Santa Clara County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm



ARCHIBALD PATTERSON. 
 
    Among the productive grain ranches of the Milliken District must be 
mentioned the one owned by the subject of this sketch. It is situated on the 
Saratoga and Alviso road, about three miles west of Santa Clara, and now 
contains fifty-two acres, fourteen acres having been sold in 1887. Mr. Patterson 
never has entered into the cultivation of orchard or vineyard, but has devoted 
his land to the raising of hay and grain, also raising each year a few head of 
stock.
        He was born in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1822, and is the son 
of Archibald and Nancy (Baxter) Patterson, both natives of Scotland. Being 
orphaned in his youth, he was reared by his uncle, Richard Lisbett (who resided 
on a farm near Tremont, about ten miles from Edinburgh), and was educated in the 
excellent schools of that neighborhood. He continued his labor as a farmer on 
his uncle's land until he had reached the age of thirty years, when, desirous of 
improving his condition in life, and wishing to gain the experience that contact 
with the people of other lands gives, he embarked at London, in May, 1852, on 
the ship John Mitchell, for a voyage around Cape Horn to San Francisco. He 
arrived in the last-named port in the fall of the same year, after a tedious 
passage of seven months' duration. He made but a short stay in San Francisco, 
and then came to Santa Clara County, where he worked on a farm near Alviso for 
about eight months. He then proceeded to Sonoma and Napa Counties, and engaged 
in those counties for nearly two years in stock-raising. Thence returning to 
Santa Clara County, he purchased the land upon which he now resides, and entered 
heartily in the business of farmer in the country of his adoption. Ever proving 
a worthy citizen and a good neighbor, taking a deep interest in the welfare and 
building up of the community and section in which he makes his home, he has 
justly won the respect of those around him.
        In 1863 he married Miss Sarah Hanks, daughter of George Hanks, a native 
of England. No children have blessed this union. Both Mr. and Mrs. Patterson are 
prominent members of the Baptist Church, and for a period of more than 
twenty-five years have been among its strongest supporters.
 
Pen Pictures From The Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, 
Illustrated. - Edited by H. S. Foote.- Chicago:  The Lewis Publishing Company, 
1888.
Pg. 448-449