Ancestry Magazine

How did I find the family name and history of my six-times grandmother who died three hundred years ago? The legal documents of her time reveal only her married name. I credit three Ps—patience, persistence, and plenty of luck, with my success.

Ann (ca. 1630—1702), the wife of Thomas Pattison (ca. 1616—1701), lived in Dorchester County, Maryland, for at least thirty years but never left a trace of who she was or where she came from. A long, winding trail finally led me to Ann’s family and father. But along the trail, for every solid fact I mined from the seams of early American history, a stream of questions has flowed that I still can’t answer.

Ten years ago I thought I had dug from the Dorchester County records all there was to know about Thomas Pattison and his wife Ann. I had entered into my family history software fifty-one separate pieces of information about Thomas and a number more about Ann. These had been found in a series of books about early Maryland and, in later years, through online sources. As I traveled, on business or for pleasure, I had visited libraries as disparate as Cincinnati, Ohio; Baltimore and Columbia, Maryland; the DAR in Washington, D.C.; the Maryland Archives in Annapolis; and the online databases at Ancestry.com. Each visit uncovered a few valid new facts and introduced as many new questions.

The long trail to find Ann began with the book Revised History of Dorchester County, Maryland. The book reported: “Thomas Pattison”came to Maryland”and settled in Dorchester County, December 20, 1671. He proved his right to 400 acres by transporting into the province himself, Ann Pattison (his wife), James, Jacob, Priscilla, and Ann Pattison (his children) and two servants.”

The records show that Thomas was a very energetic, multi-talented man. Land records cite him as a buyer or seller of acreage along a number of the major rivers in Dorchester County. Thomas was also an entrepreneur. He started up a grain mill near Secretary, Maryland, and a windmill on James Island. More than once he listed himself as a wine cooper, undoubtedly after acquiring land that held a stand of oak trees.

This entrepreneur had an impressive collection of talents, not the least of which was political skill. In 1671, the first year county records show him in Maryland, Thomas was appointed county commissioner. Very soon after that he became the county surveyor and then the county clerk. How, if he was just a newcomer, did he become selected for these posts?

Subsequent digging showed that 1671 wasn’t the first date in Thomas’s Maryland history. In April 1665, “Armstrong Hogg Pen” on James Island was “in possession of” Thomas Pattison. But where were Ann and the family between 1665 and 1671?

Like most amateur genealogists, I work sporadically when I find the time or when I get my hands on a new source. A few years ago, when searching for a different family, I acquired a booklet for Dorchester County that supposedly covered records from 1689 to 1732, dates long after Thomas and Ann had arrived. But tucked between an entry for May 1727 and one for June 1727 was the following: “13 August 1669, Francis Armstrong and Frances Armstrong, his wife, to Thomas Paterson [ sic ] of Rappahannock: 400 acres called `Armstrong’s Hoggepenne’ on Oyster Creek in James Island.”

When I first saw this, I didn’t recognize the new trail that was suddenly opened to me because of the disparate sp elling of the surname. And this was the first time I had seen any reference to Rappahannock. Was it the name of a Dorchester County plantation or a reference to the river in Virginia? It seemed to be only another small piece to the puzzle surrounding Ann and Thomas.

The next advance was plain luck. One day about a year later, when I was visiting my son in Fredericksburg, Virginia, I stopped at the city’s main library. Going down a narrow, iron circular staircase to the library’s basement, I reached its well-lit, very quiet, local history room. There were shelves and shelves of old deed books. I opened Deed Abstracts of Old Rappahannock County, VA. 1656—1664, and checked the index for Thomas Pattison. It showed ten citations of a Thomas Pattison who bought and sold land, witnessed signings of official documents, and even occasionally acted as an attorney. This information fit the activities of my Thomas Pattison in Dorchester County, Maryland. I was excited but still pessimistic. I saw no details that could help me to know if this was the Thomas Pattison I was seeking.

Several weeks later, I had to make another trip to Fredericksburg, and this time I planned for library time. An arcane seventeenth-century registration of cattle marks opened up a wide path for me to follow.

