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| Statesman, Lawyer, Explorer, Successful Planter |
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| ALEXANDER JEFFERSON PATRICK |
Our Patrick's
first came to Texas in 1828, and most of this web site will be based on our family since that time.
Searching for one's roots however seems
to take you deeper and deeper into the past, and I have already found that around 1729, George Washington played
as a child with the four sons of Robert Patrick, and years later Thomas Jefferson owned adjoining property.
All three of these families the Patrick’s,
the Washington’s, and Jefferson’s were farming families with extensive land holdings
throughout Virginia and Kentucky. Our saga continued many years later when Daniel Boone played a personal part
in the family and it’s migration from Virginia to what
became Kentucky. The pioneer spirit was rekindled, and eventually led the family to a new land that
would become the Republic of Texas.
My 3rd great Grandfather Alexander Jefferson Patrick first traveled to Texas
in 1837, but a distant cousin, Dr.
George Moffit Patrick arrived in Texas in 1828. Both of these men remained true to their heritage, and became influential and well respected men of there
time.
Alexander Patrick was the fourth child born to John fitz Patrick and Elizabeth Callaway of Bedford county Virginia.
Alexander was born on November 14, 1794 and as a young man, moved to Madison County, Kentucky. There
he later met and married Catharine White.
William Wilson Patrick was their second child, born April 20, 1821. His father decided
to make an exploratory visit to Texas in 1837. He then returned to Kentucky, and brought the whole family back to Texas
in 1841.
William traveled with his dad on the first trip, to help survey the situation in this
wild new territory. After settling and becoming a land owner, W.W. Patrick married Mary Jane Reed. She was
the daughter of one of the Republic's soldiers that fought in The Battle of San Jacinto, Capt. Henry Reed.
Mary Jane and William's only son was James Thomas Patrick, a Confederate Soldier, farmer,
and merchant. He was first married to Sara (Sallie) Moss and to this union came one daughter Sallie Patrick.
Sara died at a young age, and Sallie was raised by her Grandfather, William Patrick. After his first wife died in 1866,
James Thomas moved to Pisgah Ridge at Richland Crossing. He met and later married Prudence Jane Anderson on June
15, 1870. The couple was joined in holy matrimony by Rev. James G. Hardin the Father of John Wesley Hardin the infamous gun fighter. (John Wesley was my first cousin 3 times removed).
James T. Patrick was the Postmaster in Richland, Navarro County TX., in 1882-1888. The
General Mercantile he founded, eventually moved to Richland Texas, and in time was handed down to two of his sons Walter and
James. The business remained in operation for over a century, and in the end, was run by his third and youngest
son Arthur NS Patrick Sr.
Arthur Patrick was destined to be a railroad man. He lived near the railroad in
Richland, Texas and it proved to be more enticing than my grandfather could resist. As a young man, he began his
forty five year career with the railroad. He did however, take the time to fall in love and marry my grandmother,
Effie Lee Middleton. From this union came four children, and my father James William Patrick was the baby of the family. Daddy
was born in Waco Texas on October 7, 1923.
The railroad took the family to Brownsville, Texas, where Jane Ann McGinley was living with
her parents. James and Jane Ann went to the same schools, and eventually married, and presto change-o my brother
James Michael Patrick, and I, "Robert Scott Patrick," began our lives.
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