Person Page - 54

     "There is a family tradition about Elizabeth Patience which I am setting down, as I received it from a descendant, Terri Chesney. "Elizabeth had been a very beautiful young woman and was born about 1690 - 1695 in England, probably in London. Her family was very prominent and wealthy during the reign of Queen Anne. She was raised with the best education and training her family could provide and had beautiful clothes. She moved in the circles of the wealthy and important. Her family were religious, for years later, they sent her a book about being close to Jesus."

     "When Elizabeth was nineteen, she had a suitor that was interesting in marrying her and whom her family wished her to marry. She probably would have married him, had she not met a handsome man with whom she fell in love. He was a commoner and did not move in her circles and her family did everything possible to keep the two apart."

     "He decided to leave England to try and better himself in America. Elizabeth very much wanted to go with him. Her parents, afraid that she might try to leave with him, kept her under lock and key. One day, when they were out to dinner, she was left in the care of servants. Still locked in her room, Elizabeth talked one servant into helping her escape. The servant had given her word that she would not unlock the door, so Elizabeth threw her feather bed out the window. The servant put a few more feather beds with it and the desperate Elizabeth jumped from her window on the second story onto the feather bed."

     "She was not injured in the jump and it can be assumed that she had thrown a bag with a few possessions and whatever money she had saved down first. She lmet her love, they married and were soon on a ship to America. However, he became very ill at sea and died during the voyage. Elizabeth found herself suddenly alone, with no friends and no money with which to take care of herself. She found herself among sickly, poor people with rough manners."

     "She arrived in Virginia without anywhere to go and knowing no one to whom she could turn in her distress. The Captain of the ship introduced her to a friend of his who happened to be on the wharf area when the ship docked. His name was William Sumpter. He had arrived a few years previously, working off his passage for the family who had paid for his trip. He married Elizabeth and tried to take care of her."

     "The next few years were very hard for Elizabeth. She lived in a very small, rough log cabin. One of her children, a little boy whom she named Thomas, later grew up to become an important General in the American Revolution. When he was born, she is quoted as saying to the midwife who attended her, 'Oh, what will become of my poor son. I have nothing to put into his mouth (indicating she had no silver spoon). No way to care for him." The midwife is said to have comforted her by telling her to put her trust in God who doesn't make children He can't take care of.'"

     "Elizabeth had five or six children and became known widely for her nursing skills among the women in the community. She was known for getting up in the middle of the night to help her neighbors no matter how cold or bad the weather. She later taught her only daughter, Patience, the same nursing skills. Both she and her daughter, Patience, were recommended by Thomas Jefferson to his daughter, Mrs. Eppes, for their nursing skills."

     "When she was very old, Elizabeth went to live with her daughter, Patience, and helped with her grand and great-grandchildren. She liked to gather them around her rocking chair, reading the Bible and telling stories to them. She often told them to obey their parents as her disobedience when she was young caused all her early troubles. When it came time for Elizabeth's earthly life to end, she awoke one morning very early and called to her daughter, 'Patience, the Master calls for me!' She died immediately after speaking these words. She was said to 111 years of age when she died."²

     None of this information about Elizabeth can be confirmed and, as far as I am concerned, is simply a fairy tale concocted down through the years by descendants romantizing her life. Whereas we do know that an Elizabeth Iverson/Iveson married a William Sumpter, this marriage is documented to have occurred in Cambridge, England in 1729, which does not "track" with Patience's history.

     In reading a series of letters from the descendants of Patience Sumpter Suddarth in 1873, only bits and pieces of the above tale could be verified. The letters do name both of her husbands. One letter in particular, from Elizabeth Turner Suddarth, specifically confirms the fact that Patience's mother came on a ship from London on which her first husband died before their arrival.

     In all the letters from the grandchildren cited, Patience's parents did not marry until they reached the colonies. It is also known that they began having children c1720. Patience herself gave birth to her eldest child by her first husband c1740. Therefore, she had to be been born earlier than 1729. Her parents would have had to arrive in the colonies well before that time. Consequently, her parents cannot be William Sumpter and Elizabeth Iverson/Iveson.³