William Patten

William Patten was born in Billerica on May 12, 1671, a son of Thomas Patten and his first wife, Rebecca Paine of Dedham, and a grandson of William Patten of Cambridge, one of the first inhabitants of Shawshin. His father's house, west of Long Street and south of the common, was one of the garrisons of 1675, and his father also had a saw mill. Rebecca died in 1680 and Thomas married Sarah Ditson, a widow of Reading. When Thomas Patten made his will in January 1689/90 he directed that "my sons William and Kendall shall have their portions out of my homestead," William to stay with his stepmother until he was twenty-one; in December 1690 she married Thomas Richardson.

William married Mary, probably a daughter of John Rogers, and their first child was born in January 1693/4. Hazen says he "lived near the corner," and his farm on the west side of the road north of the town center, running back to the Concord River, stayed in the family for well over a century as the Patten Place. Mary died on May 16, 1716, aged 48, and in 1717 he married Elizabeth Whiting, widow of Samuel Whiting of Dunstable. His sister Rebecca was the wife of Deacon Joseph Davis.

Patten was a selectman in 1720, from 1723 to 1725 and from 1728 to 1730, and a deacon of the church; Farmer lists him among its early deacons. When the province made its second loan of bills of credit to the towns, Billerica voted in April 1725 to "Receive their proportion of the 60,000 pound Loan" and chose Joshua Abbott, Benjamin Tompson and Deacon William Patten as trustees for its share of 496 pounds, which ran for ten years. In 1729 and 1730 he was the town's Representative to the General Court. He died of smallpox at Cambridge on October 5, 1730, "while attending the General Court," as Hazen puts it.

He left no will. His son Thomas administered the estate, the widow Elizabeth was paid 106 pounds for quitclaiming her dower, and in 1731 the other heirs quitclaimed all of his Billerica real estate to Thomas, through whom the homestead passed to his great-grandson Deacon Jeremiah Patten. His children were William, who died as an infant; Thomas; Mary, who married Benjamin Wood of Dracut; twin sons who died at birth in 1698; Rebecca, who married Jacob Danforth; Sarah, who married Jacob Taylor of Concord; a second William, who died in 1732; two daughters named Elizabeth, the second of whom married Joseph Taylor; and Mehitabel, who married Ralph Hill.

References

1. Vital Records of Billerica (1908), births p. 148: William, son of Thomas and Rebeckah Patten, May 12, 1671; his own children
2. Vital Records of Billerica (1908), deaths p. 383: William Patten, Dea., small pox, Oct. 5, 1730, in Cambridge; Mary, wife of William, 1716
3. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), Genealogical Register p. 108: Thomas Patten (no. 2), his garrison house, marriages and children
4. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), Genealogical Register p. 109: William Patten (no. 5), deacon and representative, death at Cambridge of smallpox
5. Middlesex probate case 17030 (1690): will of Thomas Patten, giving William and Kendall their portions out of the homestead
6. Middlesex probate case 17041 (1730): estate of Deacon William Patten, administration by his son Thomas
7. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 202: 1725, Deacon William Patten chosen a trustee of the town's share of the 60,000 pound loan
8. Farmer, Historical Memoir of Billerica (1816), p. 28: list of deacons of the church, including William Patten
9. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 304: list of representatives (William Patten 1729-30)
10. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 306: list of selectmen (William Patten 1720, 1723-25, 1728-30)