Wes Patterson
All Rights Reserved
Harald Reksten was gracious enough to give me permission to take his findings on the 1775 will of Robert "R" Patterson of Craven/York Co., SC and publish it on my web site. The following notes are 100% those of Harald's writing, and have not been manipulated by me in any way, other than in formatting for the Internet. If you have any questions regarding these notes, please contact Harald Reksten at . If I, Wes Patterson, have any comments to make, I will do so as follows "[WP note: _____]". Thanks again, Harald. We all appreciate your hard work in uncovering the original document and going to the trouble to get permission to take pictures of it, and then to share these findings with us. Thanks a million!
Wes Patterson
October 15, 2002
Harald made some updates to his write-up on this will in late February, 2004. This was after Gloria Buckles Reid contacted Harald with the suggestion that the text after John Black's signature actually should read "his hand and pen" instead of "husband and pen".
Many years ago I corresponded with Pat Saupe2 about the Pattersons and Ponders from York County, South Carolina. Scores of people have seen a transcription of the will of Robert Patterson probated in York County, South Carolina in 1791, but written in 1775. But few people have really analyzed the will in detail. Pat made me aware that the Will of Robert Patterson, although full of information itself, contains genealogical information written by others on the back of the will. Some of this information may relate to the husbands (not mentioned in the will) of the three daughters of Robert Patterson. The citation below is from personal correspondence with Pat in 1990 regarding the possibility that one of the Patterson daughters (Elizabeth) married a Ponder.
My first reason for feeling Elizabeth was a Patterson, is the amount of Ponder males carrying Patterson in their names – like Patterson Ponder, Patterson Daniel Ponder, Joseph Patterson Ponder – not in just one line, but in the lines of each of the sons.
The second reason, was Daniel Ponder’s name being written many times on the back of Robert Patterson’s will. In one place, it says Daniel Ponder and John Black. Following John Black’s name, is husband3 and ------, the latter part being broken off from age. Nathaniel Harryson’s name is also on the back. Is it possible these are the three son-in-laws?
The will of Robert Patterson, now located at the South Carolina Archives4, is a fascinating document that is divided into three distinct parts each written on a distinct section of the same original physical set of four pages of paper. Each distinct part has its own style of handwriting and is written at a separate time thus representing three distinct phases of the distribution of the wealth of Robert Patterson.
The first part is the will itself written in 1775. This document is very readable and can be copied by the South Carolina Archives. In fact the South Carolina Archives maintains a type written copy of the will that has been personally verified to be an exact copy of the original5. The second part is the first probate of the will in 1775 after Robert Patterson died. The third part was written in 1791 after Robert Patterson’s wife Sarah died. A lot changed between 1775 and 1791 so it is this third part that is the most confusing. Since the later two parts of the Will of Robert Patterson can not be legibly copied by a normal copying machine due to the very light handwriting a camera was used to make copies of the entire document. Selected pictures are included in this expose that attempt to shed light on the hard to read parts of the will.
The will of Robert Patterson is abstracted below and is very clear. Therefore there is no need to include pictures of the will other than the identification of the mark of Robert Patterson. An exact transcription of the will is given below.
In the name of God Amen the Twenty First day of July 1775 I Robert Patterson of Craven County farmer being very sick and weake in body but of perfect mind and memory thanks be unto God, therefore calling to mind the mortality of my body and knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die, do maeke and ordain this my last will and testament, that is to say Principally and first of all I give and recommend my Soul into the hands of almighty God that gave it and my body I recommend to the earth to be buried in decent Christian burial at the discretion of my Executors nothing doubting but at the General Resurrection I shal receive the same again by the mighty power of God: and as touching such worldly estate wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me in this life I give demise and dispose of the same in the following manner and form
And first of all I constituet make and ordain my beloved wife Sarah and my beloved sons Robert and Peter to be my whole and sole Executors of this my last Will and testament all and singular my lands messuages and tenements whith all household goods dets and moveable affects by them to be executed according to law and for them said Executors to take care and see that all and every one of my beloved family shall have there full share as I shall appoint
Imprimise I give and bequeath to Sarah my dearly beloved wife her full thirds of all my moveable affects and the homestead place till my son William comes of age and half afterwards while she lives and her hors and saddle.
