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The Pattersons of Pleasant View
This undated photo, found in a trunk of old photos along with its gilded frame (in quite good shape!) depicts the Pattersons in front of their farmhouse in Pleasant View (Spruce Hill Township), Pennsylvania. From the left, we have young John J. Patterson, his brother Thomas Patterson, Grace Patterson (my g-g-grandmother), John L. Patterson (my g-g-g-grandfather), and Ellie Stoneroad Patterson (my g-g-g-grandmother). John J. was born in 1879 and looks no older than ten years old, and Thomas died in 1890 at the age of 13, leading me to place this photo at around 1889. The house still stands today along Route 75.
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JL Patterson, farmer
My great great great grandfather, John Lyon Patterson, wife of Ellie Stoneroad, lived on a farm in Pleasant View, Pennsylvania. His stone farmhouse stands today, along present-day Route 75 in Spruce Hill Township, Juniata County, not far at all from where I grew up. My family, or at least many parts of it, hasn’t moved far in well over a century. Grace Patterson Henry, JL’s daughter and my great great grandmother, assembled and saved many items and papers from both her mother’s and father’s families, and she’s the reason I have this amazing collection today. Among the items saved are those pointing to JL’s farming background. I found one of these items…
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A presidential tomb
The 29th president of the United States, Warren G. Harding, died on August 2, 1923, before completing his first term. He was beloved at the time of his death, since his official corruption and incompetence were not yet widely known . That knowledge would come later, cementing his legacy as among the worst presidents of all time. Following his untimely passing, a movement sprung up to construct a memorial to Harding in his hometown of Marion, Ohio, whose hometown newspaper he ran before embarking on a political career. Marion’s Harding Memorial, a ring of white marble columns encircling an open courtyard with the graves of Warren G. and his wife, Florence, was completed…
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Continental traveler
A yellowed but intact envelope from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Highways was marked, in big, loopy, penciled writing, “Important Don’t Destroy.” Inside was a very important looking document indeed–a title for a 1922 Buick sedan, registered to John J. and Beulah Patterson of East Waterford, Pennsylvania. It’s dated 11-24-23. JJ Patterson was the brother of Grace Patterson Henry, my great great grandmother. JJ and his wife, Beulah Pannebaker Patterson, had no children and lived in a beautiful, rambling house in East Waterford that became the home of his nephew, my great grandfather John Patterson Henry, and wife Margaret Adam Henry, my great grandmother. The Pannebakers and the Pattersons were East Waterford business…