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www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/ian.paterson/index2.htm
http://www.the-pattersons.net/
http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/m/maclare.html
http://www.clanmaclarenna.org/ -North American Maclaren
Organization
http://www.inverizon.com/scotlink/clanmcl1.htm
The Clan Motto is "Huc
tendimus omnes" meaning "we all strive for this"
Clan Crest A dexter hand issuing from a cloud, holding a laurel branch
Patterson or Patrickson simply means son of Patrick, and it's found all
over Scotland. One of
Scotland's star rugby players is Chris Patterson.
Surprisingly, in Ireland Patrick only became popular as a forename after
1600, probably due to its
introduction by the Scots settlers in Ulster. As a last name Patterson
belongs to no one district, and
appears first in old Scottish records in 1446 when William Patrison and
John Patonson appear as
witnesses in Aberdeen. By the 16th century a dynasty of Pattersons were
landholders in Fife, and of
this line Hew Paterson became a writer in Edinburgh before purchasing
the Barony of
Bannockburn, near Stirling. His son, also Hugh, became the first Baronet
of a line of Jacobite
sympathisers who entertained Prince Charlie following the battle of
Falkirk in the '45 Rising. Here
the Prince met Clementina Walkinshaw, whose mother was the sister of the
previous Baronet. She
followed him to France in 1751 and bore him a child, Charlotte,
'Countess of Albany', but whether or
not they married remains conjecture.
Patterson is a Lowland rendering of MacPatrick, a name occurring in
bonds of manrent given by the
Maclarens of Balquidder to the Campbells of Glenorchy in the 16th
century and it is probably for this
reason that the MacPatricks and Pattersons are claimed as a sept of
MacLaren. Likewise, some
MacPatricks, Pattersons, or Patricks, not related to those of MacLaren
stock, are said to have been
aliases of Lamonts, descended from Baron MacPatrick, ancestor of the
Lamonts of Cowstone. The
former claim that Pattersons are also a sept of Clan Farquharson will
not stand examination and
such is now largely discredited. Another source of Patterson may also
have been MacPhedran or
MacFetridge (son of Peter or Patrick), and reference is made to a 'Clan
Pheadirean' (Pattersons)
whose home was on the north side of Lochfyne, but they are said to be a
sept of the MacAulays of
Ardincaple.
The MacFatridges in Nova Scotia are equated to Pattersons. Those
considering themselves
members of the clans MacLaren or Lamont, may wear their tartans and
display the relevant crest
and motto of the present Chief. Loyalty must be based on available
genealogical or geographical
evidence but in the absence of any such definite evidence the MacLaren
connection is the
strongest.
But the most famous Paterson must be the Scottish born founder of the
Bank of England William
Paterson. Yes a Scot founded the Bank of England! He promoted the
disastrous Darien expedition
of 1695 which was supposed to establish a port town in Panama that would
bring untold riches to
its thousands of investors. Unfortunately the site chosen was pretty
inhospitable. A combination of
Spanish hostility and terrible tropical diseases wiped out almost half
of the 1200 settlers as well as
the vast sums of Scottish money that funded them.
There are 228,813 Pattersons in the US making it the 7th most popular
Scottish name and the 57th
most poular American name overall.
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