THOMAS PATTISON, one of the representative Scotch-Irish Protestants of this county, was born November 8, 1802, on the farm where he died, May 9, 1888, two miles from the village of West Alexander on the extreme western border of Washington county, the Virginia line passing through the farm. There, during all of his life, this descendant of the noted Scotch Covenanters practiced the principles that made his ancestors renowned for purity, sturdiness, courage and piety; at the same time, as who often said of him, he was remarkable among all who knew him for the genial disposition that spread sunshine wherever he came. The father of this man was Rev. John Pattison, a Scotch dissenter, who, about the close of the Revolution, when quite a youth, emigrated with his father's family from St. John, New Brunswick, and on entering into manhood pre-empted the Pattison homestead referred to, which has ever since been in the possession of the family, the first house in which the family resided for more than a generation being on the Ohio (W. Va.) county side on the line. That house is still standing, though for the last years of his life Mr. Pattison lived in a more modern mansion on the Washington county side. The Pattison family had come to St. John from Ireland, and to Ireland from Scotland. Rev. John Pattison died September 17, 1825.
His son, Thomas, continued the life of a farmer on the same place for a period of about sixty-three years, until his death in 1888. On February 13, 1840, he was married to Jane Humphrey, daughter of Robert Humphrey, Jr., and by her he had eight children five daughters and three sons, viz.: Nancy M., Martha A., Mary R., Rachel Jane, Eva L., John K., Robert H. and Samuel Anderson, all of whom survive. Respecting Robert Humphrey, Sr., a few words will not be out of place here. He was one of the pioneers of this part of the country and founded the town of West Alexander which he named for his wife whose maiden name was Alexander. He served in the Continental army until the close of the war of Independence, and at the battle of Brandywine he helped to carry Gen. La Fayette, who was wounded, on the field. After the war, when La Fayette visited this country, in 1825, and passed through West Alexander, Mr. Humphrey met the famous French general, was recognized and warmly greeted, and the two old soldiers spent an hour recalling old times. Mrs. Thomas Pattison died March 26, 1877, so that two generations of this old family have passed away.
About such old-time homes are often seen relics more interesting than any found in the museums. For example, in the Pattison library are not a few books and pamphlets printed in the last century. A Latin lexicon, that has there stood on the shelves for a century, is considerably over two hundred years old, having been the property of Rev. John Pattison (who was a fine classical scholar) and in the family before him for several generations, away back in Scotland. The late Thomas Pattison was a member of the Associate Reformed Church until the United Presbyterian organization, but during the latter part of his life he was a Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter). His funeral services were conducted by Rev. McClurkin, of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, assisted by Rev. William M. Coleman, of the United Presbyterian Church. Thomas Pattison sleeps with his honored fathers in the cemetery near where he lived. The world moves on, but it is doubtful whether it ever again will see a race sturdier in morals and holding fast more unflinchingly to that which is good than the one that was driven by the Claverhouse dragoons from the moors of Scotland to the North of Ireland; whose impressive conventicles adjourned at the point of the sword to reassemble in the forests of America, and of which the subject of this sketch was a fair sample.
Text taken from page 53 of:
Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893).Transcribed April 1997 by Neil and Marilyn Morton of Oswego, IL as part of the Beers Project.
Published April 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.[ [Back to Beers Table of Contents] [Back to Beers Project Page]