General Chat

I think you might find that some of those references say that Mary's father was born in Ireland


although they did live in England later

Thank you for your reply......I already have the story about Mary - gun powder Mary - and I know where Mary McKeehan Patton and her husband are buried as I found that information on Ancestry.com. I am doing research for a friend and he wants to find out if Mary is connected to his MCKEEHAN line. I have information on Mary and her husband and I need more info on her father and mother.....I know that they were born in England in the 1800 and came to America as stated in information on Mary and that is all........Kathleen

for example .................


http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1043


http://boards.ancestry.com.au/thread.aspx?mv=flat&m=32&p=surnames.mckeehan


books.google.ca/books?id=6T8DAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT224&lpg=PT224&dq=david+mckeehan,+gunpowder+maker&source=bl&ots=mn-iijz0q9&sig=aaj7Ifu-n8BONFH0nzW3Nk1tCWo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=PCG_VNunG8rgoATjvYKoBg&ved=0CFQQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=david mckeehan%2C gunpowder maker&f=false



from an entry on facebook (!!!!!)


"Born in England in 1751, Mary Patton learned her craft from her father, David McKeehan, and made powder under him until the family emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1760, settling near Carlisle. They continued to make black Powder there and when she married John Patton in 1772, he entered the family business as well. He was a soldier in the Cumberland Co Militia, fought in Pennsylvania during the Revolution and was a good friend of Andrew and Nathaniel Taylor. It was Taylor and Gourley, also a good friend and part owner of the bat caves, who convinced them to head for them thar hills, as I said, broke but with a skill worth literally a million dollars. John and Mary established a good working relation, he was the procurer of goods, she was the traveling salesman at times, selling the gunpowder and because she had an extraordinary eye for detail to the point of nit-picky, oversaw the operations. Unfortunately, John died early and Mary found herself having to support herself and their six children.It must have been a pretty daunting prospect but Mary was the premier chef of gunpowder and she was quite a business woman as well. Mary apprenticed her grandson, Samuel, and he assumed the position in later years that her husband had in the business. She cut out the peddlers and sold her own gunpowder , traveling herself up and down the Carolinas. Her trips earned her the respect of every man she met and she was known far and wide as a gifted reconteur and conversationalist. On her off days, she dug and sold ginseng and by the time she died, she had 1700 acres of land from investing her money in real estate. She was like the Donald Trump of the frontier!!!

“Every one killed, one enemy less; dead men don’t fight nor carry news”. (motto of the frontier)

The sources say that the gunpowder for the frontier men came from all the powder mills of Powder Branch. What distinguishes Mary Patton besides the fact that of all the very best powder made by all the mills, she was known as almost an artist in the trade and that she believed in the cause so strongly that she personally prepared 500 lbs for when the men assembled to go to the fight atKing’s Mountain and took no money for it. Gunpowder Mary, as she was known, also made powder for General Nathaniel Taylor’s troops to take with them to Mobile, Alabama, during the War of 1812 before she died at the ripe old age of 85 in 1836."
http://washingtoncountyregiment.wordpress.com/.../trust.../
“TRUST THE LORD BUT KEEP YOUR POWDER DRY”: BLACKPOWDER...
washingtoncountyregiment.wordpress.com

have you tried Googling their names??

Mary McKeehan was born 15 Dec, 1751 in England and died in 1836 in Tennessee, United States. She married John Patton of Ulster County Ireland.....he stole passage on a ship that was going to America. Her father was David McKeehan and her mother was Prudence Elizabeth Farrell....both parents were from England. Mary was trained in the making of gun powder, which trade she continued after arriving in America......this was a trade she learned from her father.

Any information I can learn about this family would be appreciated........

Kathleen Bares