[p. 375]
Few men of
Lawrence County have deserved the
continued esteem and admiration of their
surviving fellow citizens in higher degree than
the late William Patterson, who might justly
be called the father of many of her
largest industries and the promoter of
much of her notable prosperity. Mr.
Patterson was born in what was then named
Beaver County, but which is now Lawrence
County, Pennsylvania, October 20, 1824, and
died August 31, 1905. His parents
were Samuel and Esther (Dickson) Patterson.
The late William Patterson was of Scotch-Irish ancestry, a combination of sturdy stock of which he was ever proud. His maternal grandfather, William Dickson, settled in Lawrence County in 1806, as one of the earliest settlers, becoming a leading man of his day. The paternal grandfather was equally prominent in Beaver County, where he combined farming with manufacturing interests.
Samuel Patterson, father of William, was born in Beaver County, now a part of Lawrence County, in 1802, and died during the childhood of his son. He married Esther Dickson, who, after the death of her husband, returned to her father's home, where William was reared to the age of fourteen years. During his boyhood he attended the district school in the winters and worked in a tannery during the summer. He later enjoyed two years of academic training at New Castle. In 1840 he became clerk in the store of John B. Pearson at New Castle, and in 1845 he was promoted by Daniel Euwer, a large merchant of Pittsburg, to the position of assistant. This gave him an opportunity to accumulate some capital, which he used three years later in starting a wholesale and retail drug store at New Carlisle. About this time the great coal resources of Ohio were being discovered, and in 1852 Mr. Patterson, alive to promising business developments, investigated the coal fields along the Mahoning River, and he finally decided to sell his New Castle interests and devote all his time and capital to developing the coal lands he had secured. He continued to be largely and personally interested in coal developing until 1855, when he returned to New Castle, leaving his coal business in charge of James McKinley, a brother of the late President William McKinley. In the previous year he had disposed of a part of his mining property, which he owned both in Illinois and Ohio, to John M. Maris, of Philadelphia. He then opened a banking and exchange business with Mr. Watson at New Castle, and through all the panics and hard times from various causes which convulsed the country at intervals the Patterson bank never failed to make good its financial promises, and Mr. Patterson continued with the enterprise until 1880, although in 1873 he had bought a large portion of the stock of the National Bank of Lawrence County.
In 1864 Mr. Patterson, with A. L. Crawford and others, became interested in opening a block coal field in Mercer County, building a railroad, sinking shafts, and attending to all the details of developing a large mining industry. This enterprise was successfully carried on for a period of eleven years. Another enterprise in which Mr. Patterson was the leading spirit was the organization of the Aetna Iron Company, in 1868, which had a paid up capital of $160,000, and which continued to do business until 1873. He was largely interested also in a number of other coal and iron enterprises and was part owner of furnaces at various points, having capital invested in several States, and through wise supervision and excellent business ability realizing his expectations of profit from each.
In 1863, in connection with A. R. Lee, he became part owner of large tracts of coal land in Lawrence County, which were first worked under the name of Lee & Patterson, and later under the name of the Beaver Coal & Coke Company. He was one of the organizers of the Penn Coal Company. In 1883, again associated with Mr. Crawford and other capitalists, he purchased the Neshannock furnace property at New Castle, which was later operated under the corporate name of the Crawford Iron & Steel Company, and which had a capacity of 70,000 tons of Bessemer pig iron yearly. Again, as one of a party of capitalists, in 1885-6, he built the plant of the New Castle Wire Nail Company, and organized the company which later enlarged the business and constructed one of the largest wire rod mills in the United States, known as the New Castle Steel Company. Following this development was the organization of the Shenango Valley Steel Company, which erected a Bessemer steel plant having a capacity of 1,000 tons per day having taken over the furnace of the Crawford Iron & Steel Company and also the blast furnace of Raney & Berger. Then came the erection of a tin plate bar mill, and in turn a tin plate plant of thirty mills, which to this time is the largest single tin plate plant in the world.
The wire nail mill and wire rod mill we're also taken over by the Shenango Valley Steel Company, thus giving a continuous chain from the iron ore to the finished product of tin plate, wire and wire nails. This series of conversions created for Mr. Patterson a strong position in the trade—second to none—and gave to New Castle much prominence in the iron and steel circles of the United States. Finally all the properties were merged into what is now the United States Steel Corporation.
This rapid growth in manufacturing plants of large tonnage created an urgent necessity for a hospital, and in 1894 Mr. Patterson was instrumental in founding the Shenango Valley Hospital, a 100-bed institution, having every modern facility for attending the injured and sick; and be continued'to give this institution his daily personal attention as its president until his death.
Mr. Patterson continued the operation of the two banks in which he was interested until 1880, after which he gave his attention to building up the Lawrence County Bank, and with such success that he made it the third institution of its kind as to recognized stability and assets in the United States. This was a remarkable achievement, accomplished in a comparatively short period of time, and it placed him among the leading financiers of the country.
Mr. Patterson was one of the organizers of the Beaver Valley Railroad, which was the first railroad to enter New Castle. The founder and promoter of many of the greatest industries of this section of the State, Mr. Patterson was essentially a business man of high capabilities, and his faculties remained unimpaired until his death at the advanced age of eight-one years. But while keen and progressive in the pursuit of business, Mr. Patterson possessed the foresight and saving caution which prevented any chance of disaster, carrying on his large operation in the conservative manner that preserved the stability of the institutions over which he had control in the face of panics which swept competitors from the field. Personally he was a man of high aims and unblemished character.
On January 6, 1852, William Patterson was married, first, to Anna M. Mills, who died in March, 1863, leaving two daughters and son: Mary L., Anna M., and Rufus C. The elder daughter, Mary L., married Edward King, who is president of the National Bank of Lawrence County and also president and treasurer of the Pennsylvania Engineering Works.
On January 17, 1866, Mr. Patterson married for his second wife Harriet E. Woodward, whose father, Solomon Woodward, was a leading citizen of Taunton, Mass. They had three children: Julia H., William Lee, and George Lewis. Both Rufus C. and George L. Patterson are officially connected with the National Bank of Lawrence County. Mrs. Patterson survives her husband and resides at Kingston, N. Y.
20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
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