Bios: John Farquhar Patterson, 1851-1956: from York County, PA

Copyright © 1997 by Karen Price Pfister. This copy contributed for use in 
the USGenWeb Archives.  PrinyP@aol.com

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        MY GREAT GRANDFATHER - A DEAR MAN AND GENTLEMAN
             A Tribute to John Farquhar Patterson

By Karen Price Pfister - PrinyP@aol.com

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On the night of December 23, 1851 a son was born to Hugh PATTERSON and
Nancy Agnus CRABTREE PATTERSON.  This son was JOHN FARQUHAR PATTERSON,
the subject of this article.  They lived in the town of New Bridgeville,
York County, PA.  John was to be the second child of Hugh and Nancy
Patterson.  He has seven brothers and sisters: Elizabeth, Hugh, Benjamin,
Robert, David and William who all were born in York County.

When Hugh Patterson died, Nancy moved the family to Bagley, Iowa in
1889.  The Patterson family first settled on the farm that later Ray Hoyt
owned.  This is a story that Great Grandpa told us when we were children.
You see JOHN FARQUHAR PATTERSON lived to be the age of 104.

When John turned 100, he did not let his age stop him.  I remember
talking to Great Grandpa on the telephone when I was five years old and
on that day he told me a story I will always remember.  Great Grandpa
walked the field of Gettysburg after the battle where so many lost their
lives.  He was almost a teenager then.  Great Grandpa's life spanned
Slavery, the War Between the States, the Reconstruction, plowing by ox,
the Mexican War, the westward expansion of the United States, and the
growth of the union to forty-eight states, the industrial revolution,
the invention of the automobile, both World War I and II, and the Korean
War.  Grandpa John even lived through the election of twenty presidents
and was a life long Democrat.  He remembers walking to the polls and
voting for his party member.  He truly lived a long life of changes.

Grandpa John was a man who loved the outdoors. He fished, gardened, and
took long walks in the woods.  He smoked his pipe and his cigar when he
could get them and had his glass of wine.  John was a farmer and a cattle
herder and recalled many a night sleeping under the stars with his
cattle.

In 1851, the year of his birth, he took part in the westward ho phase of
American history.  In 1870 he left his birthplace to farm in Illinois for
a short time before moving to Bayard also to farm.  He farmed a short
time there, but still restless, he travelled through Missouri then
settled in Texas for six years.  During the time in Texas, he drove a
supply wagon.  At the end of the six years, he came back to Bayard and
married Amanda Mucy SUTER, which to this marriage came my Grandfather
GEORGE WILLIAM PATTERSON, and his siblings Clyde and Addie.  Amanda only
lived for sixteen years.

These are some of the words that Great Grandpa John said the day he
turned 101: "I guess I am slowing up. I don't get around like I use to.
Why? I didn't even go fishing once this summer.  I don't get downtown
very often; I even have to wear glasses to read.  I can't complain; I've
had a pretty good use of my body.  Only seriously ill twice."  In speaking
of moving he said: "I didn't stop here long (talking about Kirkwood,
IL).  I went southwest to Kansas and Texas.  I worked as a cowboy some and
for awhile drove a six mule hitch across Texas.  Heck, I even was given
by the Lord a third set of teeth!"

Great Grandpa John came to rest on Thursday, February 7, 1956 at the
Nursing Home in Coons Rapids, Iowa.  Great Grandpa came from a large
farming family; and left behind a family that will always remember him.
Some of the children in Guthrie, IA will remember him, too.  Children
such as Don Farwell, who was listening to Great Grandpa read his bible
one day. Remembering him will be the many children that went fishing
with him and the children he met about town.  John Patterson touched many
lives, not only ours (his family) but many people in the town and county
of Guthrie.

I have files of documents and papers on our Patterson family.  These
include pictures, family stories, newspaper articles, and many records
that prove the major events.  If you are related, I would like to pass on
what we have done and have to share!  Hugh Patterson and Nancy Agnus
Crabtree Patterson, had one wonderful, warm and loving son.  We are
fortunate to have spent time with him.

I want to conclude this tribute to Great Grandpa John Patterson with his
own words.  This was written in the year he turned 102.  He was once asked
what was the happiest time of his life and Papa said the following: "I
can't decide what time in my life was the happiest.  There were a few
hard years.  The civil war, the battle of gettysburg with so many men
laying on the field, women, children crying and just walking, just
walking the battlefield.  So many lives lost for what...Freedom?"