Patterson Genealogy - Western NC, North GA

Marty and Karla Grant

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Welcome to my Patterson genealogy pages. I am interested in the Patterson surname in Western North Carolina and Northern Georgia.

Patterson was the 104^th most common surname in the United States in 2000. By 2010, it had dropped to 117^th.

My most recent Patterson ancestor is my great, great grandfather, Carroll Alonso Patterson, born 1876 in Swain Co., NC. He had a relationship with his neighbor, Hattie Thermudas Grant (1879-1953) which produced a son born out of wedlock, Marvin Roosevelt Grant (1902-1992), my great grandfather. Marvin took his mother’s surname since she wasn’t married to his father. Lon later married Nora B. Camby, and Hattie later married Thomas J. Gilbert. Lon Patterson died in 1922 in Swain County at the relatively young age of 45. Lon’s parents:

Carroll Moore Patterson was born 1832 in Macon Co., NC. He moved with his parents to Union Co., GA before 1837. He married Lavina Elizabeth Cathey in Union in 1861. The Civil War split the family (he joined the Union army) and he wound up estranged from his kinfolk and moved to what is now Swain Co., NC just after the war where he remained until his death in 1914. Lavina died there in 1917. His parents:

Samuel Patterson was born 1805 in Buncombe Co., NC in the part that became Henderson County in 1838 and Transylvania County in 1861. He left Buncombe before any of that happened, moving to Macon Co., NC in the late 1820s where he married Jane Moore in 1830. They remained in that county only a short while, moving to Union Co., GA by ca 1837. After Jane’s death in 1867, Samuel, along with many of his kinfolks and neighbors, moved to Huerfano Co., CO, a place he’d already visited several times before then. He died there in 1879. Samuel’s parents are not 100% proven, but I feel strongly that he is a son of:

Samuel Patterson was born ca 1765/74, probably in Tryon Co., NC (now Rutherford Co., NC). He married Elizabeth —, ca 1790 in Rutherford Co., NC. Her maiden name is unknown. (It’s also not 100% proven that Elizabeth was his wife at all.) They moved to Buncombe Co., NC (now Transylvania) between 1800 and 1810. Samuel died there in the 1820s. Widow Elizabeth was still there in 1830. By 1840 she *might* be in Union Co., GA with their son, Samuel Jr. Samuel (Sr) is almost certainly a son of:

Matthew Patterson (Jr), born before 1755, whereabouts unknown, perhaps North Carolina, perhaps Virginia or Pennsylvania. He was in Mecklenburg Co., NC by 1768, that being the parent county of Tryon where he was by 1770. His wife is unknown, but they probably married before ca 1770. That area soon became Rutherford Co., NC where they remained until the early 1790s when they moved to Buncombe (now Transylvania) Co., NC. He died there after 1813. His father:

Matthew Patterson was born ca 1720 (rough estimate), possibly in Ireland (Northern Ireland, more likely) per family tradition. There are records of a Matthew Patterson in Craven (now Sumter) Co., SC in the 1750s and 1760s, but we don’t know if it’s this same Matthew or not. This one, however, was in Mecklenburg (later Tryon, now Rutherford) Co., NC by 1768. His last known record was in 1771. His wife is unidentified. His parents are unknown.

There were Matthew Patterson’s in Virginia and Pennsylvania who are the right age to be this one, but at present we don’t know which, if any of them, is ours.

Revised: January 22, 2023

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