Patterson, Morey, and Moore Families

Adam Patterson, 1774-1855, and Abraham Morey, 1773-1833, each led an extended group of family and friends to Licking County, Ohio to settle in this untamed land. Adam came from Augusta County, Virginia with family and friends such as the Sillin and Moore families, while Abraham came from Rutland County, Vermont with his brother Joseph, a stonemason who settled in Knox County, along with members of the Briggs and Wheeler families. These two pioneers both chose the community of Homer in Burlington township as the place to establish their new homes. Adam's daughter Rebecca married Abraham's son William P. Morey. From this base, the Patterson and Morey families built a strong relationship which took them into the midwest heartland of Johnson and Washington counties in Iowa.

Adam's oldest children, daughters Elizabeth and Lydia as well as son Ephraim, were in Iowa by 1850, settling across the boundary separating English River Township, Washington County from Washington Township, Johnson County. Philip B. Moore and wife Lydia Patterson brought their family of five children (John or Jacob, Calvin, David, Elisha, and daughter Sophia and husband William Billingsley) to Iowa, while sister Elizabeth Patterson brought her son Cyrus Patterson. Adam's son Ephraim Patterson and wife Eve Fry, along with other members of the Fry family, settled in Washington Township, Johnson County.

Abraham Morey's daughter Mary "Polly" Morey accompanied by husband Arthur Briggs and their six children were in Johnson County, Iowa before 1850. By 1860, two more of Abraham Morey's children (Stillman Morey and John Franklin Morey) had joined them in Johnson County. The growing family group was joined in neighboring Washington County by two other of Abraham's grandchilden (Wilson S. Morey and Martin Van Buren Morey) from daughter Rebecca and husband William P. Morey.