My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM G. PATTERSON is one of the earliest settlers of Divide township, Buffalo county, having located here in the early seventies, when but twenty-one years of age. He was born in Wayne county, Pa., July 27, 1853. His father, Robert Patterson, was a native of Ireland, born in the year 1827. His mother, Jane (Henry) Patterson, was also a native of Ireland, and was born in 1830. When William was one and a half years old his parents moved to New York, where they resided for nine years, after which they returned to Leadsdale, Wayne county, Pa. Remaining there two years, they next moved to Lincoln county, Wis., where they resided for two years, during which time William attended the neighboring school. In 1869 he, in company with his parents, returned to Wayne county, Pa., where he served a three-years’ apprenticeship at the tinner’s trade. In the spring of 1872 he went to Chicago, where, on account of the big fire the fall before, there was great demand for workmen at his trade, and there he was employed on the dome of the great exposition building and many other structures of note. He remained in Chicago, working at his trade, for two years, and in April, 1874, came West and located in Buffalo county, Nebr. He farmed and worked at his trade in Kearney the first year, and the following year devoted his time exclusively to farming, putting out a large crop of corn, oats and wheat, from which he harvested a fair crop. In 1876 he put out forty acres of wheat, ten acres of corn and seven acres of oats, which were entirely destroyed by the grasshoppers; and he, like many others, was obliged to haul corn from Smith Centre, Kans., a distance of one hundred and twenty-five miles. When Mr. Patterson first came to this county deer and antelope were plentiful and some elk were still to be found. He hunted considerably in those days, and reports having killed both deer and elk. His well-improved farm, lying north of Kearney, in Divide township, speaks of itself of his prosperity since coming to this county.

Mr. Patterson was married February 27, 1877, to Florence E. Cornell, who was born November 17, 1860, and is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George W. Cornell, whose biographical memoir appears elsewhere in this volume. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Patterson has resulted in the birth of two children — George H. born November 14, 1878, and Stella A., born January 23, 1880. In politics Mr. Patterson is independent.