PATERSON - HISTORY OF SURNAME

Entry in Black's

PATERSON, Patterson. Scottish forms of Patrick's son or Patrickson, and one of the commonest of Scottish surnames. The native home of the Clan Pheadirean (Patersons) was on the north side of Lochfyne where they were formerly numerous (Charmicheal,Carmina Gadelica,II,p.332).

Paterdale in Westmoreland was formerly Patrickdale, 'the dale or valley of Patrick'. William Patrison and John Patonson,'gentillmen', witnesses in Aberdeen, 1446 (REA,I,p.245). Donald Patryson was admitted burgess of Aberdeen, 1494 (NSCM.,p.37), Ade Patersoun is mentioned in 1499 (RAA., II,398), and in 1524 letters were issued against Patrick Patersoune for defrauding the king's customs Irvine,I,p.35). Robert Patersoun, was 'capitain of ane were schip of Dundee',1544 (CRA.,p.205), and John Patersoune held land in Glasgow,1553 (Protocols,i). Fyndlay Patersoun had a tack of the lands of Owar Elrik from the abbey of Cupar, 1557 (Cupar-Angus,II,p.170-171), and in the same year John Patersoun, custumar of Cupar, and David Petirsoun rendered to the exchequer the accopunts of that burgh (ER.,xix,p.8). John Patersoune was burgess of Norhberwyk, 1562 (CMN.,85), George Paterson, a monk in the monastery of Culross, 1569 (Laing, 844), and Alexander Patersone, burgess of Aberdeen, 1594 (CRA.,p.104)

William Paterson (1658-1719) was the author of the ill-fated Darien Scheme and originator of the plan of the Bank of England. Patrisone 1497. Ade Patersoun had a precept of remission in 1536 (RSS,II, 2033). James Patirsone, sherriff-depute of Innernes, 1530, (OPS,II,p.666,669). One of the Farquharson genealogies says that 'the Patersons in the North' are descended from Patrick, grandson of Ferquhard from whom the clan Farquharson take thier name.

The Scottish Nation
Eminent Patersons and Families

A family of this name at one period possessed the estate of Banockburn, Stirlingshire, and also a baronetcy of Nova Scotia, conferred in 1686, but which has been long extinct. In 1745, Sir Hugh Paterson of Bannockburn, baronet, joined the rebellion. His mother, Lady Jean Erskine, was sister of the Earl of Mar, a strong Jacobite connection, and Prince Charles Edward slept at Bannockburn house on the 14th September of that year. Bannockburn house was also the prince's head-quarters during January 1746. Sir Hugh's grand-daughter is said to have been privately married to to the prince, but she released him to promote the Stuart cause.

Another Miss Paterson, belonging to a respectable family at Baltimore, made an equally romantic match, having married Prince Jerome, brother of Napoleon I.; but was obliged to separate from her husband by a dynastic divorce.

John Paterson, one of the ministers of Aberdeen, was consecrated bishop of Ross in 1662, by James Sharp, archbishop of St. Andrews. He had at one time signed the Covenant. His son, John Paterson, incumbent of the tron Church, Edinburgh, was in 1674, consecrated bishop of Galloway, in his father's lifetime. He was bitterly opposed to the Presbyterians. In 1679 he was transferred to the see of Edinburgh and in 1687 he was appointed archbishop of Glasgow. At the revolution he was deprived of his see. In 1692 he was arrested and committed to the castle of Edinburgh for plotting against the Revolution settlement, being at the time under sentence of banishment. In 1701 he was still in confinement. He died Dec. 9, 1703, in his own house at Edinburgh, in his 76th year. He was the last archbishop of Glasgow, and his violent counsels seem to have contributed to the overthrow of the Stuart government. His family went to England, and his grandson, an eminent solicitor in London, took an active part in the architectural improvement of the metropolis, as was recognised by the votes of the corporation, and borne witness to in his portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds. He was amember of parliament, and a chairman of Ways and Means. With the Lord-chancellor Camden he was one of the executors of the will of his friend, David Garrick.

