USA > Illinois > DeKalb County > Sandwich > History of the Somonauk United Presbyterian church near Sandwich, De Kalb County, Illinois : with ancestral lines of the early members > Part 14
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ix. Jennie, born 1870.
ROBERT JAMES (2) MERCER, born in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, in 1854; married February 1, 1882, Emma Heun. They have one son and three daughters. They have lived for the last forty years in Chicago, Illinois.
JOSEPH (2) MERCER, born in 1856; died October 10, 1922; married in 1882, Lina Elinger, at Odebolt, Iowa. They had one child, who died young. He married second, Sarah Landen, who died September, 1922.
THOMAS (2) MERCER, born in Clinton township in 1858; married, in 1882, Ida Hamlin. He was for many years a farmer, but now resides in Sandwich, where he was post- master for several years.
Children:
i. Iona (3).
ii. Myrtle.
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THE MERCER FAMILY
JOHN (2) MERCER, born January 24, 1860. He is a farmer and owns the homestead; married, in 1891, Alice Fisher. They are living in Waterman.
Children:
i. Mildred (3).
ii. Raymond.
iii. Mary.
ALVIN (2) MERCER, born in 1861; married, in 1864, Rose Didda, at Ida Grove, Iowa. He has been a farmer and an engineer; is living at Berwyn, Illinois.
Children:
i. Howard (3).
iv. Glen.
ii. Ruth.
v. Harold.
iii. Blanche. vi. Grace.
WILLIAM MOFFETT (2) MERCER, born in 1863; married in 1884, while living at Franklin, Nebraska, Ella Lattin. He is a lawyer and is living in Aurora, Illinois.
Children:
i. Maude (3). iv. Mark.
ii. Ivan. v. Mona.
iii. Crystal.
vi. Leona.
SAMUEL WALLACE (2) MERCER, born in 1865; died in 1887.
IDA BELLE (2) MERCER, born in 1868; married Willis Tuttle. They are living in California.
JENNIE (2) MERCER, born in 1870; married James E. Landen. They are living in California.
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The Moffett Family
WILLIAM TURNER (2) MOFFETT, D. D., born at Bloomington, Indiana, July 27, 1837, son of John (1) and Letitia Strong Moffett, of Chester District, South Carolina; died March 28, 1916, married first, April 9, 1861, Jennie Morrison Robb, of Aledo, Illinois, a daughter of Hugh M. Robb; died February 13, 1869. Mrs. Moffett was a graduate of Monmouth College in the class of 1859.
Children:
i. Wallace B. (3), deceased.
ii. Hugh R., editor Daily Review Atlas, Monmouth, Ill.
iii. William P., lieutenant-colonel United States Cav- alry.
iv. Helen M., teacher of Latin, high school, Winfield, Kan.
v. Jennie R., county nurse, Xenia, Ohio.
Dr. Moffett married second, February 11, 1872, Elizabeth Shepherd, of Xenia, Ohio, who died December 23, 1917.
Graduated from the Indiana State University at Blooming- ton, 1857, and, with the degree of Doctor of Divinity, from Monmouth U. P. Seminary in 1861, Dr. Moffett was licensed by the Southern Indiana Presbytery, April 8, 1860, and or- dained pastor of Somonauk church, his first charge, April 3, 1861, succeeding Rev. R. W. French, who was the first pastor of Somonauk church. After serving this church for seventeen years, he resigned November 27, 1876. Early the following year he became pastor at Morning Sun, Iowa, remaining there until called to be the stated supply at Montrose, Woonsocket and Bonilla, South Dakota, in 1883. In April, 1891, he ac- cepted a call to College Springs, Iowa, where he remained until he went to Arkansas City, Kansas, in 1894. After sup- plying at Big Spring, Tennessee, he retired from active work on account of failing health, making his home at Xenia, Ohio, where he died. It has been well said of him that "in all of
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THE MORE FAMILY
these places he left a fragrant memory." He was moderator of the Illinois Synod in 1868, of the Iowa Synod in 1882 and of the Kansas Synod in 1897. For many years he was widely known in the temperance movement.
Dr. Moffett and his first and second wives are buried at Oak Mound Cemetery.
A daughter of Major William P. Moffett, a United Pres- byterian missionary in China, was seriously injured when the Chinese Nationalist Army captured Nankin in the spring of 1927.
