Dale C. Maley: Patton family had important role in Fairbury history
The story of the Patton family began with the birth of Rev. James Patton in 1780 in Delaware. In a matter of a few decades, a family member would play a major role in the founding of the city of Fairbury.
Caleb Patton is generally credited as the founder of Fairbury. His nephew, George Patton, was a Fairbury lawyer and later became a well-respected judge.
The Delaware native Rev. James Patton married Jane Ross, who was from New Jersey. They had five children. Son Samuel R. Patton was born in 1815, and another son, Caleb Lockwood Patton, was born in 1818. The Reverend and his wife lived their entire married lives in Pennsylvania.
Samuel R. Patton married Jennie Haines in Pennsylvania and they had five children there. In 1851, when the youngest child, George W. Patton, was just a 1-year-old, the family moved from Pennsylvania to Woodford County in Illinois.
Reared on the home farm, George W. Patton attended the common schools in Woodford County. When George was 20 years of age, he completed a three-year university degree in 1871 at Normal. George then taught school for two years in Secor and El Paso. He saved his money and commenced the study of law with Hay, Green & Littler in Springfield. He was admitted to the bar in 1873. George had health issues, so he taught school again and farmed for a couple of years.
In 1877, George married Miss Flora Cook, daughter of James and Lucinda Cook of Fairbury. In 1881, he commenced the practice of law at Fairbury. George moved to Pontiac two years later and formed a law partnership with C.C. Strawn. In 1888, the Patton and Strawn connection ended, and George built up a substantial law practice.
In 1897, George was elected as one of the judges of the 11th judicial circuit, composed of Livingston, Woodford, Ford, McLean and Logan counties. He quickly became one of the most respected judges in Central Illinois. Judge G. W. Patton lived in Pontiac until he died in 1921.
The other son of the Reverend James Patton was Caleb L. Patton. Caleb grew up on a Pennsylvania farm and attended the local schools.
Orpha Myers was the daughter of John Myers. In 1830, she married James Kirby, and they had five children. Unfortunately, James Kirby died in 1835, leaving his wife to raise five children under age five.
Three years after her first husband's death, she married Caleb L. Patton in Pennsylvania. When they married in 1838, Caleb Patton was 22, and Orpha was 27 years old. Caleb and Orpha had 10 more children after they were married.
In 1851, Caleb Patton and his brother Samuel R. Patton moved their families to Woodford County, Illinois. In 1856, Caleb and Orpha Patton moved their family to what is now Fairbury.
In 1856, it was public information that the Peoria & Oquawka Railroad would lay their new tracks from Peoria to the Indiana border. When the Caleb Patton family got to Chenoa, there was no road going east. They had to follow the stake lines the railroad had laid out for their new tracks.
Caleb Patton got into a competition with several other farmers. If the new railroad came through a farm, the low-cost farmland could be converted into city building lots. A great deal of money could be made from this land conversion. Caleb Patton won the competition over the other farmers by offering the railroad half of the building lots in his new town.
Octave Chanute, the railroad construction engineer, wisely accepted Caleb Patton's offer. To this day, the TP&W railroad still owns several lots in Fairbury.
For a brief period before Patton's new town was given a name, it was called South Avoca. There was already a tiny village named Avoca several miles north of what is now Fairbury. Octave Chanute suggested they name the new town "Pattonburg" in honor of Caleb Patton. Mr. Patton did not accept Chanute's recommendation and called it Fairbury instead.
The first thing a new village does is request a U.S. Post Office. An application for Fairbury to get a post office was sent to Washington, DC. Something went wrong with the paperwork process. The new post office came back with the name Fairburgh instead of Fairbury. It took about eight years before the paperwork was fixed, and the post office name changed to Fairbury.
After Caleb Patton won the competition and the new railroad came through his farm, he was not interested in selling all the new building lots personally. He sold his lots to A.J. Cropsey. Mr. Cropsey then sold the lots to various people who wanted to build businesses or houses on those lots. Mr. Cropsey was a pioneering farmer south of Fairbury and later was a Civil War hero. Caleb Patton's son, David Patton, served under A.J. Cropsey in the 129th Illinois Infantry Company E in the Civil War. The town of Cropsey and Cropsey Township was named after A.J. Cropsey.
Caleb Patton, his wife Orpha, and four other families founded the first Baptist Church in their home. Caleb then donated four of his building lots for a Baptist Church building. The church was built, but a few years ago was torn down. Today, Casey's General Store occupies that space. Caleb Patton also served on the first school board of Fairbury.
In 1871, 14 years after founding Fairbury in 1857, Caleb Patton and Orpha moved to Nebraska. After living in Nebraska for five years, they moved back to Woodford County. Caleb Patton died at the age of 65 in Woodford County in 1881. Orpha Patton went to live with her daughter, Mrs. Pleasant Cumpston, in Fairbury.
In 1897, Orpha fell in her daughter's home and broke her hip. Orpha died at the age of 86 in 1897. Her funeral service was held in the Baptist Church she and Caleb had built. Both Caleb and Orpha Patton are buried in Graceland Cemetery along South Seventh Street.
Caleb Patton and his nephew, Judge George W. Patton, were significant figures of early Fairbury. Caleb Patton founded Fairbury in 1857 and named the town. Caleb and his wife Orpha helped build the First Baptist Church in Fairbury. Caleb Patton's son, David Patton, was a Civil War veteran. Judge George W. Patton was a Fairbury lawyer and became one of the best judges in Central Illinois.