Two Charles William Patton’s – 1881 & 1888
For years our family history has had Charles William Patton, and his subsequent marriages to Bertha St.Clair Cox & Alice Isabella Hammond , as being the son of William “Bill” Patton (1857-1846) & Mary Ann (nee Hill). Charles William was shown as being born in 1888.
Even though he was showing as being relatively young at the time of his marriage to Bertha, the facts appeared to fit.
Everything referred to Charles William Patton and his parents Mr & Mrs Patton, no problems here. Even an article in The Punch reporting on his wedding to Bertha didn’t trigger any alarm bells.
On the other side, it was always thought that Charles Douglas Patton & Caroline Mary Alice (nee Scott)’s children were Marian Elizabeth as the eldest and Douglas William Arthur as being the eldest boy.
Even the article in The Punch covering Charles’ & Bertha’s wedding referred to Douglas William Arthur as being the Best Man at Charles’ wedding. No problem, cousins often go to their cousin’s events.
That was until today. I found a newspaper clipping in The Age, 15 Sep 1906 that refers to Charles as being the eldest son of C. D. Patton. Obviously The Age had made an error. ……… No they hadn’t. What’s happening??, we know for sure that Charles William Patton was born in 1888 and that he was definitely the son of William & Mary Ann Patton.
After checking some online resources I found a second, Charles William Patton born in 1881. This Charles William Patton was the son of Charles Douglas & Caroline Patton.
I also found the original record of birth for the Charles William Patton that we had, and he was definitely the son of William & Mary Ann Patton.
CONCLUSION: We have two cousins named Charles William Patton, 7 years apart and living in the same area, one born in 1881 and the other in 1888.
So putting Charles William (1881) (son of Charles Douglas) into his rightful place in the family history the chase is now on to find out more about Charles William (1888) (son of William “Bill”).
It’s great when you can find a new Great-Uncle and a new cousin all in the one afternoon.
So, now Douglas William Arthur is no longer the eldest son of Charles Douglas Patton, he had an older brother Charles William.
