John Nelson Pattison (1838–1905) was a concert pianist and composer of popular sheet music in New York and surrounding areas during the late 19th century.

[3] Pattison was born on 22 October 1838, in Erie County, New York, the third of eight children in a Methodist family of Scotch-Irish farmers.

[1] Pattison was one of the only musicians or composers who published their own material during the late 19th century explosion in sheet music sales.

Pattison's sheet-music compositions often have a speedy and fantastical quality, and many have French titles, often naïvely rendered.

Politicians and doctors looked on as he demonstrated that he could soothe a number of different “maniacs” with familiar music from their lands of origin.

His first wife, Florence Camp, a 21-year-old contractor's daughter from Erie, Pennsylvania, left him after a year and returned home.