John Patterson was born April 1st, 1841, in the northern part of Ireland. At the age of six years he came to Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, with his parents. They remained in Pennsylvania two years, then moved to Iowa. After a short stay here, they crossed the plains and settled at Plattsmouth, Nebraska. John Patterson by this time had grown into young manhood and decided to follow the continual move westward. In the spring of i860 he landed in Denver, which at that time was the frontier country. He immediately engaged in the freighting business and made twenty round trips across the plains from the Missouri river to Denver. In 1864 he was interested in the first bakery in Denver, and during the same years he was among those who left their personal business and answered the call to fight for the welfare of all the people in general. In the fall of 1865 he went down the Platte River and bought a hay ranch about three miles below where Greeley was located in 1870.
On the sixth of December in 1866, John Patterson was married and seven children were born to them, six girls and one boy. All are married except one.
In 1899 ne move d to Hotchkiss, Colorado, where he has since resided. He ran a livery stable for two years, then he entered the mercantile business which he has been engaged in for the past three years.
Some of the Pioneers of Colorado
Source: True History of some of the Pioneers of Colorado, by Miss Luella Shaw, Press of Carson Harper Co, Denver, Colorado, 1909