Henry Pattison "...A good deal of "go-ahead" qualities, so common to the Yankee race."

Henry Pattison  1818-1893

Henry Wyles Cushman stated that Henry Pattison, my Great Great Grandfather had "...A good deal of "go-ahead" qualities, so common to the Yankee race."

Henry Pattison (Henry 1, Kate Pattison Wright 2,  Robert Burns Wright 3, Robert Wayne Wright 4, Me, 5)  was born in Troy, Rensselaer County, New York on 23 Feb 1818.  His parents John Pattison and Emma Gardner Pattison were both of well-known early New England families-the Pattisons of Stillwater New York and the Gardners of Rhode Island.  John was a well to do merchant and Emma's Father George Gardner started the first newspaper in Troy.  Henry was the 3rd child and 3rd son.

I have used the book The Descendant of Thomas Pattison of Stillwater, New York, written  by my 1st cousin two generations removed, Hal Cushman Pattison, for verification of dates etc.  Hal, of my Grandpa Wright's generation, was  a Brigadier General in the US Army and he served for a time as the  Chief of Military History for the Army.  He passed away in 1999.  He was Henry's and Josephine's Grandson.   https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1999/02/28/army-brig-gen-hal-cushman-pattison-dies/109fdcf6-f51d-4645-9ce3-ab31dccf7da2/

Nothing is known to us about Henry's childhood.  At the age of 18, in 1836,  Henry and his older brother George Gardner Pattison, left New York and traveled to the South.  He read Law and was admitted to the Bar in Florida in 1843.

Admitted to the Bar on 19  Dec 1843

By 1848, Henry was in Georgia, apparently working with Judge Ira Harvey Cushman, another  Yankee living  in the South.  Cushman was from Barnet, Vermont and years earlier he had also traveled with his Brother to the South where he read Law.  In 1848, he and his family were residing  in Geneva, Alabama.  Earlier the family had lived in Ft. Gaines, GA,  which at that time was in Early County.  He was married to Mary McCorkle (subject of an earlier Post on the Blog).  Ira Harvey rode a Circuit in this part of Alabama and Georgia.
Now, I am not certain of the laws but I assume Henry would have had to be admitted to the Bar in Georgia in order to practice Law in that state.  I do not know if he did that or if he worked as a Law Clerk for Ira.  He did not practice Law when the family later lived in Illinois and I find no hard evidence that he practiced at all.  In May 1846, he served as an Election Inspector in Milton, Santa Rosa County, Florida.

Henry Pattison's signature can be seen at the lower left and top right of the document

In October 29, 1848, Henry married Josephine Cushman; she was 15 years old, Henry was 30.  She was a Southern Belle, born and bred while Henry was a Yankee, born and raised in New York.  Although I find several Marriage Records for weddings officiated by Ira Harvey Cushman as a Justice of the Peace...I cannot find one for Henry and Josephine.  I assume he married his Daughter and Henry but there is no record of this marriage, that I have been able to find.  Family lore says they married in Geneva AL.

Josephine Pattison Cushman, taken in Monmouth, Il (so after 1861)

The years immediately after Henry and Josephine wed were not good years for the Cushman and Pattison families. In October 1848, Ira and Mary lost an infant daughter named Victoria James  (I believe this child was named for Mary's ellusive Father-see Mary McCorkle prior post)  Then, on 26 Jan 1849, Ira Harvey Cushman, aged 50,  died after a fall from his horse. Henry left Josephine, either pregnant with their first child Emma, or with a newborn, to travel to the Gold Fields of California.  The route he followed was most likely by ship to the East coast of Panama (Pre-canal) where he probably had to haul his luggage by mule or on foot and fight the jungle and fever carrying mosquitoes, snakes and other swamp and jungle critters  to arrive at Panama City on the West coast where a Steamer took him to California. It was a harrowing trip and we are fortunate that he returned-many did not!!   http://www.e-adventure.net/land/mining/panama.html  Henry is absent from the 1850 Census but he did return to Josephine and his newborn daughter albeit without any Gold.

Henry's route would have been shorter as it originated in Pensacola, Florida.

The record is quiet for the decade of the 1850's-the Pattisons and Josephine's Mother, Mary and her new, young husband William J. Allen move to Milton, Florida.  The 1860 Census does not quite jive with the facts as known-there is one child missing, my great Grandmother Kate.  She would have been 4 years old.  There are 3 "Patterson" children listed "E. Patterson" (Emma) age 12, "L. Patterson" age 8 (this would have been Olivia...Livy??) and what appears to be "J. Patterson"  age 1 month (this would be Henrietta Josephine, born in May 1860).  There was a boy Ashton Hargrave Pattison who died as an infant in 1855, and my Grandmother Kate, born in 1856.  Ashton of course, is not on the 1860 Census, but Kate should have been,  Henry is listed as a "Clerk" and William, Mary's husband as a "Trader".  I read in Hal Cushman Pattison's book, that Henry was also involved in the Coastal Trade.  I assume that this is what William was doing.  A google search reveals that Coastal Trading involved shipping goods by water from one port to other domestic ports.  Living on the Gulf of Mexico as they did in the Pensacola area, this would have been a popular occupation, probably trading with New Orleans and coastal cities in Texas and Western Florida

Pensacola is at the far West of the Florida Panhandle.  The tiny dots on each side of the Georgia Alabama Border mark the approximate locations of Ft. Gaines, Georgia and Geneva, Alabama.  The Chattahoochee River forms the boundry between the 2 States.

