- FRANKLIN PATTERSON, whose fertile farm at every point shows
the most thorough
- cultivation and careful management, has had his residence
for many years on Section 28, in the town of Brooklyn, Green
county, where he is numbered among the oldest and most respected
farmers and citizens of the community.
- Mr. PATTERSON was born in the town of Oak Hill, Allegany
Co., N.Y., April 17, 1823, and is
- a son of James and Sarah (CRAWFORD) PATTERSON. The father
was a native of Massachusetts, and the mother of the town of
Madison, Madison Co., N.Y. They had eight children, only two
of whom are now living: Franklin, whose name appears above, and
his sister, Nancy, who is Mrs. James KEARNEY, of St. Paul, Minn.
James PATTERSON was a farmer and moved from his native State
to New York, where he lived for a number of years. While there
he served as captain in the state militia. From New York he journeyed
west into Lorain county, Ohio, where he died in 1840, while still
in middle life. His widow survived him until February, 1892,
when she passed away in her ninetieth year, at the home of her
son Franklin, with whom she had lived for many years. Both father
and mother were reared in the Presbyterian faith, but in their
later years were associated with the Congregational body.
- James PATTERSON, the father of James PATTERSON, and the grandfather
of Franklin, was
- born in Massachusetts, and was a descendant of one of three
brothers, who came into New England from Belfast, Ireland, and
were thought to be of Scotch-Irish descent. They followed close
after the Mayflower, and their posterity has been prominent in
New England for many generations. Mr. PATTERSON was always a
farmer, and died when quite old in New York. He had been married
three times. His first wife bore him four children; his second,
one; and his third, two. The father of Sarah CRAWFORD, noted
above as the mother of Franklin PATTERSON, lived in New York
many years, and then removed to Michigan, where he died when
upwards of ninety years of age. He was a farmer, and was father
to three sons and two daughters.
- Franklin PATTERSON was about six years old when his parents
made a new home for them-
- selves and family in Ohio, and he remained in their home
until he was of age. In 1844 he made his first appearance in
Wisconsin, and for two years traveled extensively through the
West and South. He went to New Orleans, but returned to Milwaukee,
busying himself about various things. In 1846 he began farming
in the town of Brooklyn, where he and his brother, James N.,
preempted a quarter-section from the government. A year later
they took separate deeds for eighty acres each, paying the government
price for it. Franklin PATTERSON deeded his eighty to his brother,
James N., and then in company with his brother, Emerson, bought
200 acres of land at four dollars an acre. At the present time
he owns 260 acres, and has lived here since 1846. His first home
was a log cabin, but it was replaced in 1868 by a brick and frame
building. Since his settlement in 1846, Mr. PATTERSON has moved
but once, and that was from the old log house to the new home..
- On Sept. 10, 1847, Franklin PATTERSON was married to Maria
McCREDY, a daughter of
- Thomas and Catherine (HOLT) McCREDY. Four children were born
to that union, three of whom are now living: Sarah Ann died in
infancy; Hiram H. married Emma WINTER, and lives on the old farm
in a house adjoining the homestead (he has one child, Nellie);
William R., of Union township, Rock county, married Rosa LAY,
and has two children, Dora E. and Elsie Maud; Lawrence A. married
Elnora WEAVER, and lives on the old home farm. Mrs. Franklin
PATTERSON died Jan. 20, 1897, at the age of seventy-two years
and twelve days. She is remembered as a true-hearted and devoted
wife and mother, a good neighbor and a kind friend. Franklin
PATTERSON is quite independent in politics, although during the
life of the old Greenback party he was one of its most active
workers. In religious belief, he is equally independent, and
is identified with no denomination.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin,"
(c)1901 Union Publishing; pp. 493-494.
-
- Courtesy of Carol.
|