Sam Patch

Background

Sam Patch was born circa 1807 in Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island, United States.

Career

Sam Patch followed the sea for a few years, and then became a cotton-spinner in the Hamilton Mills at Paterson, New Jersey. There he was the mainstay of his widowed mother and was looked upon as a good workman and likable young man. In the fall of 1827 he announced that he was going to jump into the Passaic River from the Chasm Bridge, which was then building. The police interfered, but on the day the span was dropped into place Sam appeared on an adjacent precipice, made a short speech, Mr. Crane, the bridge engineer, had done a great feat, and he, Sam Patch, was about to do another, and jumped seventy-five feet into the stream. Later he jumped from the bridge. Warmed by the notoriety, he then went from town to town diving from cliffs, bridges, and masts. People flocked to witness his performances and contributed satisfactorily when the hat was passed. On his wanderings he picked up a fox and a small bear, and on some of his dives the bear was his forlorn companion. He was generally taciturn but when in his cups would parrot his two apothegms, "There's no mistake in Sam Patch" and "Some things can be done as well as others. " To most observers he seemed to be a good-natured automaton.

By the time he reached Buffalo in October 1829 and dived into the Niagara River from a shelving rock on Goat Island he was a national celebrity. Returning to Rochester, New York, where he had established temporary headquarters, he advertised that "being determined to 'astonish the natives' of the west before he returns to the Jarseys, " he would jump 125 feet from a scaffold erected on the brink of the Genesee Falls. For this feat he prepared carefully, taking soundings of the pool below the falls and even making a practice dive without accident. On the scheduled day, Friday, November 13, all western New York lined the banks of the Genesee, and excursionists came by schooner from Oswego and Canada. Sam made his speech and jumped, but in mid-air the arrow-like dive became a fall, he struck the water sidewise and disappeared. For months the newspapers were filled with stories of his last dive and rumors of his reappearance. On March 17, 1830, his body was found broken and frozen in a cake of ice at the mouth of the river and was buried in Charlotte Cemetery.

Achievements

• Sam Patch was the first famous American daredevil after successfully jumping from a raised platform into the Niagara River near the base of Niagara Falls and stood alive.

Connections

Father:

Mayo Greenleaf Patch

Mother:

Abigail McIntire Patch

Brother:

Issac Patch

Brother:

Samuel Patch

Brother:

Greenleaf Patch

Sister:

Nabby Patch

Sister:

Molly Patch

References

• Sam Patch, the Famous Jumper