Santa
Clara County
Biographies
HENRY
PRESTON PATTERSON
HENRY PRESTON
PATTERSON. Not only is Henry Preston Patterson known as
a practical and successful horticulturist of Santa Clara county,
but he represents a family renowned for its appreciation of mental culture and
for the special aptitude of its members for successful educational work. His father, himself and his children, have
stepped naturally, and without apparent effort, into what is to them a
congenial and satisfying occupation, and their united efforts have been the
means of starting hundreds of young men and women upon well-defined careers of
usefulness. Mr. Patterson is of
Irish ancestry on the paternal side, and was born in Lowndes county,
Ala., October 11, 1836. His father,
James Berry Patterson, was born near Dublin, Ireland, in 1808, and in 1827 came
to the United States, bringing with him a practical common-school education and
the happy outlook and vigor of nineteen years.
Engaging as a school teacher in Pennsylvania, he gradually made his way
south to Alabama, where he married Martha Daniels Browning, a native of
Georgia, and with her and his children located in Bastrop county,
Tex., in 1838. Eventually he taught
school in Harrison, Refugio and San Patricio counties, Tex., and in 1859 came
to California by way of Panama. In both
Santa Clara and Gilroy he taught school and ranched, and finally spent the last
seven years of his life with his son, Henry Preston, his death occurring when
in his ninety-third year. His wife lived
to be seventy years old.
Henry P. Patterson is the only survivor
of his father’s two children. He was
educated principally in Texas, where he combined
teaching and sheep raising for about eight years. In 1858 he married Orpah
Prather, a native of Indiana, and April 12, 1861, started with mule teams on
the long journey to California, arriving in San Jose August 15 of the same
year. In 1862 he removed from his ranch
near Santa Clara to the vicinity of Watsonville, and engaged in farming until
purchasing nine and two-thirds acres of his present farm in 1867. This ranch is located four miles south of San
Jose on the New Almaden road, and is set out to
prunes and assorted fruits, as is also the additional three and a half acres
purchased in 1872.
Mr. Patterson is a Republican of long
standing, and is an active member of and liberal contributor to the Christian
Church. Education and refinement have
been watchwords in his home, and all of his five daughters are graduates of the
normal school. Two children are
deceased. The oldest daughter, Mary
Alma, is a teacher in the normal school of San Francisco; Laura Imogene is the
wife of George A. Scott, secretary of the Sycamore Oil Company of Bakersfield,
Cal.; Martha May is the wife of Mr. Frazee of San Diego county, Cal.; Rose W.
is a teacher and lives at home; and Mabel, who was formerly engaged in
teaching, is now bookkeeper in the Lane Hospital at San Francisco. Mr. Patterson has built his life success
upon unswerving integrity, and upon those qualities of mind and heart which
ennoble any household and dignify any community.
Transcribed by Donna Toole.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 380-383. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Donna Toole.