Misc. Notes
John Patton, Sr. in his boyhood was a sailor. Before he was seventeen years of age he shipped on board the Woodruff, bound for a voyage to China. Before his nineteenth birthday he was appointed a midshipman under Commodore Stephen Decatur. He was a classmate and chum of John Decatur. His vessel was wrecked off the coast of Africa. His friend John Decatur and himself were treated with extreme kindness by the barbarous inhabitants of the country. He obtained a commission as lieutenant in the navy. He was in command of a gunboat, with the rank of captain, stationed off the coast of Virginia, with headquarters at Norfolk. On account of ill health he left the navy in 1810, and went into business at Tussey Furnace, Centre county.
In 1811 he was married to Miss Susan Antes, of Centre county. John Patton, after his marriage with Susan Antes, settled in Tioga county in 1817. He resided there seven years, acting as prothonotary for a term, under Gov. Heister. He returned to Centre county in 1824, and removed to Clearfield county in 1826. He first settled at Centre, but removed to Curwensville in the spring of 1828. He taught school for a number of years; also acted as justice of the peace, and served a term of five years as associate judge, being commissioned by Gov. Porter.
He was an invalid several years before his death, and died of paralysis on the 2d of February, 1848. His estimable lady survives him [1878]. and, though over eighty-six years of age, seems possessed of remarkable vigor for one of her years. Her stories of the olden time are very interesting, and her equal in consecutive local history we have seldom met.
830____________
John Patton was a native of Philadelphia, born in the year 1783, and when eight years of age came with his parents to Centre county. He married Susan Antes, a woman of great strength of character, and loved by all to whom she was known.
Prior to the time of his marriage, John Patton
served in the Navy as lieutenant under Commodore Stephen Decatur.* He afterwards moved to Tioga county, having been commissioned by Governer Heister as prothonotary† of that county.
In 1827, he came to Clearfield county and two years later, 1828 made a permanent location at Curwensville, He served one term as associate judge of the county, his colleague upon the bench being Hon. James Ferguson. He died February 2, 1848. His wife Susan (Antes) Patton, survived him many years, and died at the advanced age of ninety two years.
450____________
Capt. Patton took his wife and family to Tioga county, Penn., in 1817, and remained there seven years as prothonotary, being the first prothonotary of Tioga county, appointed by Gov. Heister. He returned to Centre County in 1824, and two years later made his home at Centre, in Clearfield county. In the spring of 1828 he settled permanently at Cirwensville [sic], where he died of paralysis having been an invalid for several years previous.
831George Washington was present at his christening and stood in as John’s Godfather. As a result he was
nicknamed “General”
which remained with him his entire life.
52This source indicates he was “Nicknamed ‘General” at his christening by George Washington, who was his Godfather. He carried this nickname with him all of his life.”
472____________
John, born February 8, 1783, married Susanna Antes, daughter of Philip Antes, and granddaughter of Colonel Antes of Northumberland county. He was Associate Judge of Clearfield county; laid out Pattonsville, 1815; moved to Tioga county, 1817, and was prothonotary of Tioga county. He was father of Gen. [sic?] John Patton of Curwensville, twice member United States Congress.
832____________
John Patton, Sr., was born in Philadelphia, in 1783; moved to Curwensville in 1828; he served as associate judge of the county for five years; was justice of the peace for a number of years, and died in 1848, aged sixty-five years.
833____________
Philip Antis [sic] donated a piece of ground near on the public road from Clearfield to Curwensville, on which a school-house was built about 1824. John Patton, Sr., father of Congressman Patton, was the master here in 1826.
It was here, in this house, under the tutorship of his father, that Hon. John Patton (1823-1897) attended school for the first time.
834 [Was this Philip Antes the father-in-law (1759-1834) or brother-in-law (1781-1862) of John Patton Sr. It is not known for certain but was probably one or the other and most likely the senior Philip.]
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The first school [the Curwensville Academy] in Curwensville was kept in a dwelling in 1812. A night school was taught by John Patton, Sr., in 1826.
835____________
A log school was built at Bloomington in 1815, on land later known as the William Price place. The older Blooms, Bells, McCrackens and Rowles attended. A few years after, a log school was built at Center to accommodate Pike and Lawrence township pupils, taught first by Samuel Fulton.A few years later John Patton came and lived at Center. He taught this school and the only school his son, John (Hon. or General) had, was for 6 months under his father's tutorage.
In 1833 money was subscribed and a schoolhouse built known as the "Curwensville Academy." Act of Legislature approved April 7, 1832, made it tax free. Its first teacher was John Patton, father of "General" John Patton, who was paid $18 per month. Other teachers: Hugh Caldwell, Peter Hoover, John P. Dale. This was a township school located on Filbert Street.
When the free school system started, 1834, in Pennsylvania, Pike Township was among the first to accept and provide schools under its laws. It was at first experimental and not obligatory for townships to adopt, and of the 17 in the county, 8 including Pike, accepted. A night school was taught in Curwensville by John Patton in 1828. [An extensive history of the Curwensville Borough School system is found at this source.]
836____________
By authority of the Commonwealth, in Governor [George] Wolf's term of office [1829-1835], the second Brigade of the "Militia of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania" in the 2nd Brigade of the 10th Division, composed of the counties of Mifflin, Centre, Huntingdon, Juniata and Clearfield was organized. Thomas Ross McClure, "Colonel", Pike Township (proper) and John Patton, "General", Curwensville (village) were local officers in charge.
837____________
John was an invalid several years before his death in 1848.
451____________
Died in Curnwensville, on Tuesday, the 1st [sic] inst., [February 1848] Hon. John Patton, at an advanced age.
615____________
Susquehanna Chapter D.A.R. [Daughters of the American Revolution], organized April 1, 1897, at Clearfield with eleven of its charter members descended from Col. John Patton of the 16th Colonial Regiment of Pennsylvania.
Lieut. John Patton, who served for eight years in the U. S. Navy under Commodore Stephen Decatur, came to Curwensville in 1828, where he lived until his death in 1848.
838____________
The Irvin and Patton families probably did most for the early and later material prosperity of Curwensville [Clearfield county, PA].
839____________
A “John” born abt 1778 is listed by this source as a child of Jane and John Patton.
237A John Patton b. 1778 is listed among the children of Jane Bartholomew Davis and Col. John Patton at this source.
472[Not sure this second “John” ever existed. This source lists eleven children.]
453*Commodore
Stephen Decatur, Jr. (5 January 1779 – 22 March 1820) was an American naval officer notable for his heroism in the Barbary wars and in the War of 1812. He was the youngest man to reach the rank of captain in the history of the United States Navy, and the first American celebrated as a national military hero who had not played a role in the American Revolution.
840Decatur was killed on 20 March 1820 when two of the highest-ranking officers in the United States Navy faced off against each other: Decatur and Commodore James Barron. After harboring ill-will toward one another for years, the two chose the [Bladensburg, MD] dueling grounds as the field of honor for settling their differences. Both men were struck by their opponent's first shot. Barron, though seriously injured, would recover, but Stephen Decatur, one of America's greatest naval heroes, was mortally wounded and died two days later.
841NOTE: Architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764-1820) was commissioned by Decatur to design his home built in 1817. The Bladensburg dueling grounds were located a short distance from my boyhood home. Latrobe died less than six months after Decatur.
3†A prothonotary is the chief clerk of a court.
3