Memorial came linked to parents James Patterson and Elizabeth Patterson with given name David Nelson Patteson. First name David removed by Brian (47066238) 9-5-22 with the following info, ks.
Suggested Edit:
Nelson Patteson, born in Chesterfield County in 1762, was son of James Patteson born 1723 and died March 1767 when Nelson was only 5. This is very clear from James' will and the various court documents regarding Nelson's guardianship (by Bernard Markham, his future brother in law) and ligation with his mother Mary over James' estate. You have him linked to a different person entirely. His mother was Mary Anderson who died in Chesterfield County November 1800.
~~~~~
David is one of my direct line grand parent, and the information on his memorial is correctly matching family information and documents. Wife Rebecca per inscription.
--KRML

From the 19 Apr, 1828; Whig newspaper; Nashville, TN, posted by KRML:
"Melancholy Catastrophis - We understand that the dead body of a man was recently found on an island in the Ohio near the mought of the Tennessee River, which from an examination of his pocket book and papers about it, is confidently believed to be the corpse of our late fellow citizen, Nelson Patteson. The melancholy fate of this misguided and unfortunate man furnishes a most impressive and salutary lesson. A few weeks since, he was found in our gayest social circles, was cordially taken by the hand and unsuspected of a mean or dishonorable act. Suddenly, he is detected in repeated acts of forgery, he disappears and is found only a lifeless corpse! Mr. Patteson was not hardened in crime. He probably had no intention to defraud, but hoped and confidently exected to take up all his forged paper. In a moment of pressure from pecuniary embarrassment he committed his first fatal error, and finding himself able, by a repetition of similar acts, to escape detection and to obtain temporary relief; he went on plunging deeper and deeper into crime, until an explosion suddenly arrested him in his mad career, and awakening from his delusion in a fit of desperation, he destroyed his life. The principal source of all this guilt and misery and ultimate ruin is, we understand, to be found at the gaming table. Had Mr. Patteson applied any other laudable pursuit for which he was competent, he was surrounded by friends able and willing to encourage and assist him, and he might have been sure of a competent support with a respectable standing in society. But he resorted to gambling, to trick and at length to forgery - an dhis ruin was inevitable. We sincerely mourn his melancholy fate. he was gentlemanly in his deportment, social and lively in his disposition, a plesant companion, of insinuating manners, loquacious and often humorous. The estimation in which hewas held may be inferred from the fact, that he was appointed to the responsible stations of Secretary of the Texas Association and Secretary of the Jackson Corresponding Committee in this place. The latter circumstance has induced some party editors and newspaper writers, improperly we think, to notice his fall in terms of levity, if not of exultation. It surely cannot affort cause for triumph over political opponents, that an individual in whom they place confidence, subsequently proved himself unworthy of it. We are all liable to be deceived; and alas! how few are proof against temptation! The deluded, guilty Patteson is now as much condemned by his political friends as by any of the opposite party, and there is no more ground for exultation over them on account of their misapprehension of his character, than for similary exultation over those unfortunate individuals, who reposing confidence in his integrity, have suffered severe pecuniary losses by his misconduct. His mistaken friends are, in both instances, deserving of sympathy rather than of derision, and the magnanimous and highminded would, under such circumstances insult them"
∼
The following bio by unknown, from merge unknown date, ks:
Nelson was a gentleman farmer in Chesterfield County, Virginia and in nearby Cumberland County. At age 46 he moved with his family to Giles County, Tennessee. He was one of the first settlers in the Pulaski area, arriving with sons James, Bernard, and Nelson in 1808. Almost no whites were in the area until after the Indian claims to title of the lands was settled in 1806. Nelson helped organize the first school in the area in 1809 and served as a county commissioner. He was involved in real estate development in the area, and had business interests in Nashville, Logan County, Kentucky, and New Orleans. He was a friend of Andrew Jackson and Sam Houston, and was a founder and Secretary of the Texas Association in Nashville, which was instrumental in getting the huge land grant in Texas called Robertson's Colony, consisting of about 20,000 square miles (almost 13,000,000 acres).

He was buried in the family cemetery on the Patteson homestead about a mile east of town. When the cemetery deteriorated, a local historical group had the stones and the large obelisk listing the family members buried in the family cemetery moved to Maplewood Cemetery, although the bodies were not moved.

