Nathaniel C. Patton
Nathaniel C. Patton, son of John Patton and Phoebe Taylor, his wife, was born February 2, 1826, in Wayne Township, Adams County. He attended the Public schools of his vicinity and was reared a farmer. He was married March 17, 1847, to Mary Ann Thompson, who was born February 28, 1827. Soon after he was married, he moved on the farm where he now resides. It was then a wilderness. It is now one of the most attractive places in the county. Mr. Patton and his wife have had six children: Marion M. Patton, born January 21, 1848. He died in the service of his country in the Civil War at Harper's Ferry, April 23, 1865, while a member of Company D, 191st O. V. I. His remains were brought home, and rest in the Cherry Fork Cemetery. A second son, J. Monroe Patton, was born October 13, 1850. He has a separate sketch herein. A daughter, Mary Alberta, born January 8, 1853, died July 22, 1857; another daughter, Annabel, born December 18, 1855, was married to John J. Cisco, November 2, 1881. They reside at Xenia, Ohio. Another daughter, Elizabeth P., born July 11, 1858, married J. A. Renwick, January 13, 1883. He was pastor of the United Presbyterian Church at Tranquility, about four years, but is now pastor of a church at Biggsville, Ill., where he has been for eleven years. The youngest daughter, Emma Z., born January 13, 1862, was married to the Rev. J. Knox Montgomery, December 25, 1889. He was pastor of the United Presbyterian Church at Unity, and pastor at Sparta, Ill., for about four years. For several years past he has been pastor of the United Presbyterian Church on Walnut Hills, Cincinnati.
Mr. Patton and all his family have their membership in the U P. Church. He and his sons-in-law are all Republicans except the Rev. Montgomery, who is a Prohibitionist. Mr. Patton has always sought to live an upright life, fulfilling all his duties to God, to man and to his country, and that he has succeeded is testified to by all who know him. He is of the strictest integrity in all his dealings, and he is a model farmer, reading all that relates to his occupation, and putting in practice that which he deems practicable. He has been prosperous and he is prospered. He is alive to all the questions of the day affecting his occupation and the interests of the country, and with all that, has had time to take an interest in this History more than any of his neighbors. While he is related to one of the editors of this work (Mr. Evans), that has not caused that same editor, who has written this sketch, to overdraw the just public estimate of Mr. Pattons character. He deserves a great deal of credit for remaining in Adams County, and doing what he has done for himself, his family, for the church and for the community, for he might have done like most of the other Pattons, gone West and taken up the rich prairies of Indiana, Illinois and Kansas, and been a much richer man than he is to-day, but then Adams County would have lost a citizen who has done much to elevate the community, and of whom it can be justly proud. All honor is due those men who are content to live in the places of their birth, and who labor to elevate the community and uphold the good in church and state in the homes of their childhood.
Mr. Patton is one of the best illustrations of what a citizen, who foregoes all public office and employment, may do for himself by industry, economy, diligence, and the strictest attention to agriculture, his chosen occupation, even though it is the commonest of all.
From History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900