Summary Information
Draper Manuscripts: Robert Patterson Papers
1758-1855
- Patterson, Robert, 1753-1827
Draper Mss MM; Micro 1034
0.6 cubic feet (3 volumes) and 1 reel of microfilm
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers of Robert Patterson, a soldier, magistrate, and legislator from Virginia and Kentucky, and frontier settler and founder of Georgetown and Lexington in Kentucky, and Dayton and Cincinnati in Ohio. Included are papers relating to his military and business careers, as well as his personal life.
Descriptions of the volumes are copied from the Guide to the Draper Manuscripts / by Josephine Harper. Out of date and offensive language may be present. This collection is also available as a microfilm publication. Forms part of the Lyman Copeland Draper Manuscripts. The fifty series included in the Draper Manuscripts have been cataloged individually. See the Draper Manuscripts Overview, and the Guide to the Draper Manuscripts / by Josephine Harper (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1983) for further information. There is a restriction on use to this material; see the Administrative/Restriction
Information portion of this finding aid for details.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-draper0mm ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Robert Patterson (1753-1827), of Scots-Irish ancestry, was born near Cove Mountain, Pennsylvania. In 1774 he joined a company of Pennsylvania rangers to protect the frontier during Dunmore's War. A year later, as a cattle driver he was a member of John McClelland's group which went down the Ohio River to Kentucky, where they established a station on the site of present Georgetown. In returning to Fort Pitt for needed ammunition in the fall of 1776, Patterson was so severely wounded by Native Americans that he remained in Pennsylvania for nearly two years. Upon returning to Kentucky he first joined George Rogers Clark's Illinois Regiment (1778) and then John Bowman's expedition (1779). In the latter year he also built the first cabin on the site of Lexington, where he made his home for nearly a quarter-century. As an officer of the Fayette County militia, he led a company and narrowly escaped death at Blue Licks (1782) and was severely wounded in Benjamin Logan's campaign (1786). During his years in Kentucky, Patterson held numerous civil offices: justice of the peace, sheriff, representative in the Virginia assembly (1789-1790), and member of the first Kentucky state legislature (1792). Involved in Ohio land speculation, he helped to plat the first settlement of Cincinnati, then called Losantiville (1788-1789), but sold his share there in 1794. Ten years later, however, he did move to Ohio, where he established an estate called “Rubicon Farm” near Dayton, his residence for the rest of his life.
Scope and Content Note
Military records pertain to the defense of the Ohio-Kentucky region and the Shawnee; the exchange of white and Native American prisoners; the jurisdictional boundaries of various militia companies; Josiah Harmar’s defeat by the Miami (1790); and Arthur St. Clair's campaign (1791). Included are pension records, muster rolls, provision lists, militia lists of Cave Johnson, Robert Sanders, Andrew Steel, William Steele, Sowyel Woolfolk, Jilson Payne, and Benjamin Craig.
Business records deal with the development of cities in Ohio and Kentucky and with the various civil offices held by Patterson. Included are land claims, subscription payment receipts for a grammar school in Lexington, Kentucky, land surveys, and correspondence with prominent businessmen and settlers dealing with his involvement in business, religious, and political affairs in the cities.
Personal papers consist of Draper's correspondence, 1843-1855, with Patterson's youngest son, Jefferson, which includes recollections and quotations from an autobiography, and correspondence to his wife Elizabeth and children.
Other Finding Aids
An index to a portion of these papers (volume 1 MM pages 16-45) is filed in the Draper collection's George Rogers Clark papers (Draper Mss J; volume 38 J pages 148-152).
Administrative/Restriction Information
PHOTOCOPY RESTRICTION: Photocopying originals is not permitted; researchers may copy from the microfilm available in the Library.