Item I give and bequeath unto my son Thomas fifty pounds lawfull mony of South Carolina to be leveed out of my estate and all my cloathes except my fir hat and one gray three year old mare and colt to his son John.
I likewise give and bequeath unto my daughter Sarah one cow and calf, and what is between Joseph and me.
I likewise give unto my son William the homestead place after his mother's decease all only from where the line crosses the road that goes to Peter's old place and straight & cors to the old saw pit below the muddy branch and straight on to the outside line and from that said line down to Peter.
I likewise give and bequeath unto my sons Peter and Robert each of them an equal part of my land and clams in the province of Virginia.
I likewis give and bequeath unto my children all and every one of them is now single with my daughter's Elisebeth and Lydia each of them an equal part of the remainder of my movable affects by all and every one of them freely to be possesed and enjoyed: and I do hereby utterly disallow revoke and disannul all and every other formal testaments wills legacies and bequeaths and Executors by me in any wise before named willed and bequeathed ratifying and confirming this and no other to be my last will and testament in witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the day and year above written
Signed sealed published pronounced and declared by the said Robert Patterson as his last will and testament in the presence of us the Subscribers Nathaniel Harrison, James Dickie
Robrt (R) Patterson
The
will is signed using Robert Patterson’s mark of R.
A picture was taken of this so that others can compare to
any other documents that might contain such a mark. If any
other document can be found then this would be powerful
evidence to relate Robert Patterson Sr, to his place of
emigration6.
[WP
note: We need to look for the original document from Tryon
Co NC 1770 that documented Robert "R" Patterson's
mother Margaret Adams's death. That document may also have
the same "R".]
Robert Patterson’s
mark
The will is first probated the 3rd of November 1775. So we can assume that Robert Patterson Sr. died between 21 July 1775 and 3 November of the same year. He probably died in October about three months after the will was first written. In a different ink the following probate is written. This information was deciphered from the original papers at the Archives although most of the information can be made out in the picture that follows.
Personally appered James Dickey and Nathaneal Harreson before me and maketh oath as the Law Dericts that the order Presant and Seen Robt. Petterson Dezed Sinc the within will as it now stands as his last will and that he was in his proper Senses and that the other witnesses to the same. Sworn by me this ---- third day of November 1775. Signed: James Dickie, Nathaniel Harryn. Sam Swann, J.P.
The first probate in October 1775
I have also included enlarged pictures that show the information from the previous picture in more detail. These are included to make it easier to read the first probate. Notice that Daniel Ponder’s name is written lightly below the first probate in a different ink or pencil. Daniel Ponder’s name appears quite a few times written in various places. He was not a witness to the will and both witnesses did sign in October so it is confusing on why Daniel Ponder signed the will so many times. Nathaniel Harryson’s name is also written a second time upside down under Daniel Ponder’s name.
The top left hand side of the first probate in October 1775
The top right hand side of the first probate in October 1775
The bottom left hand side of the first probate in October 1775
The bottom right hand side of the first probate in October 1775
Notice that Joseph B. is written in different ink or pencil under Daniel Ponder’s name in the bottom right hand side of the first probate. The handwriting is extremely light and does not show up with a normal copying machine. More will be said about Joseph B(lack) later.
The next picture
shows the words “I promomus to pay or paus to the payee”.
It is not clear who is doing the promising or what is being promised.
But these words appear in a similar form on other parts of the
will so it is my opinion that this was just a “false start”
where an attempt was made to say something but the decision was
made to go to another section of the will where there was more
room.
Some dangling text from first probate in October 1775
The next picture is fascinating and tells much about the will of Robert Patterson. The writing is extremely light and perpendicular to the outside of the will where it states Robert Patterson Will, Robt & Peter Patterson Ex(ecutors).
This writing can
not be copied using a copying machine and even when staring at
the writing in person it is extremely difficult to read it. But
if one looks at the picture below long enough I believe the names,
Joseph Black, John Patterson and Peter Patterson can be seen.
I have pictures of the rest of the writing but I did not include
them here since the pictures are so light.
