Homer E. Patton

The Patton Farm is located just a little south and west of Colton, Ohio, on Township Road U. This farm has been in the Patton name for three generations. The Pattons are of Irish and Dutch descent.

Samuel and Martha Patton settled in Wayne County Pennsylvania; some of the family moved later to Wayne County in Ohio.

David Patton the grandfather of Homer E. Patton bought the farm from Horace Pease who homesteaded it. Horace Pease bought it from the State of Ohio while Joseph Vance was Governor.

David married Graty Mariah Hoyt, the daughter of Johnson and Susanah Hoyt. David and Mariah were married Feb. 11, 1838. They had a family of 5 children: Thomas, born Feb. 7, 1840; Martha Louisa, born Dec. 9, 1842; Hiram W., born May 18, 1844; Alena, born Dec. 12, 1848; and Annet Patton, born Dec. 12, 1848; they were twins. The last two children passed away in Mar. of 1849. Their mother Mariah died of child birth. David was a farmer and he also was a broom maker; he had a shop on the back of the old farm house.

David then married Elisabeth Gramling, the daughter of John and Mary Gramling on Nov. 24, 1849. They had a family of eight children: Franklin J., born July 29, 1850; Mary Jane, born Feb. 24, 1854; Charles F., born April 7, 1856; John D., born March 14, 1858; Samuel H., born June 3, 1862; and twins William S. and George G., born Feb. 15, 1865. There was also Scott who was born Sept. 1, 1859, who died at birth.

John D. Patton married Caroline Vollmar, daughter of John George Vollmar and Mary Wires Vollmar on July 28, 1885. They had 13 children, 4 who preceded them in death. They were: Cora Patton Long, born Oct. 30, 1885; George David, born May 28, 1887; Dolly Patton Overmier, born April 21, 1889; Homer E. Patton, born Oct. 29, 1890; Valley Patton Babcock, born June 14, 1892; Myrtle Patton Kane, born Mar. 16, 1894; Clarence H. Patton, born May 18, 1901; Jessie Patton Rhoads, born Sept. 6, 1904; and Calvin (Bill) Patton, born May 26, 1907.

John D. Patton was a farmer and a carpenter. His children attended the Connolly and Colton School and attend the Methodist Church in Colton, Ohio.

David Patton born Feb. 16, 1813, in Pennsylvania, the twin son of Samuel and Marth Patton.

Homer E. Patton married Bertha Stocker, Feb. 2, 1916; she was the daughter of James Washington Stocker and Lura Wheaton Stocker. They raised a family of six children: Mary Ellen Patton Thrane, born Feb. 9, 1918; Lawrence H., born Feb. 7, 1923; John D., born Mar. 10, 1925; Charles A., born Dec. 18, 1926; Homer Dale, born Dec. 4, 1928; and Bernard R., born July 11, 1931.

Homer and Bertha had five sons, 4 who served in World War II and one son who was in Korean War. Their son John D. was killed Mar. 10, 1945, in Germany. He was with 395th Inf. 99th Div. from Ohio.

Homer and Bertha Patton on the old homestead in 1954.

John D. Patton and wife Caroline. John was born in Ohio, March 14, 1858. Caroline was born March 16,1865.

Lawrence Patton lives near Liberty Center, Ohio; he had 2 children. Dale lives in Berwyn, Ill., since leaving the navy and married a Chicago girl, Rose Gambio; they had 3 children; Charles lives in Tylorville, Ill., and he had 3 children; Mary Ellen Thrane lives in Texas, Ohio, and had 3 children; Bernard lives near Liberty Center; he has no children. Dale has worked for over 25 years for the railroad on the short line in Chicago.

The children of Homer and Bertha attended schools in Colton Heath, Texas, and Liberty Center; they also attend the Methodist Church of Colton, Ohio.

The Patton farm was made a Centennial farm in 1952. But it was found to have been in the Patton name before that by court records.

Bertha Patton, the widow of Homer, still lives on the farm. The house she lives in was the 2nd house to be there. It was moved there Feb. 7, 1923, from the Old Mike Connolly farm on County Road T and 4.

David Patton at one time owned different parcels of land amounting to 280 acres.

But the present farm now has only 35 acres.

When the Pattons first came to Washington Township, Henry County, it was a pretty unsettled territory. At one time the township was called Myo; it was changed to Washington Township in 1847 or 1848.

Submitted by Mary Ellen Thrane