The eldest son

I’ve mentioned before that seemingly random scraps of paper are stuffed into books that have come into the possession of both me and my cousin. These books, mostly from my great great great grandmother, Ellie Stoneroad Patterson, seemed to be repositories of various clippings of value to the family–announcements, recipes, religious tracts, and other items of note.

Case in point: this announcement, clipped from the Port Royal Times of January 23, 1890, noting the passing of 13-year-old Thomas Patterson, eldest son of Ellie and her husband, John Lyon Patterson. As though realizing her great great great grandson would stumble upon this 125 years later, Ellie–or maybe her daughter, Grace Patterson Henry, who seemed to have taken on the role of family historian–helpfully corrected the article, writing the middle initial “L.” above the erroneous “H.” in John Patterson’s name. Otherwise, I might have puzzled over this for some time, trying to find the John H. Patterson in my family tree.