A Tree Does Not Sustain One Leaf

by Sue Ward~

In this research challenge, I was looking for the ancestry of a man named Rowland Patterson. Studying the early census records and eliminating families for whom Rowland Patterson would not qualify as their son was the beginning point.  Rowland was born in 1790 so his parents must be the correct age and in the right location. There was only one candidate left standing who met all the qualifications.

If someone was counted in the 1790 census, the likelihood of them being a veteran from the Revolutionary War is high.  Knowing the origins of a surname is helpful (in this case many thought Ireland, but in reality it was Scotland; Patterson was an Ulster Scot). A search of military records for all Pattersons revealed Alexander Patterson who was born about 1751, in Ireland.  More Pattersons who were veterans were found from this same region.

Passenger lists was the logical place to look next.  Sure enough, several Pattersons were found. Those hits on Ancestry directed me to specific books (also found on Ancestry) to learn more about these immigrants, A Compilation of the Original Lists of Protestant Immigrants to South Carolina, 1763-1773, and Scotch-Irish Migration to South Carolina, 1772. These sources provided their names, other family members and in some cases their ages. The place and date of departure is shown along with the date of arrival at their destination.  The English Crown awarded immigrants land bounties from 1761-1773 to those who could pay and those who could not pay.  The breakdown of awards helped determine primary immigrant, spouse, children, married or single status.

The South Carolina Department of Archives online was searched for all records.  Their land records were readily available, some with plat maps showing neighbors or surveyors names.  But also included in those various hits are wills and will transcripts.  These are a goldmine!  Through this, I was able to identify virtually all of the Pattersons in the early censuses.  It was easy to identify Samuel, John and Mary (who married John Pressly) as siblings.  Surely, there were others.  Using this method of exclusion (wills naming relatives) again helped to identify the names of possible other siblings.

Names, dates and place as common denominators through the immigration books, land records of all types, war records (including service records, muster rolls, pension records and land bounties) census substitutes, census and wills, were critical elements to finding these people.  In most cases, records from their country of departure are pursued, but in this case, there are no known records before 1800 in Ireland, when they became required by law.  With what little there was to begin with, these findings are quite pleasing.

Now we know the identity of John Patterson and dozens of other family members. You can find the research on the Research page of trustygenealogist.com.

A tree does not sustain one leaf.