Born on September 3, 1831, in Clinton County, Pennsylvania, to parents Robert Patterson and Eleanor Bowers, John Patterson was raised in Seneca County, Ohio, where his parents had moved when he was two years old.
From 1854 to September 1856, when he passed the bar exam, Patterson read law with the Pennington & Lee firm in Tiffin.
In June 1857, Patterson moved to Charles City, Iowa, where he established his own law firm.
[1] Patterson died on October 29, 1878, in a construction trailer derailment on the Milwaukee Road, twelve miles west of Spencer, Iowa.
[1] The town that is now Hull, Iowa, was originally named Pattersonville, to commemorate John G.