THOMAS PATTERSON FAMILY

Thomas Patterson was born on January 14, 1822 at Kirtlehead, Waterbeck, Dumfrieshire, Scotland. As a young man he went to Manchester, England and learned the carpentry trade. There he met and married Agnes Palmer on June 28, 1854.

Four brothers and one sister had left the homeland and gone to America. Thomas wanted to come but would not leave for the new land as long as his mother lived. Upon her death in November, 1857, he was ready to come to America. In 1858 the trip was made by sailing vessel, then by train to Winfield, Illinois, then stage coach to Naperville, where his Uncle Mungo Patterson met the family with the lumber wagon.

The family lived with Mungo Patterson for nearly two years. In 1860 they moved to the farm across from where the Naperville sewage plant is now located. Thomas now became a farmer since he had his own farm, but probably worked as a carpenter when needed. Agnes was an excellent seamstress and she was also called upon to help neighbors when there was a sickness in the family or a new baby was expected. Thomas also served as a school director for many years and the family were members of the United Presbyterian Church in West Wheatland.

John Palmer Patterson, the oldest child of Thomas and Agnes was born in Scotland in 1855 and came with his parents to America, where he remained on the home farm. For many years he was a butter maker in the creamery located near the present Zion Lutheran Church. He married Emma Matter and they had seven children: Ralph, Sterling, Roger, Bernice, Gladys, James, and Homer. Only the two oldest and the two youngest lived to marry and have children.

A daughter, Agnes, was born December 12, 1859. She married Alexander McPherson on August 14, 1885 and lived in Cherokee, Iowa for a time. Mr. McPherson died shortly after the birth of their daughter Jane. Agnes and daughter Jane, better known as Jennie, returned to the home place in Wheatland. Mrs. McPherson was mid-wife to many children in Wheatland. Jane married Frank Fraley on September 8, 1910 and of this marriage five children were born: Mary Agnes, Olive, Bruce, Florence, and Carolyn.

A daughter, Elizabeth, was born to Thomas and Agnes on January 7, 1870. She remained single and taught school in the Wheatland area during her lifetime.

Thomas Patterson always helped his friends and neighbors whenever he could and it was during a barn raising in a severe rainstorm he contracted pneumonia and died November 24, 1878. His wife, Agnes, died April 25, 1911.