In Old Rappahannock County Deed Abstracts for 1663 to 1668, I read: “6 May 1668: Know all men by these presents that I, Elizabeth Haslerton, do hereby give these following mentioned cattle and their increase, unto the children of my brother-in-law Thomas Pattison, and my sister Ann, his wife:”I give unto their eldest son, James Pattison, two heifers and one yearling with all their increase forever.”One of the heifers is black and white, with a white face, called Lilly, and the other heifer is a brown, and all thre e of them one mark: swallow, forked on the left ear and right ear cropped and two slits in the crop and underkeeled above and below. Secondly, I give in like manner to their youngest son, Jacob Pattison, one black heifer with a calf at her side and all their increase forever.” Thirdly, I give in like manner unto their daughter, Priscilla Pattison, one yearling heifer of a black color”as witness my hand, this 6th of May, 1668.”

There could be no doubt that this was my Thomas. It was clearly spelled out, including the names of Thomas’s and Ann’s children! And now I knew that his wife’s sister was Elizabeth Haslerton! But was Haslerton Elizabeth’s married name or her family name?

I bought some booklets covering Old Rappahannock and neighboring Lancaster County, Virginia, for this time period. As I worked my way through them, I had more good luck. I read in an entry dated 22 May 1655: “I, Abraham Moone, do hereby, for consideration from the hands of James Bagnall,”give, grant from me and my heirs”two hundred acres of land being upon the freshes of the Rappahannock River”unto Elizabeth Hezetlyn [ sic ], daughter of Arther Hezeltyn [ sic ], deceased, to her; her heirs,”forever.”

So Haslerton (or maybe Hezeltyn) was Elizabeth’s, and therefore Ann’s, family name. Their father was Arthur Haslerton. But who was James Bagnall?

Further research in the library revealed that James was an early Rappahannock River landowner and a justice and tax gatherer for a newly-formed Lancaster County, Virginia, government. He also represented the Rappahannock area in the Virginia House of Burgesses. But why would he buy land for Elizabeth Haslerton? The following two entries shed some light:

• 26 Aug 1643: James Bagnall received land (in what is now the Norfolk, Virginia, area) for transport of four persons, including a Priscilla Haselton [sic]. These “headrights” were assigned to him by Arthur Haslington [sic].
• 7 May 1662: Know all men that I, Priscilla Bagnall, do hereby ordain my loving friend and brother in law Thomas Pattison my lawful attorney for me to prove the will of my deceased husband, James Bagnall”.

Priscilla is another daughter of Arthur and the sister of Elizabeth, for whom, in 1655, James Bagnall had bought 200 acres!

So patience, persistence, and plenty of luck helped me uncover the name and something of the history of my six-greats grandmother, Ann Haslerton. It was surprising to find that before coming to Maryland, Ann had lived near her two sisters and her brother-in-law James Bagnall.

But why did Ann and Thomas decide to leave the Rappahannock for Maryland? I can only speculate. It was a time of falling tobacco prices and political upsets in Virginia. Maryland was only beginning to attract settlers in 1661, and it must have appeared to offer fresh opportunities. Thomas’s and Ann’s years in Virginia had made them experienced, knowledgeable frontiersmen. Furthermore, Thomas would acquire “headrights” for 400 acres of land when the family settled in Maryland.

In 1665, Thomas took possession of a land position with “Armstrong’s Hoggepenne.” In 1669, he paid for that land. In 1671, Ann and Thomas completed their move.

Ann had nine children in thirty years of childbearing and adopted one more daughter. She must have be en one tough lady to have raised ten children while living on the edge of civilization with the energetic, land-trading, entrepreneur Thomas Pattison.

I’m glad I found her.

C.E. “Ted’ Peck, a retired business executive, has been pursuing his family history for twenty-five years. His interest in the Pattison branch of his family was renewed when he moved to Maryland’s Eastern Shore, not far from the 1669 Pattison homestead on James Island, an island now eroded and abandoned.