Early PATTEE Family

The origins of the PATTEE family are proven back to this Peter, beyond which is circumstantial, conjectural, and controversial. Following are some of the better known facts and stories...

To all Pattee cousins - Re Peter’s identity…..There is NO evidence that Peter Pattee was Pierre Pety. All we have are similar names and (perhaps) close birth years, not enough for a genealogist to make an identification. If so, I would say Peter Pattee of Haverhill was the Peter Patee baptised at East Shefford, Berkshire, England 15 January 1646 to Humfrey and Mary as shown in the IGI (extracted from the parish registers – there are no other entries for this family). FYI - The Family History Library has a computer printout of births and christenings at the Threadneedle Street Huguenot Church, London, 1600-1840 [6 fiche, #6903811]. For anyone who would like to learn more about genealogical evidence, try: Elizabeth Shown Mills, Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian, (Baltimore MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1997); Val D. Greenwood, The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy, 3rd ed. (Baltimore MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 2000); Evidence, a Special Issue of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly – available from the Society [great case studies]. Marie Scalisi

I. Notes from the Ryan Scalisi article
Notes from "Peter Pattee of Haverhill, Massachusetts: A 'Journeyman Shoemaker' and His Descendants"
Repository: New England Historic Genealogical Society / Publication: NEHG Register Vol. 146, Oct. 1992
Page: 315-320 / by Marie Lollo Scalisi and Virginia M. Ryan

Colonial New England records frequently confounded the names Pattee and Petty… Peter Pattee of Haverhill, whose life (ca. 1644-1724) and descendants for four generations will be covered in the present paper…

Peter Pattee's Old World origins are still undetermined. In fact, little is known about his life prior to his arrival in the Bay Colony(Massachusetts) about 1675. Court records indicate that he came from an unnamed Virginia town, and left a wife and child there when he migrated northward… Pattee emigrated from England to Virginia in 1669…, but his name has not been found on any published passenger lists.

Harriman also claimed that Peter Pattee was the son of the prominent English political economist, Sir William Petty, an error repeated in many local histories… However, one need go no further than the Dictionary of National Biography(1909) to learn that Sir William had only two sons, Charles and Henry.

Stearns copied the Sir William story and added that "according to family tradition the progenitor was a French Huguenot who settled in the Isle of Jersey… This tradition, coupled with similar names and birthdates, led the late family historian Linwood M. Pattee to conclude that Peter Pattee was the Pierre Pety baptized at the French Church on Threadneedle Street, London, 22 February 1646 to Deric and Marie (du Prie) Pety… Although this connection has been widely accepted by Pattee descendants, no evidence has been found to link these two men.

Occupation: Cordwainer (shoe maker) and Ferry operator.

He was apparently residing at Salem when he was impressed into the Bay Colony militia, participating in a bloody battle against the Eastern Indians at Blackpoint (Scarborough), Maine 29 June 1677. A report of the casualties mistakenly reported the wounded Pattee among the dead.

Two years later "Pet. Pette" was again "Pressed for the country's service," the details of which are not known.

He was on of the earliest cordwainers in a town that later billed itself as the "Queen Shoe City of the World".
He also operated a ferry across the Merrimack. The fare was a penny for a man or woman and five pence for a horse.

II. Notes from Linwood Pattee's unpublished book
Pattee Genealogy by Linwood Melvin Pattee
Repository: Haverhill Public Library, Haverhill, MA / Haverhill Collection / Special Collection # R929.2/p315.1
23 page manuscript, excerpt from Linwood's unpublished book

Peter (1) Pattee, son of Deric and Marie (duPrie) Pattee, was baptized in the French Church on Threadneedle Street in London, England on 22 February 1646, and the following entry of the event was made: "Pety, Pierre, fils de Deric Pety et Marie duPrie, sa femme bpt. 11 Fev. 1646."

The family was of Flemish origin, and the first reference to their life in England is to be found in the Walloon Registers of Canterbury Cathederal on 13 May 1586. Sometime thereafter the family removed to London where they were among the founders of the French Church on Threadneedle Street. This church building has long since been destroyed, but the Church Records are preserved in the files of the Huguenot Society of London.
Deric Pattee (Pety) was born about 1600 in Bar-Le-Duc, France, then, as now, capital of the Department of Meuse, 125 miles southeast of Paris. Marie duPrie, whom he married in London, 25 March 1644, was his second wife. He died in London in 1665/66.

Peter (1) died in Haverhill, Mass., 19 October 1724. He is buried in the Old Pentucket Cemetery in Haverhill, Mass., where his gravestone reads as follows:
"Here lyes buried ye body
of Mr. Peter Patee who
died October the 19 1724
aged 80 years."

