Sam Patch, the Famous Jumper

Sam Patch was an American original who escaped my attention for forty-eight years. Professor Johnson's study of this mostly forgotten, irreverant showman has piqued this reader's thirst for more of the bold, eccentric and sometimes ambivalent personalities that have shaped this nation in often subtle ways. Not long after completing the author's chronology of the Patch family's slide from the respectability of the rural New England landholder and the influence of Calvinism, it becomes apparent that a documented record of just what manner of man Sam Patch really was is not to be had. From the standpoint of social status, Patch was a non-entity, a skilled textile laborer his sole identifying trait; that is, until he made public his hobby. Just what spurred Patch to leap the Passaic Falls at Paterson,NJ on July 4, 1828, effectively upstarting the elaborate holiday ceremonies planned by one of the city's wealthy and genteel manufacturing elite is uncertain. One effect of the feat was the galvanizing of the local labor force into an awareness of their potential to force reform in mill working conditions. No sooner had Patch had dried himself off when a consortium of mill owners issued an edict altering the daily work schedules of its employees, needlessly disrupting the domestic routines of thousands. Patch then betrays a political motive in answer to management with an encore jump during work hours just one week after the new schedule had taken effect. Patch's exploit was followed by a strike, arbitration and comprimise. The Paterson jumps gave birth to Patch's intriguing motto "Some things can be done as well as others." The cynical critic questions the depth and genuineness of Patch's social altruism based upon his lack of education, predilection to alcohol, and the complete absence of any concern, stated or implied, other than self-promotion during the remainder of his career. In fact, Patch, at the age of twenty-seven, having worked in the mills for twenty years, resigned his vocation permanently upon departing Paterson shortly after the second jump. After a brief exploit from atop a ship's mast in Hoboken,NJ, Patch emigrated to Niagara Falls for bigger game. Now an avowed professional jumper, backed by resort developers and sporting gentlemen, Patch thrilled crowds of commoners and elicited enmity from the Whig sophisticates and press. After a few successful performances, the venue shifted to Rochester,NY and Genesee Falls where class distinctions and responses to such behavior were at a premium. After an initial jump, a plan was hatched to erect a platform some forty feet above the millrace which paralleled the falls, raising his leap to an uprecedented one hundred-thirty feet. Unfortunately for our hero, he met his ultimate fate that day in 1829 when, unable to contain his passion for the bottle, he endeavored to jump while in a well-lubricated state, lost his form early in the air, hit the water on his side, and disappeared for four months before his body was hauled from under the ice of the Genesee River some seven miles downstream. On reconsideration, it is perhaps the case that Patch had an angle along reformist lines. Though unsophisticated in its method, the very inanity of Patch's nonconformist act served as a slap in the face to the righteous, overbred conceit of the upper classes and their proclivity for circumscribing the limits of self-determination for those less fortunate. In appropriating a mere mill-boy's pastime Patch defied the ruling gentry and diletantes of morality to prevent his freedom of expression. Although his jumps lacked the ingenuity, utility or permanence of the engineering marvels which buoyed the emerging industrial revolution, they gave notice that democracy entitles a man to make his mark after his own fashion and, notwithstanding limited means, proof that "Some things can be done as well as others." Despite the absence of source material Professor Johnson has done a comendable job of resurrecting Patch's story from the confines of legend. Johnson's tedious labor is evidenced by his notes--drawn almost entirely from periodical literature.While it is not possible to forge an intimate acquaintance with Sam Patch, Johnson has provided the detailed social, political and religious mileau needed to understand his role in history.Johnson is also to be credited for the modesty of his prose, which makes this book smooth and entertaining.

A rather quirky book. Unpromising start in terms of plot and known facts but the author has ferreted out just about anything possible to flesh it out and has done it very well.It is a history of the period rather than one person and to some extent Patch remains elusive or- more likely- he was a largely unremarkable man in a a remarkable era. The end was probably inevitable but no lilies are gilded here and the author has done a superb job of holding your interest while giving a valuable oversight into Patch's life and times.

Johnson uses Sam Patch to channel his search for Jackson's America. Johnson explores all things wherever Sam Patch leads him, from the beginning of the end of the agrarian life in New England and the pecking order from boss spinner to mill children in Pawtucket's mills, to the new moneyed, old moneyed and no moneyed masses who crowd the picturesque Passaic Falls of Patterson. The chapter on Niagara is a dizzying flight into a history of British-American relations, the birth of ballyhoo tourism, and the partisanship of go-getter journalism. The character of Sam Patch remains mysterious throughout, but serves as the quintessential figure during a raucous, hilarious, often drunken moment when people were becoming devotees of nature worship, the manly arts, and fame-seeking. This is large history packed into a small book that contains countless historical threads each one rich in significance. Read it.

Beware of fake reviews on this book - several are clearly fake, including one review by an "Amazon Top Reviewer" who has posted hundreds of reviews that are all 5 star reviews. Another reviewer has only reviewed this one book. I should know by now not to buy a product based on reviews until I evaluate reviewer history to see if the reviews are legit. My fault for not doing so here - at least I bought a used copy.Admittedly, the author starts off by acknowledging that very little information about Sam Patch exists, and that very little of Sam Patch's life is known. I appreciate that the author was honest about this, but then he probably should not have written this book. In reading the book of 184 pages, probably about 3-4 pages actually discuss Sam Patch and his jumping off waterfalls. That's it - literally. There is some additional text about his family and parents (as it appears that historical records contain more information about them than Sam) but literally only about 3-4 pages that actually discuss Sam Patch, who the book is supposed to be about.95% of the book discusses random topics like the history and founding of Rochester, the Erie canal, Jacksonian Democrats, the life of mill workers in the early 1800s, and the biographies of a bunch of other random people (which the author CAN write at length about).I found the author's writing style to be somewhat dry and not very interesting. I also found it weird that the author uses the word "sublime" in seemingly every other sentence. I guess the book was not proof read by a publisher before being printed.Overall, I feel a little bit ripped off: why sell a book about Sam Patch - the famous jumper - if barely any information exists about him and you fill 95% of the book with fluff? So, for me, I give 2 stars for the little information that actually does discuss Sam Patch and his jumping off waterfalls.