He was an Anglo-Irish, Scotch immigrant, a self-made man, who became a wealthy merchant and Baltimore philanthropist.  When he immigrated to the United States he brought with him only his Scotch-Irish blood and a strong work ethic.  Our high school is named after him - as is Baltimore's oldest park.

William Patterson was born in 1752 in County Donegal, Ireland.  His parents were of English and Scotch descent who settled in Ireland in the mid-1700's.  He left Ireland at a very young age, 17, and first went to Philadelphia and later to Baltimore.  After he settled in Baltimore and began to amass his fortune, he married Dorcas Spear and fathered 13 children.

His famous daughter, Elizabeth "Betsy" Patterson, was born on February 6, 1785 in Baltimore.  She was known for her great beauty and was called "the Belle of Baltimore."  Her unusual portrait (painted by Gilbert Stuart in 1804), showing a frontal view and two profile views, still hangs in the Maryland Historical Society Museum on Monument Street.  She met the dashing French officer, "Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, Konig von Westphalen" at the races in Baltimore and soon afterwards married him.  The marriage was performed by Bishop John Carroll, brother of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, signer of the Declaration of Independence.  Her wedding dress was so flimsy that one of the guests declared that it would fit in his pocket.  Wearing risque, almost transparent gowns was the fashion of France but in Ante Bellum - Catholic Baltimore her attire was considered scandalous and outside the standards of respectable Baltimore Society.  At a dinner party in Washington she enchanted and shocked society there by her dress and her sarcastic wit: ..."she charms by her eyes and slays by her tongue," one observer said.  William Patterson was not amused by his daughter's sharp tongue and was opposed to her marriage to Bonaparte, obviously to no avail.  Betsy Patterson, putting propriety aside, would continue to dress (throughout her life in Baltimore and Europe), in a bold and unconventional manner. 

The "Bonapartes" had one son, Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, who was born in 1805, two years after the "Louisiana Purchase", which occurred in 1803.  The Bonaparte family, with one exception, approved the marriage.  That one exception was the head of the family, about to declare himself,  "Emperor of France."  He refused to recognize the marriage and eventually had it annulled.  Jerome would later marry a German princess, Princess Catherine of Wurttemburg. 

Betsy Patterson, remained in her mind, the "Duchess of Baltimore" until her death. She died at the age of 94 in 1897 and was buried in Greenmount Cemetery.  Madame Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte spent many years in denial and continued to long for a European lifestyle of opulence, "position", and overindulgence.  She could never quite acclimate to the absence of titled nobility in her life in Baltimore -- which she referred to as "my Baltimore obscurity."  And although she lived in her father's house, William Patterson, one of the weathiest men in America, she often wrote to friends in Europe complaining that she was "poverty stricken."  There was always some conflict between Betsy and her father because of Betsy's temperament and what William Patterson referred to as her constant disobedience and embarassing behaviors.  At times she was quite the bohemian rebel.  At other times she was "the Duchess", ungrateful and condescending.  She remained a well known figure in Baltimore and was often seen wearing a black velvet bonnet, carrying a red umbrella - her signature attire.

Her son, Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte the younger, remained in Baltimore and was well received by Baltimore Society. He married a weathy Baltimore heiress, Susan May Williams, and had two sons. They lived in Baltimore, in a large house, at the corner of Park Avenue and Centre Street.  Betsy Patterson's response to her son's marriage was: ..."I would rather die than marry any one in Baltimore, but if my son does not feel as I do upon this subject, of course he is quite at liberty to act as he likes best."

Prior to the War Between the States, he was elected Chairman of the exclusive Maryland Club.  The Maryland Club was comprised of Baltimore's oldest and weathiest families, who identified with - through blood lines, culture and history, the coastal Southern aristocracy.  Many members of the Maryland Club would see their sons, brothers, and cousins cross the Potomac, in 1860-61, to serve in various Maryland Confederate units, most notably the 1st. Maryland Regiment, C.S.A., the "famous" 1st. Maryland Cavalry, C.S.A., 1st. Maryland Infantry, C.S.A., Baltimore Light Artillery, C.S.A., and the 13th Virginia Regiment which included an entire company made up of Baltimoreans.

In 1804, President Thomas Jefferson said that William Patterson was probably the richest man in the United States, second only to Charles Carroll of Carrollton.  Patterson had become an owner of a line of clipper ships which became a great irritant to the British Navy.  The fast clipper ships, carrying munitions, gun powder, food and supplies to the Patriot army, could not be out sailed or stopped by the heavy British warships.  Along with his importing-exporting business, he also helped to establish the Baltimore and Ohio railroad and invested much of his fortune into real estate in and around Baltimore City.  His wealth, his possessions, were solely the fruits of his own labor.  In his own words,  "frugality and merit are the only sure and certain roads to respect and consequence."

The Patterson Mansion was located in the Waverly area of North Baltimore.  "Coldstream" consisted of the mansion house and 56 acres.  When Patterson died in 1835 he left the mansion house and property to his son, Joseph.  Most of the Pattersons are buried here at the family grave site.  "Betsy" Patterson chose to be buried in Greenmount Cemetery (perhaps a final message to her father?) in Baltimore, the resting place of many of Baltimore's most historic figures including:  John Wilkes Booth, his sister Asia and the entire Booth family,  Gen. Arnold Elzey, CSA, Maryland,  Johns Hopkins,  Reverdy Johnson,  Col. Charles Marshall, CSA, Md., Aide de Camp to General Robert E. Lee,  General George H. Steuart, CSA, Md.,  Enoch Pratt,  Henry Walters,  etc.

In her final memoirs,  Betsy Patterson wrote: ..."I lived alone...and I shall lie alone."

...Please see part 2,  "William Patterson Park"  

Christopher Newman                 March 2, 2011