Sorta seems that way sometimes, but in this case I’m actually talking about Russellville’s illuminati, the founders and movers and shakers of the little town. I was thinking about this because I read that Hughe Graham, the ridiculously wealthy Tazewell merchant who supposedly bought James Roddye’s tavern for his daughter when she married, bought another Russellville house for another daughter, upon her marriage.
I can’t be sure, so far, either way, although it’s true that Maria Louisa Graham and Theophilus Rogan owned and lived in the Roddye house, renaming it Hayslope, and it’s also true that Connie Graham and William Houston Patterson owned a house Hughe Graham named “Cavan-a-lee” when he bought it, after the Graham estates in Ireland the family was forced to leave behind after that failed insurrection in 1798. The Pattersons were part of that, too – in fact, if it hadn’t been for their connections with Grahams – Francis Patterson was married to Hughe’s older sister Ann – the Pattersons would have all been executed. Instead, they were exiled.
William Houston Patterson was the grandson of Francis and Ann, so when he married Connie, he married his grandmother’s niece. Cousins. We’re all cousins.
Just so you know, William H Patterson’s father was Robert Patterson, a famous general of the War of 1812. He was married to an Engle, so no close cousin there.
Hughe Graham, as you may or may not know, married Catherine Nenney, a well-known name around Russellville and Whitesburg and the daughter of early settler Patrick Nenney. Patrick Nenney was born in Ireland, according to records at the Bent Creek church, although I’m not sure yet when he came over – prior to 1796, certainly, because that’s when he married in Virginia.
Anyway, William and Connie Patterson had several children, one of whom was Robert, who bought part of the Hayslope farm from Hugh Rogan in 1913. A son was also named Hugh. Hugh Patterson married Lucy Nenney, the great-grandaughter of Patrick Nenney through his son Charles, Catherine’s brother, who was married to Sarah Galbraith of another wealthy area family.
Another daughter of Patrick Nenney – Lydia – also married into a famous Russellville name. She was the wife of James Roddye’s son Thomas and the mother of the younger Thomas who presumably sold the tavern and farm to Hughe Graham.
Next time maybe we’ll look at the Russells, although a lot of that is very, very murky. And more cousins. James Roddye, you may recall, married Lydia Russell (Lydia being a very popular name), the daughter of George Russell. Roddye supposedly named Russellville after his wife … I don’t know if that’s true or not. George could just as easily have named the village after himself.
Russell and Roddye were both members of the Overmountain Men (I should see if Patrick Nenney was … ) in the Revolutionary War, along with William Bean, considered East Tennessee’s first colonist. After the war, Bean founded Bean’s Station across the Holston River from Russellville, while Russell and Roddye settled around Russellville and Whitesburg. Bean was married to George Russell’s sister Lydia, and Russell was married to Bean’s sister Elizabeth. Something something Daniel Boone something something David Crockett. I don’t know. Yet.
Or maybe I’ll talk about a Patterson who married a Patterson who wasn’t related and lived in North Carolina, where she wrote and did a lot of other interesting things.