Founders’ Day remembers and celebrates those individuals or groups that have made a difference to St. Peter’s over its history. We liked to find people also who are models and provide inspiration for our lives. Last year we were fortunate to have access to Rev. Ware’s diary of 1893 which was a vehicle to understanding his life and times. Over 30 years he made a substantial difference to this church and community
This year we are honoring James Samuel Patton or better known as Jim. Jim owned Gay Mont, the beautiful home outside of Port Royal and also made a difference to the both church and community. Jim Patton was an easy choice. When doing research last summer I constantly encountered his work and was inspired by his example. I posted a number of articles on the web site so this is an attempt to recognize his many accomplishments. Jim, here’s one for you.
The ironic thing is that Jim wasn’t an Episcopalian – he worked for years with the Presbyterians. His wife was Episcopalian. Still he did more than sit in the pews – he adopted us. And it is clear we adopted him. You can see this in the Vestry resolution included in the insert in the bulletin
Jim lived 88 years until Nov 5, 2007. A native of Bridgeville, Pa., he moved to Washington, D.C., in 1941 to take a clerical position with the Naval Ordnance Laboratory. At the close of World War II, he served for a short period in the Army of Occupation in Japan. Jim retired in 1981 after 36 years as financial secretary/business manager of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, and lived for many years in Alexandria.
It seems like he was always interested in the history of his family, his church and his town there which he would later transfer to Port Royal and St. Peter’s. By the time he was in third grade in Bridgeville, PA, he was drawing floor plans of old houses for school projects. He compiled a history of his congregation Bethany Presbyterian Church and presented an address on the church for their 125th anniversary in 1939. Thus, he was experienced in these areas before he even set foot in Port Royal.
He came to Port Royal through a book Old Williamsburg and her Neighbors which described the route from Fredericksburg to Williamsburg along Rt. 17. The home Gay Mont was listed as being open for tours at a cost of $0.50. He visited and struck up a lasting friendship with the Robb family who owned Gay Mont. It was there he met and married the Robb’s daughter Frances in 1951. In 1959, a fire destroyed a major part of the home and the property was again for sale. Jim and Frances bought the property which consisted of 330 acres and began the arduous task of restoration which was completed in 2000.
Jim’s life outside of being business manager was wrapped up in three professions – genealogist, historian and archivist. First, Jim was a genealogist untangling the family of his wife, Frances Bernard Robb Upton’s family. Jim married into history. The family had owned Gay Mont since 1816 when Jane Gay Robertson married John Hipkins Bernard, whose family built the place in the 1790s. He undertook a detail study of her family, the Bolling family, uncovering descendants of a relative Col. John Bolling not known. Out of his studies came a book Biographical sketches of William and Elizabeth Bolling Robertson and their Descendants in 1964.
As a historian, Rev. Fall’s book Hidden Village, Port Royal, Virginia owes a lot to Jim’s work. Rev. Fall wrote in his acknowledgments – “Mr. James Samuel Patton and the late Frances (Upton) Patton of Gay Mont, Rappahannock Academy, Va., for almost two decades have provided a limitless amount of historical research and information without which this volume would not have been possible.” Rev. Fall wanted to cite Patton as a joint author but Patton refused. He was out to recognize history and not himself. Jim was detail oriented which aided the understanding the changing ownership of property in this town. Jim also was recognized in 2001 by the Caroline County Historical Society for his “efforts to promote and foster the history of Caroline County by writing, publishing, painting, exhibiting, restoring, organizing open houses, tours and activities etc. which enhance, preserve, or highlight the history of Caroline County, Virginia.”
Jim’s third gift was as an organizer of records. He saw the importance of preserving St. Peter’s early records and so sent them to the Library of Virginia for safe keeping. Placing the records in the Library of Virginia also allowed these records to be saved in an environment with climate controls. They are now available on micro film and available to all. The current machines there can save individual pages of records on a thumb drive. And the Library staff is remarkably helpful. It is not an exaggeration to say that Jim helped to save our collective memory as part of the written word. Without this generous action on his part, later generations could have come up blank on St. Peter’s early history. He taught us how to be caretakers of our own history.
Cookie has a file of Patton’s records. Inside are folders with collection of pictures inside and out of St. Peter’s. Patton was careful to document what he had, important for these pictures. He dealt with objects of the past but he was constantly thinking how future generations would look at them. He clearly had vision.
Once the Vestry asked him on June 1983, about becoming an “Honorary Member of the Vestry of St. Peter’s Church and of the Parish.” It was given in “appreciation for the services you performed for us in such a gratuitous manner.” Jim refused, looking beyond the honor to a precedent it could have set for the future that could cause problems. He was also “unwilling to part from my Presbyterian heritage and loyalty” but as he said he would “discount the admonition that ‘no man can serve two masters’, yet this is exactly what I hope to do for the present and to the best of my abilities.” He would remain part of the congregation.
Jim had a number of passions besides history. Patton loved the organ, wrote and lectured on it and also of concerts that occurred here. We have a handwritten lecture on the web site. This was helpful last year to justify bringing back concerts. His niece by marriage Carey Howard told me that while Jim was never a musician, he was still passionate about music. Jim gave the console light and mirror at the organ in 1979.
If you plan to give a gift to help the church repair the bellows, this would be a wonderful time to give to this worthy cause and honor Jim Patton at the same time. Put “IMO, Jim Patton, organ bellows on your check.” I know he would be pleased that we have made significant improvements to the organ over the last 3 years. He would agree that we must be stewards in preserving what we have.
Jim always exceeded expectations. His gifts to the church went beyond the organ in giving the lectern and pulpit lights in 1979. His wife Frances Upton Patton gave $1,354 in memorial gifts from 53 friends and relatives.
Last summer while in Fredericksburg I ran across a map at the Heritage Center with Jim’s name on it. It is a remarkable map produced in 1930 of the then current properties, vegetation as well as locations of past properties no longer there. I took the map, walked the village, photographed each block. It is obvious Port Royal is an archaeologist dream come true. There is historical gold beneath these lots.
Jim contributed to St. Peter’s history with a number of smaller articles. These reflect his interest in the early families, the rectory, the belfry and almost anything about St. Peter’s. Just one example – Jim Patton did work on compiling the families in 1836 and then 1850 and then separately in the parish register 1871-1888 looking at the leading families. The 1836 and 1850 lists were compiled from pew records. The 1871-1888 register was a reconstruction of his notes since the original volume was lost. That gives us the ability to correlate his work in a table which represents Parishioners active during these years. He left us the raw materials we can add to in our time.
One of my favorite pictures of Jim is Jim escorting Emma Cocke to St. Peter’s. I am sure he was a “killer” with the ladies.
Patton died in 2007. Many of you knew him though I never did. What I wouldn’t give for an afternoon for tea at Gay Mont, being able to tap his mind on history or to simply say “Thanks, Jim, a job well done. Jim, future generations of genealogists, historians and archivists owe you a debt of gratitude.” He was able to illuminate the institutions and families he touched and tell them things they never knew. He was a generous man with his time. When researching Jim online there were numerous cases of Jim taking his time to help fellow travelers in history. Nancy writes in our bulletin insert how he helped Laura with a school paper. Carey Howard said he did special research for Virginia Cavalcade on his own to identify confederates on one of their covers.
The following was written in his obituary. “Those who had the good fortune to know James Samuel Patton know that his picture should appear beside the dictionary definition of "gentleman…. There is much to be thankful for in the life of this good man.” Well said, so very true and noted in your bulletin insert by Johnny Davis. Thanks Jim for your substantial contributions to this church and community. This Founders’ Day is for you.