BIO: PATCHIN Family, Clearfield County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja & Sally Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/clearfield/ NOTE: Use this web address to access other bios: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/clearfield/1picts/swoope/swoope.htm _____________________________________________________________ From Twentieth Century History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, and Representative Citizens, by Roland D. Swoope, Jr., Chicago: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, 1911, pages 656 & 657. _____________________________________________________________ PATCHIN. Among the old and representative families of Clearfield county is that of Patchin, one that has been prominently identified with many business interests particularly along the lines of lumbering and merchandising. The family has also been one that has been foremost in good citizenship and through marriage is closely connected also with other leading families of this part of Pennsylvania. The first of the Patchin family of whom there is record, was John Patchin, who was born in 1789, at Sabbath-Day Point, near Lake George, Warren county, N. Y., where he married Elizabeth Wright. He early engaged in lumbering and had a slide for logs on the side of Black Mountain above the lake. In 1835 he came to Clearfield county and settled among the pines along the Susquehanna river, purchasing 10,000 acres of timber land. He was a man of much enterprise and was one of the first to engage in logging and rafting lumber down the Susquehanna river to supply distant markets. In 1847 he brought his family to Clearfield county and they lived at first at Curwensville but later established a settlement in the county which was named Patchinsville, in his honor, and there he started the first mercantile supply store in this section of the country. In 1848 he admitted his sons to partnership in his large lumbering enterprises and the business was conducted under the firm name of John Patchin & Sons. This pioneer of the family died December 21, 1863, at the age of seventy-four years. His widow survived until 1860. They left seven children. Aaron Patchin, son of John and Elizabeth (Wright) Patchin, was born August 15, 1822, at Hague, Warren county, N. Y. He early engaged in the lumber business on Lake George, N. Y., and in 1847 he followed his father to Clearfield county and became associated with the latter and with his brothers in lumbering on the Upper Susquehanna river, working under the firm name of John Patchin & Sons. When John Patchin died, Aaron, who had been his father's chief advisor, inherited the greater part of John Patchin's real estate, but later settled all claims with his brother and sisters and this estate now covers over 8,000 acres of land. Aaron Patchin also became the owner of a general store at Patchinsville, which was founded by and named for his father, at which time it was a supply station for this entire community. Aaron Patchin was, like his father, a man of great industry and enterprise. In 1887 he acquired large interests at Camden, N. J., and established there a saw-mill and also went into the manufacturing of spars, masts, etc., for sailing ships, on an extensive scale. On June 26, 1862, Aaron Patchin was married to Elizabeth Barrett, a daughter of George Barrett, of Indiana county, Pa.