Researching James Paton

He matriculated at St Salvator's College, University of St Andrews on 26 November 1540. He appears to have trained in Theology and was likely a priest pre-Reformation. At the Scottish Reformation of 1560 he adopted the Protestant stance, and certainly by January 1565 is listed as minister of Muckhart parish, which was then in Perthshire.

After the forfeiture of Bishop Robert Crichton in 1571, Paton became Bishop of Dunkeld in July 1572. This seems to have been arranged for him by Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll, to whom Paton handed over his farm at Muckhart Mill in addition to promising the Earl a share of episcopal revenue. This later brought him into disrepute with the General Assembly, as did his failure to proceed against the allegedly Catholic John Stewart, 4th Earl of Atholl. In December 1580 he was accused of conspiracy and treason and Paton failed to defend himself satisfactorily, and thereafter a decree was made depriving him of his bishopric. Paton resisted his forfeiture, but by 1585 was replaced by Peter Rollock.

Paton returned to his old parish of Muckhart, though not in the capacity of a minister. He died there on 20 July 1596. He is buried in Muckhart churchyard. The grave is marked by a "table stone" just east of the Christie enclosure east of the current church.

He is known to have had four children, including Archibald Paton, who served in Dunkeld Cathedral during his father's episcopate.

His first venture was from 1902 to 1904 as a crewman of William Colbeck's . This expedition consisted of two voyages and was sent as a relief ship for Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery expedition. During the first voyage the ship was briefly stalled in the ice between Cape Bird and Beaufort Island. Paton took the opportunity to leave ship and jump floes a distance of one mile to 'land' of Beaufort Island, the first man to do so. This accomplishment was received with a reprimand.

In 1907–1909, he was a crew member of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod expedition during each of Nimrod's two southern voyages. From 1910 to 1913, he was a seaman aboard Captain Scott's Terra Nova during her two voyages between New Zealand and Cape Evans, in support of Scott's ill-fated expedition. In 1914 he joined the Ross Sea party section of Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition as boatswain on . He was aboard ship on 7 May 1915 when Aurora was torn from her Cape Evans moorings, drifting in the pack for nine months before limping back to New Zealand. Paton's last Antarctic voyage was with Aurora on the mission to relieve the stranded Ross Sea party in January 1917.

After Auroras return to New Zealand she was sold, and became a coal carrier. Paton signed on as her boatswain, and was aboard when she left Newcastle, New South Wales, in June 1917, bound for South America. Her fate is uncertain, but in late 1917 or early 1918 she was lost, and Paton was lost with her. An inquiry established that the German raider Wolf was laying mines in Cook Strait and in the Tasman Sea in June and July 1917 and concluded that the Aurora likely ran afoul a mine.

Paton's Antarctic voyages are commemorated by Paton Peak on Beaufort Island in the Ross Sea.

Patton was born in Paisley, the son of Alexander Paton, who was involved in the design and manufacture of shawls there, and Elizabeth McKechnie. After completing his education, Paton was employed in a goods and drapery business there for six years. He then came to Charlottetown, where he worked for a time for a dry goods merchant. Paton then joined the firm of Weeks and Findlay, going on to become a partner with Mr. Weeks and later sole owner of the business. In 1880, he married Eva Melcora Auderson. He married Florence Gertrude Brown in 1887 following the death of his first wife. Paton was also vice-president of the Canadian Retail Furniture Dealers' Association and of the Union of Canadian Municipalities. He was an unsuccessful candidate for a seat in the provincial assembly in the 1897, 1900, and 1919 general elections.

He was born in Beamsville, Ontario and, in 1903, travelled west to Alberta, where he worked on a cattle ranch and as a night clerk in the Calgary post office. He later worked at placer mining, at railroad construction and as an employment agent. In 1906, he came to Vancouver, where he worked in a stationery store. Paton also spent some time in Prince Rupert where he worked at carpentry and surveying and helped set up the post office; he also was involved in surveying and mining in Whitehorse.

From Vancouver, he moved to Eburne, where he became involved in newspaper publishing. In 1908, he purchased the Point Grey Gazette, later the Vancouver Courier. Paton also operated a store where he sold books and stationery and other assorted goods and offered printing, publishing and bookbinding services. He sold the newspaper at the beginning of World War I and enlisted in the 72nd Battalion of the Canadian Infantry, serving in Belgium and France.

On his return to Canada in 1918, Paton re-purchased the Gazette. He was elected to the Point Grey municipal council in 1924 and served as reeve from 1925 to 1927. In 1925, Paton and others were charged with involvement in the kidnapping of Wong Foon Sing, accused by some of having murdered Janet Smith, but Paton was acquitted. In 1926, he married Cora May Fraser. Paton sold the Gazette later that year. In 1929, he became an alderman for the city of Vancouver. During World War II, Paton supported the movement of Japanese-Canadians into the province's interior; he also opposed giving them the right to vote. In 1946, he died in office at the age of 61.