In the United States, as throughout the colonies, as well as on both sides of the Tweed, persons of this name are numerous. The progenitors of most of the families which bear it, are supposed to have been of Scandinavian origin.

William Paterson, the founder of the Bank of England, and projector of the Darien Expedition, was born at the farm of Skipmyre, Dumfriesshire, in March or April 1655.  ..... for more click here

Entry in Scottish Surnames by Donald Whyte

PATERSON A prolific surname in Scotland, Paterson (sometimes spelt with a double 'tt') simply means 'Patrick's son'. As Patrick is often synonymous with Peter; the name is occasionally rendered Peterson. Patison and Paton are variants. At one time there was a group of Patersons on the north side of Loch Fyne, known as Clann Pheadrean. Patrick, being a popular name in the Middle Ages, appears all over Ireland and Scotland (Gaelic Padruig), and there is no question of a common ancestor. Nor - despite some similarities - can any credence be given to a tradition of Scandinavian origin. Among early references to the name are William Patrickson and John Patonson, 'gentillmen' witnesses at Aberdeen in 1446. In 1494, Donald Patryson was admitted burgess there. Robert Patryson was captain of a Dundee ship in 1544. In 1557, Fyndlay Patersoun had a lease of the lands of Ower Elrick from the Abbey of Cupar. George Peterson was a monk at Culross in 1569.

Castle Huntly, in Longforgan parish, Perthshire, belonged to a Paterson family from 1777 to 1948. It was probably built in the latter part of the 15th century by Andrew; 2nd Lord Gray, and it passed in 1615 to the Lyons, Earls of Kinghorn. George Paterson, who purchased the castle, married Ann, daughter of the 11th Lord Gray, and he made additions to the building, as well as renovating the interior. A later George Paterson married Jane, daughter of James Paterson of Longbedholm, Dumfriesshire, and left two sons, George Frederick and Charles James, successively owners of Castle Huntly. A kinsman, Col. Adrian G. Paterson, purchased the property from the executors of James Paterson, and it was sold by his widow in 1948.

A Jacobite Paterson family once owned the estate of Bannockburn. Hugh, son of John, was admitted WS in 1661 and created a Baronet of NS in 1686. He was succeeded by his son, Sir Hugh, whose younger daughter Katherine married John Walkinshaw, IlIrd of Barrowfield, and had ten daughters, the youngest of whom, Clementine, 1720-82, met Prince Charles Edward Stuart in 1746, probably at Bannockburn House. She later joined him in France and became his mistress. Clementine bore him a daughter; Charlotte, 1753-89, legitimated by him in 1784, and who was known as Duchess of Albany. Sir Hugh Paterson, 3rd Baronet of Bannockburn, was involved in the '15 Rising, and forfeited. He died in 1777, when the title became extinct.

In 1688, the estate of Granton, near Edinburgh, came into the possession of Sir William Paterson, Baronet (NS, 1687), son of John, Bishop of Ross, and brother of John Paterson, Archbishop of Glasgow. For a time he was Regent of Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh. His son, Sir John, sold the estate in 1708, and purchased that of Eccles, in Berwickshire. Among Paterson property owners in the south-west was the family in Balgray, Dumfriesshire. Robert Jardine Paterson, 1878-1942, of Balgray, served in the Coldstream Guards in World War 1 His son, Capt. David Paterson, served with the Gurkha Rifles in World War II. A Dumfriesshire man who achieved lasting fame was William Paterson, 1658-1719, a farmer's son who became a financier. In 1691, he submitted to the London merchants a scheme for forming the Bank of England. Dissatisfied with lack of encouragement for other projects, he devised a grand scheme for colonisation of the Isthmus of Panama. It ended in disaster through poor supplies, the unhealthy climate, internal dissension and English subterfuge. David Paterson, a schoolmaster at Dolphinton, Lanarkshire, residing at Logiebank in that parish, was charged at the High Court in Edinburgh, in 1838, of culpable homicide. He was found guilty by the jury who, in respect of his previous good character; recommended leniency, and he was sentenced to eighteen months imprisonment.