The second son of George and Rebecca Chastain Patterson was Silas Kimsey Patterson, also known as "SK". However, he went by Kimsey according to family records. Kimsey's family and descendants have become one of the most documented lines of George Patterson's family to date. For years, however, nothing was known of Kimsey's whereabouts by any of us who hail from the GA side of the family.

In the late 1990's I began to study a part of the John and Margaret Patterson family (Kimsey's grandparents) that was a mystery. That mystery involved two sons of John and Margaret, and a couple of their grandsons. The mystery was simply "What happened to them?" It was centered around their sons Robert and Amos, plus the two oldest sons of George, i.e. James and Kimsey Patterson. Some family researchers had in their records that "Kimsey" was the son of George Patterson, and another "Silas Kimsey" was the son of Amos Patterson. But further research on the Amos family and his marriage date and the census records of 1834, 1840, and 1850, simply did NOT indicate any such son of Amos that would be Silas Kimsey Patterson. When it was all said and done, the records were involving the same individual, and he was the son of George, not Amos.

However, the reason for the confusion began making sense in 2001 when I obtained a copy of the entire U.S. 1880 census on CD's, sold by the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City, UT. I began searching for various lines of the Pattersons, in particular Kimsey, or Silas Kimsey, or SK. I was looking for anything I could find. And then BINGO!!! I found him in Rusk Co Tx in 1880 as "S.K.", along with his wife and several children. I then began corresponding with someone in the Rusk Co Tx area who could do research for me, as I live in NC.

To this day I do not know where Kimsey was in 1850, however, he was in Rusk Co Tx no later than 1853. He obtained a land grant from Tx within days of his uncle Amos Patterson receiving his own land grant. Both Amos and Kimsey were in Rusk Co Tx in 1860 also. Furthermore, so was Kimsey's uncle Robert Patterson. It wasn't clear that Robert was the same Robert as Kimsey's uncle for some time, but further research has unearthed evidence which DOES suggest that he was the same Robert from the John and Margaret family.

As for Kimsey, he was born in 1828, maybe 1829, in Rabun Co GA. That is where his parents (George and Rebecca) were living in 1830 also. By 1832 they were in Union Co GA. Kimsey left Union Co GA before 1850, however. On December 13, 1855 he married Mary Frances Jowell in Rusk Co Tx. Mary was the daughter of John D. Jowell and Elizabeth Ansel of SC and AL, respectively. Mary was born ca. 1839-41 in AL. Mary's family was already in Rusk Co Tx by 1850.

Kimsey and Mary lived the rest of their lives in either Rusk or Shelby counties. They were listed in the 1860, 1870, and 1880 censuses in Rusk Co. Kimsey and Mary had at least seven children, but there may have been others, too. One family member had in their records that there was a son named Silas born to Kimsey and Mary, but had no further information on him. If there was a son named Silas, he died as a child. The seven known children of Kimsey and Mary were:

Kimsey was always recorded on official documents as Silas Patterson or SK or Silas K. Patterson. He served in the Civil War for the Confederacy as a Second Corporal (officer) in COMPANY "I", 18 TEXAS INFANTRY, COL. WILLIAM BECK OCHILTREE’S REGIMENT, ORGANIZED AT HENDERSON, TEXAS, MAY 10, 1862. This entire unit is documented at http://www.ladytexian.com/txrusk/military/confunits.htm.

Several descendants of Kimsey have contacted me over the last few years (since 2002). They include Bonnie James Montgomery, Barbara Craddock Shultz, Lucile Pratt, Leah Patterson Koehn, Frank W. Patterson, and Pamela Patterson Yandell. Of these six, five descend from Kimsey's son Shortridge Kimsey Patterson. Frank, however, descends from Kimsey's son Sexton Frank Patterson.

Frank shared with me that his line of the family passed down stories of French ancestory, and a relative named "Raney". That fits with the evidence that Kimsey was a son of George Patterson and Rebecca Chastain, as opposed to being a son of Amos Patterson. George's wife Rebecca was a descendant of Pierre Chastain, a French Huguenot immigrant. Many of the Chastains of VA, GA, and beyond passed down the name Rene, which was common among the males of the Chastain family. It was modified to Raney over the generations.

Another very interesting story from one of these Shortridge descendants is that of Leah Patterson Koehn. She has all of her late grandmother's genealogy notes. One such note (source undetermined) was in her grandmother's handwriting, which said that their Patterson immigrant was a Robert Patterson, who was born 1700-1735 (in essence, the early 1700's), and that he immigrated on a ship called Importance. Well, nothing has been found (yet) on a ship bearing that name, but the name Robert Patterson and that time frame fits perfectly with what I've found over the last few years, since 2002. I have traced our Patterson lineage back to John Patterson's grandfather (Kimsey's great-great-grandfather), Robert "R" Patterson. Robert signed his mark as an "R" - that is NOT his middle initial. Robert was born ca. 1710-15, place unknown. It is believed he was born in Ireland or Scotland and immigrated as child, along with his widowed mother and his siblings - probably in the 1720's. What we DO know is that he was in Sussex Co., Delaware (DE) by 1727, perhaps earlier. He died in 1775 in York Co., South Carolina and his Will is located at the SC Archives. I have held his Will in my own hand and it was a humbling experience!

Other stories about Kimsey's descendants are extremely interesting, such as Frank's grandfather, Sexton Frank Patterson (son of Kimsey). Sexton Frank Patterson "lived in the panhandle of Texas as a real estate agent and investor. They had two children. He was a religious man, with musical talent, (classical piano, organ, and violin)." His son (Frank's father) was Herschel William (Pat) Patterson (1903 - 1992), who "worked as a young man as a school teacher, and later as a law enforcement officer, serving as a constable, Justice of the Peace, a railroad officer with the Texas and Pacific Railway, an INS agent with the Border Patrol, and as a special officer attached to the Texas Rangers. Most of this was in the Big Bend area of Texas on the border with Mexico. He joined the Army Air Corps during World War II at the age of thirty-eight. While he was in the service he met my mother, Wilner Wright, and married her in 1945."

Pam Yandell contacted me in April 2005 and shared with me her family's story. Her grandfather was Silas Kimsey Patterson, son of Shortridge Kimsey Patterson, son of Kimsey. When her grandpa (the younger SK) was young and his second child was weeks old, he and wife divorced. His two young boys were named Silas Kimsey Patterson, Jr. and Moderal Kimsey Patterson. Pam's father was Moderal Kimsey Patterson. These two young boys were raised by their maternal grandparents in California (moved there from Tx shortly after taking custody of them). It was not a happy childhood for either boy. When they enlisted in WWII, they both found out their real names for the first time.

Pam's father, Moderal Kimsey Patterson, served in WWII and was part of the Bataan Death March in the Philippines. He was a prisoner of war for 4 and 1/2 years, returning after the war nearly starved to death. He had many health problems thereafter, but raised a family with happy memories, to his credit.

I love to learn about my cousins, and these are but a few of the stories I've learned over the years. Please send me your stories if you'd like. I'd certainly love to share in your family memories.

In closing, Silas Kimsey Patterson was born 1828/29 in Rabun Co GA. He died in 1891 in either Rusk or Shelby Co Tx. His wife Mary died in 1894. They are buried in Dixon Cemetery in Shelby Co, Tx. A web source for this cemetery is located at http://home.flash.net/~parino/cem_dixon.htm.