The More Family
JAMES (1) MORE, born July 20, 1815, in Washington County, New York; died April 27, 1858, in Victor township, De Kalb County, Illinois; married late in the '30s in Wash- ington County, Marie P. Thompson; born October 20, 1820; died December 3, 1906, near Viola, Kansas.
Children:
i. Wallace (2), born 1840.
ii. Margaret Jane, born July 24, 1842; died Nov. 12, 1891; married Oct. 20, 1860, James R. Graham. (See page 140.)
iii. Joseph, born July 27, 1844; died in June, 1876.
iv. Sara Elizabeth, born July 14, 1846; died Oct. 11, 1880; married E. E. Mitchell.
v. James Irwin, born Jan. 30, 1849.
They came to Somonauk in the spring of 1850 and united with the Associate Church early the same year. They bought from the government one hundred sixty acres in Victor town- ship and built a cabin on it. James More did not have rugged health and died in 1858 of what was then called "consump- tion." Wallace and Joseph carried on the farm.
WALLACE (2) MORE enlisted in the 8th Illinois Cavalry in September, 1861. The regiment was soon sent to the front
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in the Army of the Potomac. After five months' service he was discharged on account of failing health. After some months he regained his health and in the summer of 1862 enlisted in Company H, 105th Illinois Infantry. He took part in all the fighting that the regiment did. At the battle of Golds- boro, Sherman's last battle, he lost his right arm. This was just three weeks before Lee surrendered to Grant. Coming home in June, 1865, he learned to write with his left hand, and was elected county clerk at the next election after his dis- charge. He married and had one child, but in a few years his health failed and he died while still a young man.
JAMES IRWIN (2) MORE, born January 30, 1849; died in Viola, Kansas, February 2, 1927; married May 17, 1883, Jane Dobbin, by whom he had ten children.
The Morrison Family
WILLIAM (1) MORRISON was born in Scotland in the latter half of the eighteenth century, where he married Mar- garet Coventry early in the nineteenth century.
Children:
i. John (2).
ii. Thomas.
JOHN (2) MORRISON was born in 1821, and about 1842 came with a brother to America to investigate the opportunities for an American home. They chose a farm near Schenectady, New York, and set about earning money to help bring their parents and other members of the family across the water. This accomplished, the family lived near Schenectady for sev- eral years, and there John (2) married Jane McGue, who was of Scotch parentage but born in 1820 in the state of New York. The name "McGue" is a corruption of McGeoch. The following incident will explain the change:
A McGeoch family came to America and settled near Schenectady. One of the older sons enlisted in the state militia.
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THE MORRISON FAMILY
In registering his name the registrar had difficulty in spelling and articulating it; finally he said, "Oh, yes, McGue," and registered it that way. In that family the name "McGue" has been retained since, though they are of the same blood as the McGeochs of Washington County, New York.
John (2) Morrison and his wife immigrated to Aurora, Illinois, in the spring of 1852 and settled near the C. B. & Q. Railroad, at that time known as the Aurora Branch Railroad Company. They lived in the neighborhood of St. Charles for three years, but, hearing of one hundred sixty acres of unim- proved prairie land in Victor township, De Kalb County, that could be bought reasonably, Mr. Morrison investigated and closed the deal. There they lived a long time and their prosper- ity exceeded their expectations.
Children:
i. Mary Agnes (3) married William T. Nelson. Child:
i. Marian (4) Nelson, who is a musician of much ability.
ii. William John married Emma Highby; died as the result of an accident, Nov. 16, 1888, aged thirty- three years.
Children:
i. Ella (4).
ii. John.
iii. Willa.
THOMAS (2) MORRISON secured one hundred sixty acres two miles south of John's. Being unmarried, he asked his parents to come and make their home with him. After some years Thomas' health failed, and he died. His parents then went to live near their son John, where they died in the spring of 1881. The two families were received into the United Presbyterian Church and were consitsent members to the end.
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SOMONAUK CHURCH
Mrs. Jane (McGue) Morrison died January 31, 1888, aged sixty-eight. Not long after, Mr. Morrison rented the farm to his son-in-law, William T. Nelson, and, with the widow of his son William, removed to Waterman, where he pur- chased a house.
