1852/54 - aft 1920
Illinois (probably) - Iowa - Nebraska - California
We know very little about Charles Pattee for certain, and what documentation we do have - censuses mostly - give us contradictory information.
He was born, according to the 1900 census, in June 1852 in Wisconsin. He is on four censuses, and each time the date is different: 1880 ->1853; 1910 ->1854; 1920 ->1856. And not only the date changes, the place changes as well. 1880-Illinois; 1900-Wisconsin; 1910-Illinois; 1920-Wisconsin. His daughter gave his birth place as Iowa or Illinois or Michigan. So searching the records for him has been a challenge, to say the least. He is not in any published genealogies either, so we’re on our own.
And so we have made a great leap. In 1880, he had three children, and one of them was named Wellington - and there was a Wellington Pattee, of an age to be Charles’s father. Wellington lived for a while in Stephenson County, Illinois, which is right on the border with Wisconsin, which might explain Charles’s confusion over which state he actually was born in. And Wellington Pattee died young, which might explain Charles’s not being sure about much of anything to do with his past.
Wellington is clearly listed as "Wellington Pattee" in the 1850 census, but the 1860 census is a little more murky. For a long time I couldn't find him at all, then I finally found this:
1860 Il Stephenson Harlem 219 (post office Freeport) - 28 June - line 19 1749- 1634
Wheyton Pattums 38 m Lab NY
Rebecca 33 Pens
Mary or May E 10 Wis
Charlie 8 Ils
Wheyton Pattums is the way it is indexed online, and if you imagine Wellington said in a hurried mumble, I think it is possible. If you look it up, it looks like Wheyton too, but it doesn't look like Pattums - it looks like Patt....... something way too long and lumpy to be Pattee. But I think it must be him.
So my guess is that Charles was born to Wellington Pattee and Rebecca Dyer. Then some disaster happened to the family - Wellington died in 1863 and I haven't been able to find Rebecca after that either - and he was farmed out to relatives somewhere (possibly in Michigan?). [ Another possibility is that Rebecca married again - there is a marriage record for Rebecca Pettit in Grant County, Wisconsin (just across the border from Stephenson):
Pettit, Rebecca m Frederick Bohn 20 June 1867 Fennimore 67 June 2 - p 3a col 2
(from Memorable Happenings in the Grant Co Wi Herald Newspaper 1870-79)
Unfortunately, I have not been able to find Frederick Bohn later on either.]
Wellington was buried in the same cemetery in Iowa in which his parents were buried:
Hazel Green Cemetery, Etna Township, Hardin County, Iowa
Patee, Day E. 19 Aug 1798-15 Apr 1875
Patee, Dorshey 2 May 1804-22 Jan 1865 wife of D. E. ss
Patee, Wellington 20 June 1822-20 May 1863 son of D. E. & D.
And it seems odd that he should be called the son of DE and D - and not the husband of, or father of. It makes me wonder if he and Rebecca had parted???
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Day Emerson, Wellington’s father, and most of his children lived in Stephenson County when Wellington did, but by 1860 most of them had moved on to Iowa - Hardin County. Hardin is central Iowa, slightly north east of Des Moines, and almost directly west of Stephenson County, Illinois. But Charles doesn’t show up on any censuses there. Charles’s first appearance is in Polk County (which is where Des Moines is). In 1875 (August 5), he married Martha Arnold there.
Pattee Chas - Arnold, Martha - 5 Aug 1875 - Book 1 - p. 218
Early marriages, Polk County, Iowa : with groom and bride indexes / [transcribed by Marie Wisecup ... [et al.] ; indexed by members of "The Tree Shakers"] Des Moines, Iowa : Iowa Genealogical Society, [1975?]-
Charles was 22, Martha 24.
It is probable that Martha had been married before, when she was 17 -
Book B 138 - Arnold, Martha C - Vincent W Knapp - 30 Jan 1868
- and it is possible that Martha and Vincent had two children, George William, born 1869, and Mary R, born 1871. They are living with her parents in 1880.
Martha’s father was originally from Virginia, her mother from Maryland. They joined the westward movement, and Martha was born in Indiana in 1850. Then they moved further west to Iowa.
Lafayette, their (Charles and Martha’s) first son, was born ~1876 in Iowa. [There may have been another baby who was born & died earlier and was buried in Des Moines - but as the cemetery only lists the child as Pattee, Infant, there is no way of knowing for sure. - see the childrens' page] Then they moved to Nebraska, where Alice Louella was born December 4, 1877. And then came young Wellington, upon whom the edifice of speculation has been built, in April 1880.
