13th saw the last remains of Wm Patterson, sr., aged 81, laid in his last resting place. Mr Mowatt and Mr Patterson were fellow emigrants and lived as neighbors. Mr Mowatt was the father of Rev. A. J. Mowatt, late of Fredericton, now stationed at Montreal.

View of the original William Patterson homestead from Patterson Road. Source: Tim Patterson, 2005.	Patterson homestead. According to 2005 owner Raymond Nichol this was the third home built on the site by William Patterson. Source: Tim Patterson, 2005.
Medium sized pop up image 700 X 467, 72 dpi, 145 k Full sized pop up image 3072 X 2048, 180 dpi, 4734 k	Medium sized pop up image 700 X 467, 72 dpi, 172 k Full sized pop up image 3072 X 2048, 180 dpi, 4562 k
Exterior view of barn at Patterson homestead. According to 2005 owner Raymond Nichol this barn was made of three smaller barns that were moved together. Source: Tim Patterson, 2005.	Initials "W.W. 1885" carved into a beam on the interior of the barn. Source: Tim Patterson, 2005.
Medium sized pop up image 700 X 467, 72 dpi, 135 k Full sized pop up image 3072 X 2048, 180 dpi, 5259 k	Medium sized pop up image 700 X 467, 72 dpi, 135 k Full sized pop up image 3072 X 2048, 180 dpi, 5097 k
View of interior of Patterson homestead barn showing complicated beam structure. Source: Tim Patterson, 2005.	View interior of Patterson homestead barn showing hay mow and lower level. Source: Tim Patterson, 2005.
Medium sized pop up image 700 X 1050, 72 dpi, 317 k Full sized pop up image 2048 X 3072, 180 dpi, 5090 k	Medium sized pop up image 700 X 1050, 72 dpi, 292 k Full sized pop up image 2048 X 3072, 180 dpi, 5261 k

 

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