They transferred their church membership to the Water- man Presbyterian Church, where for some years they regularly attended. Mr. Morrison died at a ripe old age. His children early united with the church. These families are all buried in Oak Mound Cemetery.
The Orr Family
DAVID (1) ORR, born May 10, 1818; died at Des Moines, Iowa, November 20, 1893; married in Wayne County, Ohio, January 14, 1845, Elizabeth, a daughter of John (1) and Margaret Cook McCleery; born March 7, 1817, in Wash- ington County, New York; died February 23, 1858, in Clin- ton township, De Kalb County, Illinois.
They removed to Somonauk, Illinois, in 1852, bought and lived on a farm in Clinton township, where Mrs. Orr died six years later. On arriving at Somonauk they united with the church by certificate.
Children:
i. Mary Ann (2). iv. John S.
ii. James Doig.
v. William.
iii. Ellen.
vi. Smith.
David (1) Orr married second, Martha Jane McAffee; born in Ireland in 1825; died at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in May, 1897. He and both wives are buried in Oak Mound Cemetery.
Children:
i. Levi R. (2), born Dec. 3, 1860.
ii. Sarah Jane, born Feb. 13, 1865.
iii. David, born Feb. 13, 1865.
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THE PATTEN FAMILY
Levi (2) and David (2) engaged in the implement business in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. David (2) Orr was originally a car- penter by trade and also a farmer, and good at both. He was a large, jovial man. For many years he was secured by other carpenters in the community for manager and "Crier" at barn-raisings; he had a good voice and a command of men.
JAMES DOIG ORR (2) married November 2, 1871, Philomelia J. (4) Henry; born November 13, 1850. Mr. Orr died December 21, 1874. Mrs. Orr died July 18, 1919, at Viola, Kansas.
Children:
i. Mary Ella, born Dec. 14, 1871.
ii. Minnie J., born May 22, 1873; died Aug. 2, 1886.
SARAH M. ORR (family not traced) in 1896 married George Beveridge French (8). (See page 122.)
The Patten Family
County Essex was the early home of the family in England, and the name is first mentioned in 1119, when Richard Patten is recorded as son and heir of Richard Patten, of Patten House, near Clemsford in County Essex.
About 1490 several families of Pattens removed from County Essex, England, and settled in Ayrshire, the early home of the family in Scotland.
Six coats of arms were granted to different branches of the Patten family in England and Scotland. Their motto is "Nulla Palescere Culpa"-"Never made Pale with Guilt."
The first Patten of record to remove to Ireland was James, born in Scotland about 1725, whose wife was a sister of one of the ruling elders of the Reverend Dr. Thomas Clark's church. About 1750 James settled in County Monaghan. True Orangemen, the Pattens, as long as they remained in Ireland, took pride in wearing their orange scarfs on July 12.
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SOMONAUK CHURCH
WILLIAM (1) PATTEN, the first of the name of whom we have definite knowledge, had a son James, born in Scot- land about 1725.
JAMES (2) PATTEN, born in Scotland about 1725; mar- ried there about 1750, Margaret Hanna, a sister of David Hanna, one of Dr. Clark's ruling elders. They removed soon after their marriage to County Monaghan, Ireland, where all of their children were born, and where they both died. Their residence in 1756 was Rack Wallace, Parish of Monaghan, County Monaghan, Ireland.
Children :
i. William (3), born November, 1752.
ii. Hannah, baptized Feb. 25, 1754, by Rev. Thomas Clark, M. D.
iii. John, baptized May 24, 1756, by Rev. Thomas Clark, M. D.
iv. Mary, married William Bell.
v. James, married Rachel Blakeley.
Children :
i. William (4).
ii. Robert, served in the English army and died in Afghanistan.
iii. John.
iv. James.
v. Mary, married David Lemon.
WILLIAM (3) PATTEN, son of James (2) and Margaret (Hanna) Patten, was born near Stonebridge, County Mon- aghan, Ireland, November, 1752, and died in the home of his daughter, Mrs. John Bishop, in Argyle, New York, De- cember 12, 1841, in his ninetieth year. He married in Ireland, about 1780, Martha Nesbitt; born in 1752. They arrived in
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THE PATTEN FAMILY
New York, June 24, 1794. Immediately upon landing they went to Salem, New York, where they were most kindly received by Mrs. Patten's stepfather, William Guthrie. But here another sorrow awaited them (their eldest son had been drowned on the voyage), for they learned that Mrs. Patten's mother had just died.
