[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 92 (Thursday, June 5, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1147]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   HONORING MARY PATTON FOR HER EFFORTS DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

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                            HON. DAVID DAVIS

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 5, 2008

  Mr. DAVID DAVIS of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay 
tribute to a true Tennessee Volunteer. Mary McKeehan Patton was born in 
England and immigrated to Pennsylvania in the late 1760s. Mary Patton 
was an apprentice in Pennsylvania where she learned the trade of making 
gunpowder.
   After giving birth to two children in Pennsylvania, Patton moved to 
the Overmountain region of North Carolina, which is now East Tennessee 
and part of the First District.
   With help from her husband, Andrew Taylor, a private in the 
Pennsylvania militia, they started their own gunpowder mill on what 
became known as Powder Branch.
   Mary Patton embodied the entrepreneurial spirit that many immigrants 
who come to America possess. She used this mill to supply gunpowder to 
militias during the Revolutionary War.
   Patton's true Tennessee Volunteer spirit showed when she gave over 
five hundred pounds of gunpowder to the 850 Overmountain Men for the 
Battle of Kings Mountain during the Revolutionary War. Some say that 
this victorious battle over the British was a very influential part of 
the Revolutionary War, and to the eventual founding of our country.
   On December 15, 1836, Mary Patton passed away and was buried at 
Patton-Simmons Cemetery, which is located in my district. The cemetery 
is located in the historic town of Elizabethton, Tennessee.
   This Saturday, June 7, 2008 the Watauga Chapter Tennessee Sons of 
the American Revolution and The James Sevier Society of the Tennessee 
Children of the American Revolution will be hosting a memorial service 
at the grave of Mary Patton and will be honoring her for her efforts 
and role in the Revolutionary War.
   Madam Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me today in honoring a 
true Tennessee Volunteer who embodies the entrepreneurial spirit that 
has made America the great country that we are today.

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