Memorial came linked to parents James Patterson and Elizabeth Patterson with given name David Nelson Patteson. First name David removed by Brian (47066238) 9-5-22 with the following info, ks.
Suggested Edit:
Nelson Patteson, born in Chesterfield County in 1762, was son of James Patteson born 1723 and died March 1767 when Nelson was only 5. This is very clear from James' will and the various court documents regarding Nelson's guardianship (by Bernard Markham, his future brother in law) and ligation with his mother Mary over James' estate. You have him linked to a different person entirely. His mother was Mary Anderson who died in Chesterfield County November 1800.
~~~~~
David is one of my direct line grand parent, and the information on his memorial is correctly matching family information and documents. Wife Rebecca per inscription.
--KRML

From the 19 Apr, 1828; Whig newspaper; Nashville, TN, posted by KRML:
"Melancholy Catastrophis - We understand that the dead body of a man was recently found on an island in the Ohio near the mought of the Tennessee River, which from an examination of his pocket book and papers about it, is confidently believed to be the corpse of our late fellow citizen, Nelson Patteson. The melancholy fate of this misguided and unfortunate man furnishes a most impressive and salutary lesson. A few weeks since, he was found in our gayest social circles, was cordially taken by the hand and unsuspected of a mean or dishonorable act. Suddenly, he is detected in repeated acts of forgery, he disappears and is found only a lifeless corpse! Mr. Patteson was not hardened in crime. He probably had no intention to defraud, but hoped and confidently exected to take up all his forged paper. In a moment of pressure from pecuniary embarrassment he committed his first fatal error, and finding himself able, by a repetition of similar acts, to escape detection and to obtain temporary relief; he went on plunging deeper and deeper into crime, until an explosion suddenly arrested him in his mad career, and awakening from his delusion in a fit of desperation, he destroyed his life. The principal source of all this guilt and misery and ultimate ruin is, we understand, to be found at the gaming table. Had Mr. Patteson applied any other laudable pursuit for which he was competent, he was surrounded by friends able and willing to encourage and assist him, and he might have been sure of a competent support with a respectable standing in society. But he resorted to gambling, to trick and at length to forgery - an dhis ruin was inevitable. We sincerely mourn his melancholy fate. he was gentlemanly in his deportment, social and lively in his disposition, a plesant companion, of insinuating manners, loquacious and often humorous. The estimation in which hewas held may be inferred from the fact, that he was appointed to the responsible stations of Secretary of the Texas Association and Secretary of the Jackson Corresponding Committee in this place. The latter circumstance has induced some party editors and newspaper writers, improperly we think, to notice his fall in terms of levity, if not of exultation. It surely cannot affort cause for triumph over political opponents, that an individual in whom they place confidence, subsequently proved himself unworthy of it. We are all liable to be deceived; and alas! how few are proof against temptation! The deluded, guilty Patteson is now as much condemned by his political friends as by any of the opposite party, and there is no more ground for exultation over them on account of their misapprehension of his character, than for similary exultation over those unfortunate individuals, who reposing confidence in his integrity, have suffered severe pecuniary losses by his misconduct. His mistaken friends are, in both instances, deserving of sympathy rather than of derision, and the magnanimous and highminded would, under such circumstances insult them"
∼
The following bio by unknown, from merge unknown date, ks:
Nelson was a gentleman farmer in Chesterfield County, Virginia and in nearby Cumberland County. At age 46 he moved with his family to Giles County, Tennessee. He was one of the first settlers in the Pulaski area, arriving with sons James, Bernard, and Nelson in 1808. Almost no whites were in the area until after the Indian claims to title of the lands was settled in 1806. Nelson helped organize the first school in the area in 1809 and served as a county commissioner. He was involved in real estate development in the area, and had business interests in Nashville, Logan County, Kentucky, and New Orleans. He was a friend of Andrew Jackson and Sam Houston, and was a founder and Secretary of the Texas Association in Nashville, which was instrumental in getting the huge land grant in Texas called Robertson's Colony, consisting of about 20,000 square miles (almost 13,000,000 acres).

He was buried in the family cemetery on the Patteson homestead about a mile east of town. When the cemetery deteriorated, a local historical group had the stones and the large obelisk listing the family members buried in the family cemetery moved to Maplewood Cemetery, although the bodies were not moved.