Pioneers of Ellis County
James M. Patterson
James M. Patterson, a successful farmer of Ellis County, was born in Hempstead
County, Arkansas, November 23, 1844, a son of Joe and Martha J. Patterson,
also natives of Arkansas. The paternal grandfather moved from Tennessee to
Arkansas when that State was still a Territory, where he remained until death.
Joe Patterson was a carpenter and millwright and followed those occupations
until the outbreak of the war. He is still living on his homestead three
miles west of Waxahachie, which he purchased in 1854. His wife died July
27, 1867. Mr. And Mrs. Patterson had nine children.: J. M., Tilman L., (lives
Louisiana); D. C., (lives Waxahachie); Lucy J., (died 1881, married of H.
D. Edwards); W. T., (died 1881); Annie E., and M. S., (at home); L.
J., (lives Waxahachie) and N. M., (lives California).
James M. Patterson came to Ellis County, Texas in 1854, at the
age of nine years, where he was reared to farm life and educated in the common
schools. He remained at home until the war, when he enlisted in Company A,
Nineteenth Texas Cavalry, and served in Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas. He
was in Banks' raid from New Orleans to Shreveport, was in many skirmishes
in Arkansas, and afterward retreated to Texas, remaining near Calvert until
the close of the war. Mr. Patterson then returned home, where he worked as
a carpenter and farmer with his father until 1868, when he was in the freighting
business. . The next year he rented land, and two years later bought a small
tract, built a cabin, and fenced a few acres. From time to time he has added
to this place until he now owns 540 acres, all of which is fenced, and about
400 acres are in cultivation. He farms 125 acres, and the remainder is operated
by tenants.
Mr. Patterson was married in 1869 to Miss Martha J. Brack, (born in
Mississippi May, 1850, a daughter of Judge E. M. & Lucy P. (Sims) Brack).
Judge Brack was reared in Tennessee, moved to Mississippi, and in 1850
moved to Dallas County, Texas. In 1859 he moved to Ellis County
where he served as County Judge, County Commissioner and Justice of the Peace
for many years. He was liberal in all enterprises, helping to build
chirches, schools, etc. . He died November 1, 1888, and his first wife departed
this life in 1883.
Mr. & Mrs. Patterson had five children, viz.: George W., born April
9, 1870; Richard J., in May, 1874; Anna M., who died at the age of eighteen
months; Josiah E., born March 9, 1881; Henry C., June 17, 1884, and Dora
L., in November, 1886. Mr. Patterson is a member of the Farmers' Alliance,
and is a trustee and steward in the Methodist Church, of which church his
wife and two sons are also members.
[Memorial & Biographical History of Ellis County, Chicago,
pub. 1892]
Copyright © 2003-2016, Ellis County TXGenWeb. All
Rights Reserved.
This page
was last modified:
Thursday, 01-Jul-2021 13:30:08 MDT
|