John Patterson

     John Patterson was born before 1698 at Ireland. He was the son of ? Patterson. John Patterson married Mary (?) at Massachusetts. John Patterson died.
     John Patterson and his brother William Patterson were among the Scotch-Irish families from Ulster who arrived at Boston 30 Nov 1718 on the "Capt. Dennis" along with neighbor William Haire and 20 others. They were originally warned out of the city and went to Worcester.
     In Worcester, about that time, were perhaps only 200 residents, and proprietary records show about 58 houses, mostly one story log dwellings.
     According to Temple's "History of Palmer", [p. 39] the settlement at Worcester for these folks did not work out as planned and most dispersed to other areas.
     It is worth noting many references to the fact that these people did not want to be called Irish. They were people of the Scottish nation of Ulster. They introduced to Boston the flax spinning wheel, and, of course, the Irish potato. Although, many thought potatoes were fit for consumption.^1,2,3      Our Pattersons went to Palmer, which was also known as "the Elbows" plantation, New Marlborough, and Kingsfield with the earliest, about 1720. John received 189 acres; he had a grant of 63 acres, lot #2, which was the same as laid out for Andrew Farran, to the west side of Dumplin Hill. After the district was organized he sold his land to Paul Glassford and went in with his brother William on the north side of town. Joshua McMaster owned the farm in 1809, where he had lived for 50 years. Reuben Shaw, his son Samuel, and Charles R. Shaw have since been the owners.⁴      "The History of North Brookfield" by Josiah H. Temple (1887), states that John Patterson "had grant Dec. 5, 1720, of a 60 acre house lot" and on Dec 20th granted to John Patterson and William Hare a stream for a fulling mill (as well as 60 acres apiece) so long as they set up and continued a fulling trade. On the same date they were granted 49 acres near Five-mile river and 71 acres north of Horse-pond brook.
     On 5 Dec 1748, a list of subscribers who agreed to build a meeting house contained both John Patterson and John Patterson, Jr., along with David Barns, and William Haire, known associates of the family.⁵ He was also the same John Patterson of Brookfield, Mass as early as 1728 until about 1755. The earliest land record within Worcester County files for John Patterson is dated 4 February 1728/9, although it was recorded 28 April 1733. In this, Samuel Owen of Brookfield sold to John Patterson also of Brookfield several tracts of land there: 1) a house lot containing 66 acres, 2) a lot containing 25 acres, and 3) one and a half acres of meadow and swamp land.
Another deed dated 1734 John Patterson sold the house lot of 66 acres to Samuel Barnard. In this record, John is listed as "late of Brookfield, now of Kingsfield, Hampshire County" [Palmer]. The most important deed, however, is dated 1 January 1753 and involves Thomas Taylor of Rutland and John Patterson of Brookfield, "cooper". The land was a tract a piece of land in Rutland district "near a place called Hunting Swamp upon Ware River" referred to as first division Lot #64 in "the westerly or northwesterly quarter of the Township of Rutland" containing 107 acres which Taylor had purchased from Thomas Allen, merchant of Boston, assigned unto William Allen late of Boston. The 2nd tract involved 76 acres part of the "great farm so called #31" and was in the southwest corner of his John Pattersons's meadowland on the North side of the River. Another tract of land containing 16 acres was also located within the Great Farm on Birch Meadow Brook. This deed alone tells us that the John Patterson of Brookfield became the John Patterson of Rutland district. In 1755 John Patterson of Rutland, "cooper" sold for 300 pounds a tract of land containing 178 acres within the land he purchased from Thomas Taylor in 1753 to John Patterson Jr and Jacob Patterson, "husbandmen" of Rutland District.
     In "Barre Vital Records to 1850" [part of the official series], it lists under deaths from cemetery inscriptions, John Patterson 25 Nov 1773 about 82 yrs old. When this writer checked the original records of Barre on microfilm, the entry reads "In memory of MRS. John Patterson who died Nov, ye 25th 1773 ae about 82 yrs". The info found here reflects what was found in the handwritten records. At some point, the gravestone should be found (if it still exists) to verify this.⁶