William Patten purchased a farm one and a half miles from Argyle. Here their family was reared and here Mrs. Patten died March 2, 1817. Martha Nesbitt Patten was a niece of Elizabeth Nesbitt, wife of Rev. Thomas Clark, M. D., of Salem, New York. Their children, except the last, were born near Stonebridge, County Monaghan, Ireland. A note on the Clark family appears in the Appendix.
Children:
i. Margaret (4), born about 1781; died in Argyle, N. Y., in 1806; married there, in 1805, John (3) Sybrandt [Sovereigh (2), John (1) and wife Elizabeth, daughter of Governor Rip Van Dam of New York], who was one of the heirs of the celebrated Anneke Jans.
ii. Robert, born in 1783; was drowned while on the ocean voyage in June, 1794.
iii. Mary, born July, 1789; died in Argyle, N. Y., Dec. 12, 1854; married there Dec. 12, 1812, John Bishop (William and Elizabeth McKallor).
Child :
i. Eliza (5) Bishop, who married Cornelius Mc- Eachron, of Argyle.
iv. James, born July 4, 1793.
v. Elizabeth Clark, born in Argyle, N. Y., November, 1800; died in Washington, Iowa, Jan. 4, 1865; married in Argyle, about 1824, John Firman Bain, of Argyle.
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SOMONAUK CHURCH
Children:
i. William (5) Bain. iv. Robert Bain.
ii. Enoch Bain. v. Henry Lant Bain.
iii. James Bain.
JAMES (4) PATTEN, son of William (3) and Martha (Nesbitt) Patten, was born near Stonebridge, County Mon- aghan, Ireland, July 4, 1793; died in Salem, Washington County, New York, December 21, 1827; married Mary, daughter of William (3) and Mary (Livingston) Robertson, in the home of her brother, William Robertson, Jr., in the village of East Greenwich, Washington County, New York, April 18, 1816, Rev. Alexander Bullions, D. D., performing the ceremony. Her mother dying at her birth, Mary (2) Rob- ertson, born in Argyle, New York, August 7, 1793, was reared by her grandmother, Eleanor Livingston, a daughter of Alex- ander McNaughton; died in the home of her son William, near Sandwich, Illinois, April 6, 1890, in her ninety-seventh year. (See appendix for McNaughton connections.) At her grandmother's knee Mary Robertson heard the tales of Bonny Prince Charley, for Mrs. Livingston was ten years of age at the time of the Rebellion of 1745 and had vivid recollections of its stirring incidents.
Children:
i. William (5), born Jan. 21, 1817.
ii. Eleanor Livingston, born in Granville, N. Y., Dec. 8, 1818; died in her mother's home in the township of Greenwich, Washington County, N. Y., July 1, 1835, in her seventeenth year.
iii. Robert, born April 13, 1820. (See page 219.)
iv. Alexander Robertson, born Aug. 14, 1823. (See page 221.)
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Alexander R. Patten First Member
Mrs. James (4) Patten ( Mary Robertson) Charter Member
Mrs. William Patten, First (Elizabeth Nelson Pratt) Charter Member
Mrs. William Patten, Second (Jane Somes )
THE PATTEN FAMILY
v. Martha Nesbitt, born on her father's farm in the township of Greenwich, Washington County, N. Y .; came to Illinois in 1844 with her mother and brothers, Robert and Alexander. She was mar- ried in the home of her brother, Robert Patten, Oct. 28, 1845, to Dr. W. M. Sweetland, of New- ark, Ill. The winters after her marriage were spent in Chicago, where her husband was studying medicine at the Rush Medical College. Her health failing, six weeks before her death she was taken to the home of her brother, Robert Patten, in Somonauk, where she died Mar. 21, 1847. Dr. Sweetland, the son of Colonel Bowen and Eliza- beth (Durkee) Sweetland, was born in Dryden, N. Y., Nov. 18, 1819; died in Highland Park, Ill., Jan. 22, 1902. He was at one time mayor of High- land Park.
In 1815 James (4) Patten went to Kingston, Ontario, where he worked at the saddler's trade. From there he wrote to his intended in July, 1815, that a rumor was being circu- lated that Bonaparte had been beaten by Wellington in Flan- ders.