Joseph Black, John Patterson, Peter Patterson
This is how I interpret the writing:
Joseph Black, John Patterson, Peter Patterson personally have seen these presents that I Joseph Black have seen said presents sold.
At first it is not clear what is being said here but I believe it is an intent to document that both John Patterson, son of Thomas Patterson and Joseph (Black) have received what is entitled to them. Peter Patterson’s name appears because he is one of the executors. Thus the Joseph named in the will must be Joseph Black and Joseph Black must be the husband of Robert’s daughter Sarah Patterson. You would think that Robert could have just said this but he was dying and everyone knew who Joseph was in July 1775. It also makes sense that Joseph Black was married to Sarah because she was not listed with the rest of the daughters.
Item I give and bequeath unto my son Thomas fifty pounds lawfull mony of South Carolina to be leveed out of my estate and all my cloathes except my fir hat and one gray three year old mare and colt to his son John.
I likewise give and bequeath unto my daughter Sarah one cow and calf, and what is between Joseph and me.
The last part of Robert Patterson’s will was written 16 years after the other parts and indicate that Sarah Patterson, wife of Robert Patterson has died. It not absolutely clear that all the writing on this page was done in 1791 or back in 1775. But the bottom of the page gives the date that the will was recorded in 1791 so my suspicion is that this page was not filled out until 1791.
This part of the will is extremely confusing because it appears that an intent was made to make sure that the estate was properly disposed of. Thus if someone has use of certain land or items that were part of the estate but not directly accounted for in the will then these issues had to be resolved.
My suspicion is that Daniel Ponder and John Black both married the remaining daughters [WP note: Elizabeth and Lydia, respectively] of Robert Patterson after the will was probated in 1775. Thus they were not part of the original will. By signing their names and promising to reimburse the estate (perhaps for items from the estate their wives may not have been entitled to) the estate can be fully closed and everyone will be happy. The following pictures show the confusing information that was written for this purpose.
Final Probate Top
“Daniel Ponder” is written in a different handwriting at the top. On the side it says “Danl – promis to”. On the right below Daniel Ponder is written “John Black husband and pen”. An enlarged picture is given later that in the hopes that someone can figure out what “pen” means. Next is a large icon (“Can”) that I can’t figure out. “Nathaniel Harryson” signs again. Daniel Ponder is written another three times as “Danl”, “Daniel Ponder”, and “Daniel Ponder”.
Sometimes, due to the difficulty of reading the old handwriting, and the fading of the ink after 200 years, can make one imagine something that does not exist. The enlargement of the part of the top of the page that mentions John Black is shown below. Gloria Buckles Reid7 provided the proper interpretation for this phrase. It reads "John Black, his hand and pen". It is simply a proper way to specify that this is the legal signature of John Black.
Final Probate Reference to John Black
In the next picture the final probate is continued. To the left is written “Daniel Ponder”, “Da”, “promes to payor Cans” or “Caus”. It is apparent to me that Daniel Ponder wanted to tell us something since his name appears in more places in the will of Robert Patterson than anyone else.
Final Probate Middle
Final Probate Bottom
The bottom of the page states: “State of S. Carolina York County Clerks Office” on the left. Since York County did not exist in 1775 this had to be written in 1791. On the left it says “Recorded in Book A R (sic) 32, pages 57-58-59 Feb. 4 1791. Jon Sutton DCC.
From the will and probate of Robert Patterson the following conclusions are drawn. His first daughter Sarah married Joseph Black before the will was written and "Joseph" mentioned in the will was Joseph Black and not Joseph Patterson as one might think based upon the fact that a Joseph Patterson lived nearby in Bullock's Creek.
Daniel Ponder was involved in the estate of Robert Patterson after Robert's will was written. He signs the will more than anyone else. It is probable he is married to daughter Elizabeth since I have been told that other Ponder records indicate that name of the wife of Daniel Ponder was Elizabeth.
John Black also signed the will in a fashion intended to indicate that he may have had some interest in the will. It is suggested that he married one of the Patterson sisters after the will was written. The remaining unmarried sister is Lydia so it is possible John Black married Lydia Patterson. Further evidence from the family of John Black may or may not prove this assertion.
Harald Reksten
August 5, 2002
(Revised: February 29, 2004)