The 1860's was a time of major change both for the United States and for the Pattison family.  Upset with the election of Abraham Lincoln, several Southern States, including Florida, left the Union and on April 12, 1861, with the firing on Ft Sumter, the American Civil War began.  Now, remember, Henry is a Yankee, living in the South.  He may have lived in Florida but had Northern sensibilities and apparently was an outspoken Abolitionist.  His brother George however, seems to have taken better to the Southern way of life.  He became a slave owner, having 2 adult female slaves and a boy and a girl slave.  His son fought on the side of the Confederates, as did Josephine's brothers, Montreal and Henry Clay.

The story is, (and I can find no proof of this except for the fact that my family lives in Illinois and not in Florida) that shortly before the Confederates fired on Ft. Sumter, there were "Negro uprisings" in Pensacola and apparently Henry was patrolling the streets as a Justice of the Peace; he apparently did something or said something to upset the Southerners. The outcome was that Henry, Josephine and their children were, the following morning, according to lore, put on a boat or ship and sent out of Pensacola and into the Gulf of Mexico.  They must have followed the coast line to New Orleans, then went upriver landing in Keithsburg, Mercer County, IL on the same day Ft. Sumter was fired upon, 12 April 1861.  There they claimed Bounty land that Henry's mother had inherited from her Father, George Gardner.  This 80 acres was awarded to him for his service in the War of 1812.  Thus, Henry became a Farmer.   He is listed in 1870 on the Federal Agriculture Schedule. (Essentially a Census of everyone involved in agriculture in the US)  (Further reading regarding Ft. Pickens, Pensacola and Santa Rosa Island in the months prior to the beginning of the Civil War can be found here http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Florida/_Texts/FlaHQ/36/Civil_War_Operations_in_and_around_Pensacola*.html)

In 1863, Henry's mother Emma Gardner Pattison died.  In her will, she essentially stiffed Henry.  I am not sure of the reason for this, but she left the land that she had inherited from her father, to Josephine "for the benefit of herself and the children"of Henry.  She also says that at Josephine's death, her Executors may sell the land for the benefit of Emma's heirs.  She also gave each of her sons $1500, except Henry.  He, like the others,  was given a silver fork and 2 silver teaspoons.  Of course Henry's wife did get the land.  I don't know-the wording bothers me, the total exclusion of Henry except for the 3 pieces of silverware.    Was Henry a gambler??  I think that would be a hard thing to be in Mercer Co Illinois even today, let alone in the 1800's.  There ain't much there but cornfields!  Although I guess the Paddle wheelers did go up and down the Mississippi.
Was he drinker??  Did his mother think he was not responsible to use the land for the benefit of his family??

Section of Emma's will leaving the Bounty acreage to Josephine

I just found something that may or  may or not shed light on Henry's character...As I was writing this, I came across this application for a US Patent.  Maybe Henry was a dreamer and schemer...I married one of them, I know how the mind works...there is always a pot of gold under that Rainbow.....no that one....wait, it's this one...what about  if we spend this much to buy that...we will make our fortune.  Certainly explains the California Gold Rush, don't it??  I think Henry was a good man. He wanted to do the best for his family but he was an impractical  man, Thank the gods he had Josephine for a wife.

So, now we have the family uprooted-Josephine taken from the South, from her Mother and brothers and sister.  Her brother Montreal gave his life to the Southern Cause.  I am not sure that Josephine ever saw her family after the hostilities ended.  The Civil War caused a great deal of pain and sorrow for families.

The Pattison's did well in Mercer County-the original house is gone but the home built by their eldest son Henry John Fitch is still standing and occupied, although no longer by family members.   Most of their children went to college and had successful careers. Two daughters, Emma and Florida served for nearly 20 years as a Missionary with their  husbands and families, in Egypt.   Henry J. F. farmed the land he inherited and added to it. Stanley was a Pharmacist and most of the women were school teachers.  All raised children who were successful, productive citizen

Josephine died suddenly on 1 Jan 1885.  She was 52 years old. It sounds as though she ruptured an aneurysm or blood vessel in her brain and never recovered.

Obituary Josephine Cushman, published in The Aledo Times 1/7/1885

Not much is know about Henry's later years.  I did find him as a witness to a neighbors application to the US Patent Office for a wire stretcher, but other than that the record is quiet.

Henry followed his wife some years later in 1893.  The below newspaper clipping gives his sons name but is obviously talking about Henry Sr.

Althought it gives the name of Henry's son, Henry John Fitch, it is talking about Henry (Sr.)