Contents List
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Draper Mss MM/Micro 1034
Volume
1
Reel
95
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Series: Robert Patterson papers: 1 MMMainly original manuscripts, 1758-1815, accompanied by a few copies of scattered date and correspondence, 1843-1855, between Draper and Robert Patterson's youngest son Jefferson Patterson (1801-1863). Opening the volume are copies of Robert's memorials to Congress (1819) detailing his military services which he hoped would qualify him for a pension. These are followed by Jefferson's letters to Draper, which not only give the former's own recollections but also contain quotations from his father's autobiography. Original papers, mainly 1779-1786, compose the bulk of this volume. These pertain to land surveys and land claims, the early settlement of Lexington, Robert Patterson's wife and children, and his participation in military campaigns (1780-1786). Among the original documents are Patterson's deposition (1802) concerning his travel and land claims in Kentucky in 1775-1776; his deposition (1815) about service in Levi Todd's company during Bowman's campaign against the Shawnee in 1779; and Kentucky land grants (1780) to Hugh and William Alexander, John Hunter, Alexander McClellan, and John Smith. Also included are muster rolls and payroll and provision records for Patterson's militia company, 1780-1781; a land claim (1785) of Mrs. Elizabeth Maxwell, widow of Alexander Maxwell of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania; a list of subscribers (1781) and subscription payment receipts (1785) for a grammar school in Lexington; a letter (1782) by Mary Wright concerning rental of her salt kettles; assorted land survey notebooks; family letters including one from Robert to his wife Elisabeth (1786); and numerous military records for the campaign in 1786. Among the latter are letters of William Finney, Thomas Gist, Jr., Christopher Greenup, William Russell, and Levi Todd; lists of deserters from Fort Finney; lists of men in the companies of Cave Johnson, Robert Sanders, Andrew Steel, William Steele, and Sowyel Woolfolk; a list of Fayette County militiamen; and a draft of a letter (December 7, 1786) to Patrick Henry. Among other signers of documents in this volume are Manasseh Coyle, Robert George, Willis Green, John Jack, Arthur Lindsay, John McClellan (McClelland), Alexander McConnell, Thomas Marshall, Hugh Martin, John May, Robert Orr, and James Sullivan. Draper's index (1846) to a portion of these papers, 1 MM 16-45, was filed in the George Rogers Clark Papers (Draper Mss J), 38 J 148-152.
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Volume
2
Reel
95
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Series: Robert Patterson papers: 2 MMA volume composed wholly of original manuscripts, 1787-1789. Nineteen letters by Levi Todd and other assorted military letters and records pertain to the defense of the Ohio-Kentucky region, the exchange of white and Indian prisoners, and the jurisdictional boundaries of various militia companies. Among these records are a list of officers of the Second Regiment of Fayette County militia; lists of men in companies commanded by Jilson Payne and Benjamin Craig; summary returns of strength for other companies; and a speech to the Shawnee (December 5, 1788). Papers pertaining to Patterson's activities as sheriff in Lexington include lengthy lists of fines and fees collected by the county sheriff and county clerk. Numerous letters from Matthias Denman, Robert Filson, Israel Ludlow, W[illiam] McMillan, John R. Mills, and John Cleves Symmes concern the founding and development of Cincinnati, known first as Losantiville. Among Patterson's other correspondents in this volume were John Cape, Christopher Greenup, John Hawkins, Alexander McClellan (McClelland), Jacob Myers, Joseph Torrens, R.J. Waters, and Richard Young. There is also a note (1789) signed by James Wilkinson. The text of a letter by Mrs. Lydia Mould is illegible.
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Volume
3
Reel
95
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Series: Robert Patterson papers: 3 MMMainly original manuscripts, 1790-1821, with a few letters to Draper of widely scattered dates from 1843 to 1885. Patterson's papers, most of which are dated prior to 1805, pertain to his involvement in business and in political and religious affairs in Lexington, to the development of the Cincinnati settlement, to Kentucky militia and military matters such as Josiah Harmar's defeat by the Miami (1790) and Arthur St. Clair's campaign (1791). Among the manuscripts are an inventory of Robert McConnell's property at his death (1790); a letter (1791) of Robert W. Finley and lists of subscribers (1793, 1798) relating to projects for the Presbyterian church in Lexington; a “Stray Book” listing and evaluating stray cattle, horses, and other domestic animals taken in the Lexington area, 1793-1794; Lexington Lodge lottery tickets; two letters (1794) referring to the Whiskey Rebellion; a list of subscribers to the Kentucky Vineyard Association and a letter (1800) relating to vineyard development; and letters about religious revivals in Kentucky (1801) and Pennsylvania (1803). Among the correspondents were J [ohn] Brown, John Caldwell, D.C. Cooper, Matthias Denman, Samuel Freeman, Thomas Gist, Adam Goodlet, Abraham Hite, Jr., Israel Ludlow, Duncan McArthur, Alexander McClellan, Robert McClellan, N. McDowell, William McMillan, John R. Mills, Lydia Mould, William Rankin, I, [J?] T. Slater, James H. Stewart, Levi Todd, James Trotter, James Welch, and Elie Williams. Signers of business and legal documents included Patterson himself and also James Brown, John H. Craig, Toliver Craig, John Fowler, Ebenezer Goodlet, Cave Johnson, Henry Lee, Andrew McCalla, John McDowell, Daniel Mayo, James Morrison, Peyton Short, William Steele, Charles Sumption, and Robert Todd. Found in this volume are printed handbills on politics (1798), legislation about sale of lands in Ohio (1800), solicitation of money for a Presbyterian Indian school to be established on the Mad River in Ohio (1801), and a reward for information leading to the identification of a mother of an abandoned baby (undated).
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