HON. WILLIAM (5) PATTEN, born in the village of East Greenwich, township of Greenwich, Washington County, New York, January 21, 1817; died while on a visit at the home of his son Edward, in Yuma, Colorado, February 1, 1897, aged eighty years.
William was not quite twelve years of age when his father, James (4), died, and until 1843, except four years in the store with his Uncle Moses Robertson in East Greenwich, his home was with his mother on a farm in Greenwich, New York. De- ciding to go west that year, he made the home of George Bev- eridge, in Somonauk, Illinois, his objective, arriving there on May 17, 1843.
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SOMONAUK CHURCH
That summer he worked in the harvest field and assisted in building a barn for Mr. Devine. Having determined to make his future home in this vicinity, he returned to Washington County that fall and on October 11, 1843, married his first wife, Elizabeth Nelson Pratt; born in the village of Cossayuna, township of Greenwich, Washington County, December 8, 1819. Mrs. Patten died in her home three miles north of Sandwich, Illinois, January 8, 1856.
Mrs. Patten came of several Revolutionary stocks, being the daughter of Simon Newcomb Pratt and his wife, Deborah Isabel, daughter of Joseph Nelson, Jr. (Joseph, Sr., and wife Isabel Rogers), and wife Mary, daughter of Lieutenant Daniel McCleary and wife Elizabeth Savage, the latter a daughter of Captain John and Eleanor (Hamilton) Savage, of Salem, New York.
Mrs. Patten was the ninth in descent from Joshua Pratt, who came from England to New England in the ship Ann in 1623. Joshua Pratt was one of the surveyors who laid out the village of Plymouth, Massachusetts, receiving as compensation for his work one peck of corn a day. Her great-grandmother, Isabel (Rogers) Nelson, was a lineal descendant of the Rever- end John Rogers, the martyr, who was burned at the stake at Smithfield, England, February 4, 1555, the first Protestant martyr in the reign of Queen Mary of England. Her brother was the Reverend John Rogers who in 1767 succeeded the Rev- erend Thomas Clark as pastor of his church at Cahans, near Ballibay, County Monaghan, Ireland, and was pastor of the church for nearly fifty years.
Soon after his marriage William (5) Patten returned to Illinois to prepare a home for his bride and widowed mother. The following spring, 1844, his wife and mother, his sister Martha and two brothers came west. The latter lived on a farm rented from James Scott, about three miles east of their own land in Little Rock.
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THE PATTEN FAMILY
The following autumn Mr. Patten completed his house, which was three miles north of the site on which Newark Sta- tion (now Sandwich) was later located. It was built of three- inch plank, sawn at Sterritt's mill on Somonauk Creek, on the farm later owned by S. D. Coleman. The shingles were rived out of the butt ends of white oak logs, two days' work being given for one to pay for cutting them. The house was twenty feet square and had twelve-foot posts, with plank dovetailed at the corners. It had rooms on the story above, and still exists as part of an outbuilding. On January 1, 1845, the young couple moved into their new home.
By virtue of his sound principles and ability Mr. Patten was influential in the community. He stood for clean politics in his county and state and he took a prominent part in public affairs. A leader in securing the location of Newark Station, he and his associates stuck to their conviction that the location was a promising one, and succeeded in convincing the railroad com- pany of that fact. The thriving city of Sandwich has long been a standing proof of their clear foresight.
In 1856 Mr. Patten, being on the board of supervisors, voted for an appropriation of $5,000 to build the first jail in the county. Petty criminals had been allowed and even encouraged to escape for want of a place to keep them. Those guilty of greater crimes were taken care of by the sheriff or his deputy, who was compelled to have the prisoner padlocked to his arm for safe-keeping. In spite of this state of affairs there was strong opposition to the appropriation. The jail, however, was built.
Elected five times supervisor of Somonauk township, Mr. Patten served two terms in the Illinois House of Representa- tives, 1854, 1855, 1858 and 1859. He was elected state senator for one term, 1866 to 1870. A member of the House of Repre- sentatives at the time of the Lincoln-Douglas contest for the office of United States senator, he voted for Lincoln.
