Introductory Remarks
by Janice (Patterson) Rosenthal
22 Sept 2018
For nearly two decades I have researched many Patterson families settling early in colonial Pennsylvania. Why? Because I have been trying to learn the ancestry of my oldest proven ancestor, William Patterson (b. abt. 1784 in PA; d. 1854/55 in Rostraver, Westmoreland Co., PA).
What I've learned, with the aid of Y-DNA test results, is mind-boggling. My ancestor William Patterson is of "Patterson" blood. Y-DNA testing has proved this. His Y-DNA matches closely the Y-DNA of living Patterson men who have proven their ancestry back to Patterson men born in the early 1700's to mid-1750's. But none of the oldest known Patterson ancestors of any of these men with closely-matching Y-DNA is likely to be my William Patterson's father. What we do know, from Y-DNA test results, is that the MRCA (most recent common ancestor) of all of the Patterson men with closely-matching Y-DNA was born no later than the early 1700's, and possibly much earlier.
And it gets even more complicated and mystifying. Y-DNA test results prove that my ancestor William Patterson was raised by a Patterson man to whom he was not biologically related!
I hope that the research I've conducted into various Patterson lines will be of assistance to present and future Patterson researchers. Thus I'm posting on this website the many fully-documented papers that I've written over the years. To assist present and future researchers, my papers are posted in the following 7 categories. Note that as of September 2018 only a fraction of my papers are ready for posting. Check back in the coming months to see others.
(1) All that is known of my oldest proven Patterson ancestor, William Patterson (c. 1784 PA-1854/55 PA) and his descendants. Included here is a paper on the CORWIN ancestors of William's wife, Jane Corwin.
(2) Papers on Patterson lines which, per Y-DNA test results, are somehow related to my oldest proven Patterson ancestor William Patterson (c. 1784-1854/55).
(3) Papers on "Covenanter" Pattersons (not biologicallyrelated to my oldest proven ancestor)
(4) Papers on Patterson lines settling early in colonial America which I have NOT conclusively been able to eliminate as biologically related to "my" Patterson line (because I've not yet been able to contact/convince a living Patterson man from any of these lines to participate in Y-DNA testing).
(5) Papers on Patterson lines settling early in colonial America which I HAVE been able to conclusively eliminate as biologically related to "my" Patterson line because of Y-DNA test results.
(6) Webbed toes/fused toes ("Syndactyly") – a condition of several living Patterson men with matching Y-DNA
(7) Compilation of ALL Y-DNA tests I've arranged
(8) Miscellaneous records