Since the nineteenth century, stories about the daring accomplishments of Sam Patch have entertained the American public. Sam Patch functions in American folklore and in the popular imagination as a folk hero similar to Davy Crockett and Mike Fink.
Unlike some fictive folk heroes such as Paul Bunyan, there really was a historical figured named Sam Patch. He was born around the year 1799 in modest circumstances in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Young Sam had four brothers and sisters: Molly (b. 1789), Greenleaf (b. 1791), Nabby (b. 1794), and Isaac (b. 1803). Another brother, Samuel, died around 1798 and Sam, born a year later, received his name. Patch later grew up in Danvers, Massachusetts. His father, May Greenleaf Patch, had once worked as a farmer and a shoemaker, but he was also a heavy drinker with a bad temper. When Sam Patch was thirteen years old, his father abandoned the family and in 1818 his parents divorced.
Patch spent considerable time as a laborer in the textile mills of the eastern United States. He began work at the age of seven in Samuel Slater’s White Mill. By the 1820s, young Patch took on the role of boss spinner. As the job title indicates, this meant that he established himself in the area of thread and yarn spinning.
Typically, mills were built near bodies of flowing water to power the mill wheels, and so it was near rivers and lakes where Patch began his career as a daredevil. Patch made numerous life-threatening jumps at or near the sites of mills. While still a boy, Sam Patch frolicked with his peers in the nearby waters and made his first jumps in the context of play. He soon discovered that his antics could make him a memorable and even legendary figure.
During the 1820s, Sam Patch relocated and began work at a factory in Paterson, New Jersey. In September 1827, he leaped from the top of seventy-seven-foot high Passaic Falls, and again on July 4 of the following year conducted another jump. Initially, he regarded these leaps as a form of artistic expression but over time, he began to realize he could draw a crowd and earn an income. On August 6, 1828, Patch completed a 100-foot jump from a ship’s masthead into the water below in Hoboken, New Jersey. This jump marked the turning point at which Patch shifted from being a hobby jumper to becoming a full-time showman.
While his early jumps in Pawtucket and Paterson had been local affairs, Patch’s subsequent jumps were arranged to draw a wider crowd of observers. In October 1829, Patch was invited to visit Niagara Falls. The prospect of jumping from such a famous location must have been irresistible. He made at least two jumps that month, on October 7 and October 17. At the second Niagara jump, Patch secured the right to collect Goat Island bridge tolls from that date. His “Aero-Nautical Feats” began to turn a profit.
At this point, Patch had developed some stage business to go along with his time at the platform. He would bow to the men and blow kisses to the women before making his leap. Patch’s typical approach to such jumps was to travel feet first, with his knees somewhat bent, and drawing in a breath as he descended. He became known for completing his jumps in all-white attire. Patch was also known for his penchant for scheduling and conducting events in a manner intended to upstage the self-congratulatory public appearances of famous businessmen and local dignitaries. Always the entertainer, he drew additional notice for a pet bear that he walked about on a chain leash.
Patch had the bear with him as he arrived in Rochester, New York, where he was scheduled to make a jump from Genesee Falls on November 6, 1829. According to reports, Patch shared his father’s drinking habits and spent a considerable portion of his planning time imbibing at area establishments. When he wasn’t drinking, Patch would survey the site of his upcoming feat of daring. He made his first jump from the Genesee Falls without injury. At least as impressive as Patch’s jumps were the tales audience members told of his hijinks. For instance, spirited onlookers in Rochester claimed that Patch had followed his jump by forcing his bear to take the same plunge.
On the occasion of his second Genesee Falls leap a week later, some 8,000–12,000 spectators were present. Sam Patch made his customary attention-grabbing approach to the jump site. He delivered a speech from the platform, during which some contend that he compared himself to no less than Napoleon and Wellington. Although Patch appeared unsteady at the precipice, perhaps due to overindulgence in strong drink, he removed his shoes, hat, and jacket as usual, and began his descent. Part way down, however, observers could see that something was wrong as Patch appeared to be falling rather than jumping. He died upon impact.
Efforts to recover Patch’s body at that time proved unsuccessful. Rumors circulated that Patch had faked his death as a stunt. Months later, in March 1830, a man named Silas Hudson found Sam Patch’s corpse as it surfaced amidst the winter ice near the point where the Genesee River meets Lake Ontario.
Sam Patch’s exploits have been celebrated in a wide range of cultural forms. His jumps have been featured in magazines, stories, poems, stage shows, newspapers, novels, and works of children’s literature. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and William Dean Howells all made references to Sam Patch’s deeds in their fiction.
Although Sam Patch began life as an industrial laborer, he rose to fame not for his distinction in the workplace, but for his fame as a daredevil. He developed a wide reputation as someone capable of performing and surviving leaps from great heights. Locations such as Rochester and Niagara Falls feature his name and story in tourist and commercial literature. At Niagara Falls, he was inducted into the Daredevils Hall of Fame. For his irreverence, showmanship, and feats of daring, Sam Patch is celebrated as an American folk hero.
Linda S. Watts
See also Boone, Daniel; Crockett, Davy; Fink, Mike; Legends; Tall Tales
Further Reading
Ashby, LeRoy. 2006. With Amusement for All: A History of American Popular Culture since 1830. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.
Battle, Kemp. 1986. Great American Folklore: Legends, Tales, Ballads, and Superstitions from All Across America. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
Dorson, Richard. 1973. America in Legend: Folklore from the Colonial Period to the Present. New York: Pantheon.
Johnson, Paul E. 2003. Sam Patch, the Famous Jumper. New York: Hill and Wang.
Shapiro, Irwin. 1958. Tall Tales of America. New York: Guild Press.