Mr. Patten was one of the first two ruling elders elected in
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SOMONAUK CHURCH
the Somonauk United Presbyterian Church he had helped to plant in the early '40s, and he served in that capacity for forty years, until he moved from the town.
In the dark days of the Civil War Mr. Patten was in the van in recruiting volunteers for the army. At President Lin- coln's call for volunteers he helped recruit the first company from Sandwich, Illinois, accompanying the boys as far as Cairo, Illinois, where they were the second company to arrive. At the stations along the way they were cheered long and loud until Centralia was passed, after which there was less enthusi- asm. Near Cairo, however, one lone old man came running down a hill waving the stars and stripes and cheering with all his might. In response, the boys nearly raised the car roofs cheering him and his flag.
Mr. Patten recruited other companies of volunteers and went to the front as captain of Company H, 156th Illinois Vol- unteers, in response to President Lincoln's last call in the winter of 1865, though past forty-five years of age.
Mr. Patten was not only a progressive in his efforts to pro- mote the welfare of the community, but also was one in his. vocation as a farmer. It is said that he bought and erected the first windmill in De Kalb County. It was the Halliday, made in Batavia, Illinois. The investment saved him several hours. each day, pumping water by hand to water a large stock. He was also the first man in Somonauk township to utilize drain tile for improving his farm land. When he got his five hundred acre farm drained to suit him he had under its surface a net- work of six miles of tiling.
Children:
i. James Miller, (6), born Apr. 16, 1845; died Sept. 29, 1849.
ii. Simon Newcomb, born May 3, 1847; died May 22, 1848.
iii. Edward Moses, born Aug. 6, 1849.
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THE PATTEN FAMILY
iv. Dr. Simon Nelson, born May 1, 1852; died July 24, 1922.
v. Jennie M., born Nov. 27, 1854; unmarried; lives with her brother Edward near Yuma, Colo. For years she has taken a deep interest in family his- tory and genealogy.
EDWARD MOSES (6) PATTEN, born near Sandwich, Illinois, August 6, 1849; married there January 22, 1879, Harriet Jane, daughter of David and Sarah Knights Mar- selus, who was seventh in descent from Jan Marselus, one of the earliest settlers in Albany, New York. Their children were born near Collins, Iowa.
Children :
i. William David (7), born Nov. 18, 1879; died Nov. 20, 1879.
ii. Mary Louise, born Apr. 6, 1881; died in Denver, Colo., July 6, 1901.
iii. Sarah Elizabeth, born Mar. 31, 1883; unmarried.
iv. Ethel Abigail, born May 7, 1885; married in Sand- wich, Ill., Apr. 14, 1906, Clare Everett Lett, whose Revolutionary ancestors were Jacob Reiser, of Berks County, Pennsylvania, and William Nichols, of Sutton, Mass.
Children:
i. Helen Virginia (8) Lett, born Sept. 16, 1907.
ii. Charles Patten Lett, born Mar. 16, 1910.
iii. Phoebe Elizabeth Lett, born Dec. 7, 1911.
iv. Harriet Louise Lett, born Apr. 6, 1914.
v. Clarabelle Jean Lett, born Aug. 12, 1920.
v. Albert Edward (7), born June 19, 1887; married at Sandwich, Ill., Apr. 11, 1917, Laura Lesley Cook, of Chicago, Ill.
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SOMONAUK CHURCH
vi. Grace Jane, born Apr. 17, 1890; married near Sand- wich, Ill., Sept. 17, 1913, Albert Nelson Boyd. Child:
i. Annette Jane (8) Boyd, born near Sandwich, Ill., Sept. 3, 1917.
SIMON NELSON (6) PATTEN, fourth son of Hon. Wil -. liam and Elizabeth N. (Pratt) Patten, was born May 1, 1852, near Sandwich, Illinois; died July 24, 1922, at Brown's Mills, In-the-Pines, New Jersey.
Dr. Patten began his education, as many a great scholar has done, in a little country schoolhouse, at an early age working on the farm through the farming season and attending school during the winter term. Graduated from Jenning's Seminary, Aurora, Illinois, in June, 1873, he helped his father on the farm until September, 1875, when he entered the freshman class at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. Soon after, however, he decided to go to the University at Halle, Germany, following his friend Edmond J. James, who after- wards was president of Northwestern University and later of the University of Illinois.
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