Author: Patterson, Stephen
Biography:
PATTERSON, Stephen (1812-53: WBIS)
He was born in Ireland, the son of a Presbyterian working-class couple, Robert and Marjory Patterson, who emigrated in 1821 and settled in New York. In 1826, when he and his father were both labouring on a ropewalk, his intelligence and eloquence attracted the attention of his Sunday School teachers and some professional men who together guaranteed funding to buy him out of his apprenticeship and give him an education. He first attended Bristol College in Pennsylvania, which combined study with manual work; when it folded, he transferred to New York University. On graduation, he delivered the commencement address. He served as a tutor to a wealthy family in Virginia in order to fund further study for ministry in the Episcopal church, and was ordained in Brooklyn in 1842. His first post was as curate and assistant to one of his early mentors, the Rev. Evan Johnson (who wrote a very touching memoir about him for Sprague); ultimately he was appointed Rector of Christ Church in Vicksburg MS. He died in an outbreak of yellow fever after attending the sickbeds of both the Roman Catholic and the Presbyterian ministers, and is buried in Vicksburg. (Sprague 5:789-98)