1880 Nebraska Webster Potsdam SD1, ED66, p. 8 (303b)
Charles Patee mw27 Il Ny Pa farmer
Martha 29 In Va Md
Lafayetta son 4 Ia / Ellis L dau 3 Ne / Wellington 1m (Apr) Ne
Webster is one of the southern tier of counties, on the border with Kansas. It is two counties west from the Bothwells’ old stomping grounds.
I don’t think farming in Nebraska was an easy way to make a living. Everybody in our family who lived there ended up moving away. Charles Pattee was no different. Sometime between 1880 and 1888, they moved to California, and Charles started working in the oil fields. Their son Thomas Lindsay was born in California in April, 1888.
Charles was on the Great Register of Los Angeles County for 1890:
p. 169 Pattee Charles, age 38 IL Newhall 1 Aug 1890
In 1894, daughter Lulu (which is what Dad called Alice Louella) married Charles Scott, another oil man. Her first son - Charles’s first grandson was born in December of that year. In 1897, granddaughter Ethel Alice was born, and in 1900, grandson Elmer.
But there was a lot of death as well. Both Wellington and Lafayette died between 1880 and 1900, and there was another baby (name unknown) who died as well (although that might have been the first possible baby from Des Moines). And in the next 10 years, between 1900-1910, two more unknowns died (maybe - see Martha's page).
1900 Los Angeles county - Burbank Twp, Glendale Precinct - 28 June 1900
370-371 Pattee, Charles, head w m June 1852 age 48 married 25 y.
born WI, father born (blank) - mother born (blank) - well-driller 0 mos unemployed, 0 mos in school, reads, writes, speaks English, owns, no mortgage, house
Martha M wife wf July 1850 age 49 married 25 y, 5 children, 2 living, Indiana, Virginia, Maryland
Thomas L son w m Apl 1888 age 12 single, Cal, Wisc, Ind, at school
Thomas Lindsay (I think he was mostly known as Lindsay) married in 1907, and had two children, Martha (b 1908) and Mabel (b.1910) - and then his wife died. In 1910, he and the grandchildren were living with Charles and Martha.
1910 - California - Los Angeles county - Burbank Twp - ED 278? - 4B - line 52
Pattee, Charles F head mw 56 m1 35 yrs Ill, Vt, Pa miner occ odd jobs own house mortgaged
Martha wife fw 59 m2 35 yrs married, 7 children 2 living Ind, Va, Md
Lindsey son mw 22 wid 3 yrs married, Cal, Ill, Ind, well driller
Martha granddaughter fw 2 s Cal, Cal, Missouri
Mabel granddaughter fw 10/12 s Cal, Cal, Ms
Daughter Lulu and her children were living next door.
In 1920, Charles and family were living on Childs Avenue, which (says Kearney) is a long way from Burbank. And Charles was no longer working in the oil fields - his occupation is given as, simply, laborer.
1920 California Los Angeles LA pct 643 (Fairfax district) - ED198, sheet 6b
Charles F. Pattee, 64, WI, US, IL, laborer
Martha M. Pattee, 69, Ind, Va Md, no occupation
Martha E. Pattee, 11, granddaughter, CA, CA MO
Mabel C. Pattee, 10, granddaughter, CA, CA, MO
Charles died in 1923 - maybe:
Pattee, Charles, Los Angeles, 3/26/1923, age 68
vitalsearch-ca.com
68 would have been close enough to be our Charles. Unfortunately, the age on the death certificate for this fellow is 60 (born 1863), which is a good 10 years too young. It also has no other genealogically interesting information. (The other Charles Pattee on the list died in 1925 at age 62, which is even worse - but I should send for the death certificate in case it is clearer.) According to this death certificate, the cause of death was generalized arterioschlerosis, with a contributing factor of senile dementia, which might explain why he went from being a well-driller to a plain laborer. The "place of burial or removal" is listed as the Co. Crematory; he was under the care of Dr. Unreadable- signature for about 6 weeks, from Feb 6 to March 26. I wonder if he died a pauper.
Martha died in 1927:
Pattie, Martha, Los Angeles, 1/31/1927, age 75
vitalsearch-ca.com
Her death certificate gives her birthdate as July 21, 1851, her age at death 75 years, 6 months, 10 days, her cause of death as generalized arterio-schlerosis with fatty degeneration of heart. It also gives her an occupation: washing. So poor Martha had to become a washerwoman in her 70s. She was buried in Inglewood.
I don't know what happened to the little granddaughters.
Back to father, Wellington
Back to Pattee Home
Back to mother, Rebecca Dyer
Back to Dyer Home
To wife Martha Arnold
Forward to children
Forward to next ancestor, Alice Louella
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Questions, comments, additions, corrections? Contact me at: lee@leesgenes.com
Page last updated 3 Nov 2008