Robert J. Patterson (1809–1884) was a former slave and a restaurateur in Saint John, New Brunswick.
[1] He escaped slavery in 1842 and made his way north first to New York and then to Boston, where he lived for ten years.
[1] As the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made life increasingly dangerous for African Americans living in northern states, in 1852 Patterson decided to leave the country, relocating to the British colony of New Brunswick.
[1] Patterson was a member of the group that in 1856 organized the first "Emancipation Ceremonies", an annual commemoration of 1833's Slavery Abolition Act.
[2] Around 1859 he opened an oyster bar which would become the Empire Dining Saloon, one of the most popular restaurants in Saint John.