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From the death of George Paterson in Victoria, Australia, I know that he was born in Coldingham, Berwickshire, Scotland to William Patterson and Margaret Gilroy. From the marriage of William Patterson to Margaret Gilroy I know that Margaret's father was George Gilroy. To go further back I'd have to get the microfilm for Coldingham (I have the microfiche but that states that more information exists on the microfilm). Even in Coldingham, there are two good candidates for William's birth. However, in the whole of Britain I didn't find a single good candidate for Margaret's birth.
The early Patterson family tree from the IGI & microfiche is as follows:
1. George Gilroy
2. Margaret Gilroy
m. 7 Feb 1794 William Patterson bap. 1767
3. Janet Patterson bap. 21 Dec 1794
3. William Patterson bap. 4 Sep 1796
3. Margaret Patterson bap. 20 Feb 1799
3. George Patterson bap. 15 Feb 1801 d. 25 Jul 1864
m. 29 Jul 1830 Allegonda Ann Hall
3. Mary Patterson bap. 1 Oct 1802
3. Joan Patterson bap. 22 Sep 1804
All baptisms occurred in Coldingham. I must admit that when I was unearthing this tree a shiver went down my spine. I have two older sisters Janet and Margaret and one older brother William (dec.). My first wife was a Mary (after a deed poll name change), my mother a Jean (similar to Joan). Thankfully, I'm a David married to a Susan with daughter Elizabeth.
I didn’t know what happened to George’s siblings until I was sent the following Coldingham Monumental Inscription:
Ralph Gilroy, d.12/11/1825
Margaret Gilroy, wife of Wm Paterson, joiner in Coldingham, d.7/3/1834. Their son William Paterson, died in Jamaica, 30/9/1882, daughter Margaret, d. in Newcastle, 7/1830, 31 Yrs.
William Paterson, feuar in Coldingham, d 30/11/1848, 81 yrs. John Paterson d. at Eyemouth, 12/1849, 45 yrs. George d. in Australia,1864, 63 yrs. Mary lee Paterson, d. 24/2/1878, 75 yrs.
All these are in one family grave.
A feuar is a tenant, usually an agricultural labourer, working on a farm or estate. Eyemouth is a town near Coldingham. Although the inscription states that all were buried in a common grave, I have a reliable record that George was buried in Melbourne General Cemetery but I don’t have a plot number.
So William Patterson senior was born in 1767, but that still leaves three possible sets of parents. The IGI has:
William Paterson bap. 20 Mar 1767 in East Reston, Coldingham to John PATERSON & Alison ALISON
Willm. Paterson bap. 21 May 1767 in Coldingham to William PATERSON & Margaret SPENSE.
William Patterson bap. 15 Dec 1767 in Earlston, Berwick(shire) to John PATTERSON.
The fact that William Patterson junior died in Jamaica upsets things considerably. All George’s children in Jamaica are accounted for, he left no descendants with surname Paterson in Jamaica. The first name George is rare or unique among Jamaican Pattersons. One the other hand, there were at least two other William Pattersons in Jamaica at the same time, and one was almost exactly the same age as ours – buried in Kingston in November 1853 aged 52.
People with surname Patterson were in Jamaica at least as early as 1723, when Alexander Patterson was buried in Kingston. At least one William Patterson was having coloured children in Port Royal Parish from 1788 to C1803. There were at least seven Patterson children in that period. These couldn’t have been from our William Patterson junior, but there were other Patterson children later. There were Patterson landowners in Jamaica in a further four parishes by 1840.
I can’t even begin to sort out whether our William left descendants in Jamaica. The only slight clue that he may have done so is the presence of two unidentified Paterson children on the ship that took George to Australia.
PATTERSON or PATERSON? All the current descendants, including me, use the single 'T' Paterson, and I get upset when people misspell it, which they do about 50% of the time, Grr. I HATE people who can't spell my name correctly. However, it wasn’t always PATERSON. The Parish Register entries of all the siblings of George in Coldingham, Berwicksire, Scotland say PATTERSON. So George was born George PATTERSON, but in Australia when he died the Civil Registration records say George PATERSON, and on the Coldingham Monumental Inscription it’s PATERSON.
I'm sure that after the family arrived in Australia it was PATERSON. On the ship to Australia (1854) it was PATTERSON. In Jamaica I can't be sure but it was probably PATTERSON. The original Family Register says PATTERSON. The parish register entry for George's marriage has PATTERSON. In a version of the Family Register that has been hand copied from the original, the name PATTERSON has been altered almost everywhere to read PATERSON, probably in an attempt by a later Paterson to 'correct' the early records. However, if the relevant entries in the original Family Register were written by John Herman Hall & William Bryan Hall, they may not have known the correct spelling.
A Bermuda newspaper index has the spelling PATERSON in 1853 at the marriage of Euphemia Frances Gilroy Paterson. The St Andrew Parish Baptism Index has George M[acfadyen] PATTERSON in 1845 but Robina Jackson PATERSON in 1848. As an interim measure, I'm using PATTERSON before 1845 and PATERSON thereafter.
Not surprisingly, Allegonda Ann Hall / Patterson went by the christian name of Ann. All her children are known (I think). They are:
Allegonda Ann Hall b. 20 Jun 1807, bap. 15 Jan 1809 St Andrew, d. 2 Nov 1864
m. 29 Jul 1830 George Patterson
Euphemia Frances Gilroy Patterson b. 19 Jul 1832, d. 10 Nov 1865
m. 23 Mar 1853 William George Astwood b. abt 1822, d. 17 Jan 1880
Dora Letitia Patterson b. 8 Oct 1834, bap. 18 Oct 1834 Kingston, d. 13 Apr 1898
m. 29 Nov 1855 Gilbert Handasyde b. 1824, d. 1869
Duncan Colthirst Patterson b. 16 Aug 1837, bap. 29 Jun 1838, d. 24 Oct 1892
m. 2 Oct 1867 Ellen Saunders b. abt 1845
Jessie Briscoe Patterson b. 11 Feb 1842
m. 1865 James Montgomery Adamson
George Macfadyen Patterson b. 14 Sep 1845, bap. 12 Nov 1845 St Andrew
Robina Jackson Paterson b. 29 Jan 1848, bap. 12 Apr 1848 St Andrew
m. Richard HAYES
More information is listed below on the antecedents of William George Astwood and Gilbert Handasyde. I tried and failed to find antecedents of Ellen Saunders in Liverpool, England.
With the exception of Euphemia Frances Gilroy Patterson / Astwood who married in Jamaica and stayed in Jamaica, the whole family travelled to Victoria Australia in 1854.
I know nothing of the fate of George Macfadyen Paterson after he arrived in Australia. More information is available on the descendants of the others. See Pat Wyatt's book.