C Pattison

Family & Childhood

 

His father, Charles Sr., bought a log cabin, lot 308, in Carlisle ca 1765. Charles Sr. died in 1771 and his widow lived there until 1835.

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From the Cumberland County History, Summer 1991 Volume 8 Number I, "A Corner of Carlisle History" by Dawn L. Flower, Pg 29-42 ...

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“In 1763 fear ran high in the town when news of the so-called Pontiac Insurrection spread. Many of the settlers of         Carlisle fled to Philadelphia, never to return. Colonel Henri Bouquet led his troops to crush the Indian insurrection of        Pontiac in the bloody battle of Bushy Run in Westmoreland County. Carlisle declared Bouquet a hero, and the town's     growth began again as the threat of Indian attack diminished.

 

It was against this backdrop that the first of the four homes of the corner lots was built. John Pattison, the original           owner of lot #308, built a square timbered log cabin twenty feet wide by twenty feet deep on the Northwest corner of   his lot #308. The lot must have been appealing because of easy access to the Letort stream for drinking water and         nearness to the farmlands and main road. At this time no other lots were planned to the east of his. As the threat of        Indians usually came from the West, Pattison's lot would be farthest from that threat; however, he would be two blocks from the safety of the fort. The door to the cabin faced to the West towards the fort with a solid wall of defense to the East. In 1765 Pattison sold lot #308 to Charles Pattison, quite possibly a relative, for the sum of two hundred pounds. This deed describes the lot as having dwellings, paths, and other improvements.7 Further research is needed to provide a precise date for the log structure now under the brick facade of 172 East High Street. It is very likely that the first floor and basement were built prior to 1765, in light of the angled V-shaped structure of the fireplaces in the basement and the deed records. It is even possible that it is one of those first fifty-five log homes described as existing by 1753.

 

The new occupant, Charles Pattison, a cordwainer, or cobbler, died intestate 4 June 1771. At the time of Charles's           death, his wife, Elizabeth Pattison, was seven months pregnant with their fourth child John. The other three children       were Jane, age eight; George, age six; and Charles, age three. On 18 November 1778 Elizabeth appealed to the         Orphans Court for financial help. Profits from the outlots which her husband had owned and which were now being         farmed were insufficient she alleged to sustain, educate and cloth the four children. Since Charles had made no will,       much of his estate went directly to his children, rather than to his wife, and, they being minors, this portion of his             estate could not be touched without a court order. The log house is referred to in her appeal as she carried out             Charles's wishes to add a second story to their home complete with a new roof.8 This information has enabled dating    the second log story of the structure to 1771-1778. The thatch roof can still be seen in the attic of 172 East High Street.

 

Although the 1770's saw peace with the Indians, the colonists were now faced with a new enemy, the British.”

 

“Noted on the 1779 Tax List is the information that the widow, Elizabeth Pattison, was taxed for one house and lot and     three cows. 12 Elizabeth and the four children apparently remained in the log structure at Lot #308. In 1789 the Pattison family still resided in the log structure, minus one member. George had married Nancy Thompson, (granddaughter of Andrew Holmes, who was an original lot owner of at least two of the #312 lots). In 1789 George was listed as saddler. 13

 

By the early 1800's three of the Pattison children seemed to be doing pretty well. George had married into a good          family and by 1811 had become an attorney and acquired a house and lot in town and twenty and one-half acres of         outlots.14 Jane had married William Godfrey, not a Carlisler. Charles, Jr., continued to live in the two-story log house,     had eleven acres of outlots, and was a carpenter by trade. … Very little is recorded about John (born two months after    his Father's death) …”

 

“Lot #308 remained in the Pattison family until 1835.” “In 1835 Andrew Carothers purchased from the Pattison heirs       Lot #308 with a two-story brick house.22 Apparently, the log front of the house had been removed, the roof jacked up,    and the brick front substituted.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ENDNOTES

 

7 Deed from john Pattison to Charles Pattison. Dated 8 June 1765, recorded in the Office of the Recorder of Deeds, Cumberland County, Carlisle, PA, in Deed Book 2, Volume A, Page 300.

8 Recorded in the Office of the Register of Wills, Cumberland County, Carlisle, PA, in Orphans County Docket #2, p. 232. 12 Merri Lou Scribner Schaumann, A History and Genealogy of Carlisle, Cumberland County Pennsylvania: 1751-1835 (Dover, PA, 1987) p. 109.

13 ibid, p. 114.

14 ibid, 1811 Tax List, p. 128

22 Deed from Pattison heirs to Andrew Carothers. Dated 26 March 1835, recorded in the Office of the Recorder of Deeds, Cumberland County, Carlisle, PA, in Deed     Book 1, Volume QQ, Page 300.