Our subject was thirteen years old when they crossed the plains with ox teams, it being then 1848, and he mined and drove stage in California, making two good fortunes. After that, he engaged in the livery business. Burning out on that, he turned his attention to mining in Nevada, Idaho and Montana. He made frequent trips to Oregon with stock and in 1867 he drove stage from The Dalles to Boise City. In 1875 he drove stage from The Dalles to Canyon City. About this time, he filed on a homestead in Rail Hollow and after five years sold it and took railroad land nearby. Abandoning this, he came to his present place which Mrs. Patterson bought. He was then broken in health and suffered much. Mr. Patterson had served in the Rogue River and other Indian wars of the fifties and participated in the Kern Creek Indian struggle at which place he received a hernia as the result of heavy lifting. From this, after a short illness, his death occured on March 18, 1901.

In February of 1874 Mr. Patterson married Miss Jane Hurst, who was born in Linn County, Oregon on March 17, 1857. Her father, James Hurst, was a native of Kentucky[sic] and his ancestors were born in Virginia and England and were early pioneers to Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri. He married Malinda Davis, a native of Illinois[sic], whose father was born in Germany[sic]. They crossed the plains with Ox teams and in 1851 settled in Linn County on a donation claim and now live on Ten Mile Creek near the free bridge in Wasco County. Mr. Patterson had three brothers, George, Daniel and William and one sister, Mrs. Carrie Zekehouse.

Mrs. Patterson has the following named brothers and sisters -- Benjamin, Marion, James, William, Uriah (Jack), Mrs. Susie Gray, Mrs. Emily Love, Mrs. Malissa Evans, Mrs. Sina Brown, Mrs. Nancy Brown, Minerva and Mrs. Millie Boles[sic].

He was an active lawyer of The Dalles for more than 50 years and followed the teaching position for some 15 years, which made a total of 65 working years. 50 years is a long time for any person to follow any profession in this physical world. He had passed his 83rd birthday before he left us. 

Additionally, he was school clerk at The Dalles for 7 years and a member of the school board for 10 years; from 1920 to 1948 he was President of the Wasco Bar Association.

He married Lillie Jane Gray, daughter of William and Martha (Sullivan) Gray of Illinois and their children were:

1. Celia Gavin…The Dalles attorney, associated with her father since 1917 when she pleaded her first case for the freedom of Joe McClennan charged with burglary in a barn near Kaskelo. She was Dalles city attorney for years and a member of the State Relief Authority and attorney for the State Land Board. Her father had an excellent library of Dalles City Directories, which Miss Gavin made available for the writer of "A History of Wasco County,"  and she is always interested in The Dalles history.

2. Grace Gavin (Mrs. Donald Lewis) of The Dalles, whose son Donald Gavin Lewis married Gena Saunders and they have Scott and Stephan Lewis; John Thomas Lewis of The Dalles is her second son.

3. John Gray Gavin, died 1923.

Webmaster's note:  If anyone knows any of the living descendants from this family, please contact me, or have the descendants do so directly. I would like to know what has become of the old City Directories mentioned in the bio, and more about the GRAY family mentioned. Thank you.