In 1669, Peter(1) "on account of certain political opinions he entertained, he found it expedient to take a hasty departure from England." Peter settled lst in Virginia where he married, and where his eldest son, Richard, was born, but the name of his wife, the date of her death, or the date of the birth of her son, are not recorded.

In 1676 he left Virginia and removed to Havherhill, Mass., where he spent the rest of his days. He took the Oath of Citizenship and Allegiance there on November 28, 1677. We are told he established the lst ferry at Haverhill, and that the locality still bears his name. He applied for acceptance as "townsman" of Haverhill in 1677. He was a soldier in King Philip's War. He was constable again in the year 1710. "He was a "long and stormy petrel" in the town and only gradually fought his way to public favor. He was probably a man of considerable native ability and originality, but with a somewhat unconventional and undiplomatic temperment for the 17th century Haverhill." (Taken from Records and files of Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Mass.)

His will, dated 11 September 1722, proved 2 November 1724, is recorded in the Probate Office of Essex County, Mass., Salem, Mass. in Book 315 of Wills on pages 146-147.

III. Notes from two family histories
The American Ancestors of Margaret Esther Bouton Thom and William John Thom by Henry Earle Riggs (Lithoprinted by Edwards Brothers, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan: 1944 )
The 1367 Direct Ancestors of the Jones Boys by Wesley Gale Jones (San Antonio, Wesley G. Jones, 1980)

BIOGRAPHY: This first recorded Pattee was a prominent physician in England. Sir William was a physician to Cromwell under the Commonwealth and later was Physician to King Charles. He was knighted in 1660. He was a copious writer on political economy and is mentioned in Macaulay's "History of England." He was one of the founders of the Royal Society of Physicians.

BIOGRAPHY: Sir William's son, Peter Pattee, was born about 1646 in Lansdowne, England. In 1669, he settled in Virginia. In 1676 or 1677 he moved to Massachusetts and settled in Haverhill, remaining there all the rest of his life. He established the first ferry there, which continued to be called Pattee's Ferry for more than two hundred years. In 1677 he took the Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity to England. He was married twice. The name of his first wife is unknown. His second wife was Sarah Gile of Salisbury, Massachusetts, the daughter of Samuel and Judith Davis Gile, to whom he was married on 8 Nov 1682. He is said to have been the father of twenty-two children, of whom there is a record of eleven by the second marriage

IV. New England Families Genealogica and memorial Vol III
      William (Sir) PATTEE 1
      Sex: M
      Occupation: Physician to Oliver Cromwell
      Event: Knighted 1660
      Event: Ancestry French Huguenot--first one settled at Isle ofJersey when he fled France.
      Event: Avocation Copious writer
      Event: Founded Royal Society, established by physicians
      Event: Alernate spelling 'Patty, Pattee, Pady, Paddy, Patrre, Pittey, Petty, Pettie, Pettee, Pettis, Pettey, Pettus'
      Marriage 1 Spouse Unknown
      Children
           Peter PATTEE b: 1648 in Lansdown, England

V. FTM Volume #3, pedigree #2656
      Peter Pattee (Pierre Pety)
      Baptized: French Church, London, England
      Soldier in King Philip's War
      Took oath of citizenship, November 28, 1677

VI.  American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI) Volume: 132 Page Number: 141
Reference: Gen. Column of the " Boston Transcript". 1906-1941.( The greatest single source of material for gen. Data for the N.E. area and for the period 1600-1800. Completely indexed in the Index.): 5 Jul 1927, 4977; 31 Mar 1930, 9893; 17 Nov 1930, 742
Reference: Directory of the anc. heads of New England fams. Comp. By Frank R. Holmes. NewYork, 1923. (274p.):182
A recd. Of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation. Ed. By Ezra S. Stearns. New York, 1908. (4v.): 1736-7
      PATTEE, Peter
      Birth Date: 1648 Birth Place: Eng, Virginia

VII. Note from Calvin Pattee's manuscript
"Origin and History of the Pattee Family as Far as I can Give It" by Rev. Calvin Robinson Pattee, Lenox, SD, January 28, 1892 / Original: lost between 1969 and 2002
Transcription: Contained within "A Yankee Pedigree" by Robert G. Steele, 1969

The name PATTEE is of Norman extraction. It means a cross of a peculiar form - the four arms of equal length and size - wide at the ends, and narrowing as they near the center; much like a Maltese cross in these respects. A picture of it will be found in Webster's pictorial unabridged dictionary.

It was, originally, a badge of office in Norman heraldry. I suppose that those of that class became known and designated as Pattees; and thus the name of the badge was transferred to those who wore it. It doubtless became mixed with English society through the Norman conquest; so that, as far back as we can trace it, our forefathers were considered to be English.

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Page last updated 21 May 2006