Sacramento County
Biographies
JOHN LESKER PATTERSON
Within three miles of Folsom
lies the well improved fruit farm which has been the home of Mr. Patterson for
a considerable period and which through his well-directed efforts has acquired
a reputation for productiveness and profitable operation. In coming to Orangevale,
for such is the name of the district, he first made a visit of inspection from
his Nebraska home and later
removed to the property he still owns. Continued identification with the
locality increases his faith in the soil and his devotion to the higher
development of the community. While he has inspected many other parts of the
state and at one time remained for two years in San Joaquin
county, he believes Sacramento
county to be the peer of all and the center of a vast horticultural section
whose possibilities as yet are only partly appreciated.
Of Pennsylvanian birth and
parentage, John L. Patterson was born at Uniontown, Fayette county,
February 14, 1859, and at
the age of eleven years, in 1870, he accompanied his parents to Iowa,
settling upon raw land in Madison
county. While helping his father he was also given fair schooling, and not only
completed the grammar grade, but also attended a high school and later took a
course of study in the Baptist college at Pella.
For a time he engaged in teaching school. During young manhood, in 1884, he
removed to Nebraska and settled
at Kearney, Buffalo
county, where he bought and still owns residence
property. While still in Iowa he
had learned the trade of a stationary engineer and knowledge of the occupation enabled him to operate
an engine with success for five years. He also taught in the Kearney Industrial
school for six years.
During the period of his
residence at Kearney Mr. Patterson met and married Miss Adelaide Stout, who was
born and reared in New York state; her death occurred in 1903 and her body was interred
in Folsom cemetery. Surviving her are the two daughters born of the union, Irma
and Ona, who are attending the local schools. The
family came to California during
1897 and settled at Orangevale, where Mr. Patterson had
bought property on a previous trip to the west. The place had been planted to
fruit trees, but there were no other improvements. His first task was the
building of a substantial house. Later other improvements were made and
adjacent property was purchased, until now he owns sixty acres, all in fruit.
Six and on-half acres are in oranges, seven acres in prunes and the balance in
pears, almonds, olives and grapes. From 1898 until 1900 he acted as
superintendent of a ranch of two thousand acres and meanwhile made his home on
the property which is situated in San Joaquin county, but in 1900 he resigned
the position in order to take up the personal supervision of his Orangevale
ranch. In addition to improving this property he has bought and sold real
estate and has promoted many enterprises for the benefit of the locality. A
movement which received his early and constant support was that looking toward
the starting of a bank, and it was characteristic of
him that he should be among the first to subscribe to the capital stock. Since
then he has continued a stockholder in the Bank of Folsom and now serves as a
member of the board of directors. He is president of the Orangevale Water
Company, which is installing a new system of piping to supply water for
irrigation and domestic use in the the colony.
The present wife of Mr.
Patterson, whom he married in 1905, was Mrs. Nora (Raper)
Gibbons, who was born in Placer county and reared in
Colusa county. She was educated in Pierce Christian college
at College City,
graduating in 1887 with the degree of B. S. Her parents were Robert and Frances
(Allen) Raper, who crossed the plains in 1864 and
settled in Colusa county. The father is now living in Orangevale,
but the mother died in 1909. After her graduation Miss Raper
became the wife of O. J. Gibbons, and of that marriage three children were
born, as follows: Aris, of Oakland; Robert L., a
graduate of the State Agricultural school at Davis and now horticultural
inspector of Sacramento county, and Ruth, who is attending high school in
Sacramento. Politically, Mr. Patterson believes in Republican principles, and
is progressive in his tendencies. Ever since young manhood he has been
interested in educational progress and no one in his district maintains a
closer affiliation with such work than does Mr. Patterson, who believes that
the public schools are the most important factors in our national development.
He and his wife are active members of the Orangevale Grange, of which he is
past master and Mrs. Patterson treasurer, and these progressive organizations
they have not only promoted, but they have also organized them whenever
possible. While living in Nebraska Mr. Patterson became associated with the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows at Kearney of
which he is past grand, and he is also past chief patriarch of the encampment,
as well as a member of the Uniform rank of the order, in Nebraska.
Mrs. Patterson is president of the Orangevale W. C. T. U.
Transcribed by Sande Beach.
Source: Willis, William L., History of Sacramento
County, California, Pages 552-555. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1913.
© 2005 Sande Beach.