CHARLES PATTERSON

From "Past and Present of Eaton county" - 1906

CHARLES A. PATTERSON was a resident of Eaton county for more than half a century and from his youth to his death he was identified with the agricultural industry, his experience in connection therewith having covered the pioneer epoch and the later days of improved facilities and marked opulence in production. He resided on the old homestead farm secured by his father in 1854, the same being located in section 16, Oneida township.

Mr. Patterson was born in Orleans county, New York, July 16, 1834, and was a son of Arthur and Sarah (Densmore) Patterson, the former of whom was born in York county, Pennsylvania, passing the closing years of his life in Eaton county. He died in Windsor township in 1880, at the age of seventy-five years. His wife, to whom he was married in Ontario county, New York, was born in Orleans township, that county, and died in Oneida township, Eaton county, Michigan, in 1875, aged seventy years. In 1854 the family came to Eaton county from the old Empire state, the father purchasing eighty acres of land in section 16, Oneida township, while his wife purchased an adjoining forty acres, making the homestead one hundred and twenty acres. About five acres had been cleared, and on the place was a small frame residence, which is a part of the present remodeled house in which the widow of the subject of this sketch has her home. The east and west roads had not been cut through and were not constructed until about five years after the Patterson family located in the township.

Arthur Patterson improved his original farm and the forty acres purchased by his wife, having individually reclaimed about one hundred acres in all. He was a Democrat in his political proclivities and his wife was a member of the Baptist church. They became the parents of twelve children, the first dying in infancy; Ansel married Mary Young and died in Delta township; Sarah died prior to the removal of the family to Michigan; Charles A., of this sketch, was the fourth of the children; Betsey Ann, Carlos, Esther and Mary died in the state of New York; Rosetta became the wife of John McMullen, and died in Oneida township; Julia Ann is the widow of Byron Cole and resides in Oneida township; Henrietta is the wife of Joseph Brunger of Grand Ledge; and the twelfth child died in infancy.

Charles A. Patterson was educated in the common schools of New York state, having been twenty years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Michigan. Upon attaining to his legal majority he took up eighty acres of school land in Benton township, erecting a log house and reclaiming about fifteen acres to cultivation. He then sold the property and bought forty acres in Oneida township, of his father, who had secured this tract in addition to his homestead of one hundred and twenty acres. This land was located in section 9 and had a small
log house and a few acres of clearing. He resided on this farm until 1867 and then traded for eighty acres of wild land in Windsor township. He made improvements on his farm, of which he reclaimed fifty-five acres, remaining on the same until 1883, when he sold the place and purchased his father's old homestead, in Oneida township, where he resided until his death. He enlarged and otherwise improved the barn and remodeled the house, to which he added a second story.

In politics he was aligned with the Democratic party, having formerly been identified with the Populist party. He served eleven years as justice of the peace and two terms as township clerk, and he was always distinctively loyal to the duties and responsibilities of citizenship. On New Year's day of the year 1856, Mr. Patterson was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Ann Baker, who died July 26, 1858, leaving two children: Betsey Ann is the wife of Clarence Allen, of Grand Ledge, and they have two children, Bernice and Bernard; Sarah Permelia is the wife of Hiram Johnston, of Grand Ledge. On January 1, 1861, Mr. Patterson married Miss Almira Joslin, and they became the parents of five children: Marie is the wife of Edward C. Schmidt, of Grand Rapids; Earl, who resides in Quimby, Barry county, married Miss Ida Watson, and they have six children-Esther, Wesley, Leon, Amy, Ruth and Arthur; Jeanette C. is the wife of Andrew J. Hamilton, of Lansing, and they have five children-Charles C., Jackson, Mary, Keith and Loyal; Arthur James, who married Miss Lulu Shaw and who resides in the city of Kalamazoo, originated the popular game of "Flinch," through which he has realized a fortune; and Leroy, who married Miss Blanche Murray, has charge of the operation of his father's farm.

The wife of the subject of this sketch is a daughter of James Joslin, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1813, and who died in the home of Mr. Patterson January 17, 1889. His wife, who was born in Orleans county, New York, in 1817, died in Delta township, Eaton county, Michigan, September 28, 1887. The family came to Eaton county in 1854, and Mr. Joslin settled on eighty acres of wild land in Oneida township, where he reclaimed a good farm, of which he disposed about three years prior to his death. Following is a brief record concerning his children: Levi died at the age of ten months: Lucinda became the wife of John K. Lewis and died in Oneida township; Rudolphus enlisted in the Seventh Michigan Cavalry at the time of the civil war and died in Baltimore, Maryland, while still in the service; Luther died in New York state at the age of three years; Lucius resides in Grand Ledge; Abigail is the wife of John W. Dann, of Delta township, and Lewis is a resident of Bay View, this state. Mr. Patterson died April 16, 1906.