Tinkling Springs Presbyterian Church, Fishersville, Virginia
Colonel James Patton Chapter, NSDAR
A Brief Biographical Sketch of Colonel James Patton
James Patton (1690 – 1755) was born in Ireland, probably in Donegal, though little is known of his early years. He became a ship’s captain dealing in tobacco and other items of trade and made numerous trips between Ireland, England, Holland, and America. In 1734, he was made a burgess of the Irish town of Kirkcudbright. He had major business dealings in America and the Old World as he captained the ship Walpole, owned by Walter Lutwidge, a tobacco merchant. The principal tobacco planter that Patton dealt with was William Beverley, a prominent Virginian and member of the House of Burgesses. In 1736, Beverley obtained an 118,000-acre land grant, later called Beverley Manor, which encompasses present-day Waynesboro, Staunton, and much of Augusta County. A grantee was able to keep 1000 acres for every family that settled on the land. Patton was promised thousands of acres if he brought settlers from Ireland. One family that he brought over was his sister Elizabeth and her husband John Preston, with their four daughters and one son, William. In 1739-1740, Patton made provisions to move his family to the Beverley Tract, sending needed items ahead aboard three other ships. He built a home named Springhill in the area of Lipscomb, south of Waynesboro near Stuarts Draft. He moved his wife and two daughters to Virginia around 1740.
Once settled in Augusta County (which had been formed from Orange County in 1738), Patton became immersed in the governing of his new land. He held public offices in Orange County until Augusta County opened its own government in 1745. Between 1745 and 1755, Patton served at various times as Justice of the Peace, County Lieutenant, President of the Court, County Sheriff, and as Colonel of the Militia (hence his title Colonel James Patton).
He also served as President of the Augusta Parish Vestry (now Trinity Church, Staunton) and was a founder and leader of the Tinkling Springs Presbyterian Church in Fishersville. In his will, he asked that the money he was owed for the building of the Meeting House be paid to Reverend Craig for his services from 1740 to 1750. He also left money for the cost of a pulpit and pulpit cloth.
John Buchanan did much surveying for Patton and became his son-in-law. In 1745, as a result of the 1742 Treaty of Lancaster, James Patton and John Buchanan were charged with laying out the road through the Shenandoah Valley which they did, from Winchester to Staunton, and later down to the Roanoke and Blacksburg area. This was first called the “Indian Road” and later the “Great Wagon Road.” From the south, it was generally in the eastern part of the Valley until it reached Rockingham County, then it moved more into the center. Staunton and Lexington were about eight miles west of the road, and Harrisonburg was about five miles to the west. Near New Market, it took the path of the present U.S. Route 11 and went through Winchester.
Also in 1745, Patton received his “Great Grant” of 100,000 acres. He was able to select any land he wanted as long as it wasn’t already part of the Fairfax, Beverley, or Borden Grants. The Borden Grant, also called the “Irish Grant,” is primarily Rockbridge County. Patton mostly chose land in the New River Valley, although he also had some lands on the Calfpasture River west of Beverley Manor and the Borden Grant.
Patton’s nephew William Preston came to live with Patton, who paid for his education in history, mathematics, and penmanship from Reverend Craig. With all of his land speculation and the power that surveyors held, it made sense for Patton to have his nephew trained to that occupation. Preston was sent to apprentice with the County Surveyor Thomas Lewis, then was hired as a deputy surveyor in 1752. He later served as Surveyor in Augusta, Botetourt, Fincastle, and Montgomery Counties. His home Smithfield Plantation is now a Virginia DAR Shrine located in Blacksburg. As early as 1751, Preston surveyed 36 tracts for his uncle along the New River.
James Patton, Joshua Fry and Lunsford Lomax were sent as the Virginia Governor’s Commissioners to the Treaty of Logs Town in May and June 1752. William Preston accompanied Patton as his personal secretary. The purpose of this Treaty was to confirm and clarify the agreements made at the Treaty of Lancaster in 1742.
John Madison was elected to the House of Burgesses from Augusta County for the 1752-1755 term and served in 1753. He then accepted the office of County Coroner and is not listed for the 1754 session. James Patton was chosen to succeed him and may have served during late 1754 and early 1755. At the August 1755 session, a new writ was ordered for Augusta in the place of James Patton, murdered by the Indians.
On 30 July 1755, Colonel Patton and William Preston were at Draper’s Meadow, a small settlement located about where the present campus of Virginia Tech sits in Blacksburg. This was land that Patton had acquired in his grant. They went there to take gunpowder for the settlers’ defense, as General Braddock had been killed and his army defeated by the French and Indians in Pennsylvania just three weeks earlier. Early that morning, Patton sent Preston on an errand away from the area. Around midmorning, as Patton worked on some correspondence, a Shawnee war party attacked. Patton was shot and killed at his cabin, while others were tomahawked and scalped or beheaded as they worked. Several people were captured, including Mary Draper Ingles, who escaped and was able to return to her home by December after traveling over 500 miles.
In his 1750 will, Patton had requested to be buried by his wife’s side at the Tinkling Springs Cemetery in Augusta County. Sadly, that was not possible, and he was buried near where he fell. A pile of rocks was put over the grave, but no one knows where that spot is. Markers have been erected in the general area.
Patton was a hard worker and became the premier land speculator in Virginia. He served at county and state levels of government and died in service to his adopted country.
By Brenda Lynne Payne Rose, Ph.D.
Past Regent, Colonel James Patton Chapter, NSDAR
Our chapter was chartered on October 9, 1970, in Waynesboro, Virginia, with 40 members. The organizing regent was Mrs. Virginia Garrett.
We celebrated our 50th anniversary in October of 2020.
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