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Patterson, Rev. Ephraim, M.A., R.D.,
Stratford, the subject of this sketch, was born in 1826, in the
neighbourhood of Perth, County of Lanark, then a portion of the old
Bathurst district. His father. George Patterson, was native of the town of
Perth, Scotland. He came to Canada in 1814 with his regiment, the 37th
Regiment Foot, and took part in the struggle then going on with the United
States. Before coming to Canada, he served with his regiment in the
Peninsular war. With his wife Ann Marigold, a native of the city of
Worcester, England, he settled at Perth, Ont., in 1816, when the site of
that town was a forest. Our subject was educated at the Perth Grammer
School, where he passed through a full classical and mathematical course
of study. From 1845 to 1849 he studied theology at the Diocesan
Theological College, Cobourg, then under the management of Rev. Dr.
Bethune, late Bishop of Toronto. While pursuing his studies at that
institution, he gained on one occasion the "Kent Testimonial" prize for a
theological essay, and stood first amongst the candidates for deacons'
orders in the examination help at Cobourg, in 1849. He was ordained to the
diaconate by Bishop Strachan in 1849, and was appointed curate of Cobourg,
and classical tutor to the second division of theological students. In
1850 he was advanced to the priesthood, and appointed missionary at
Portsmouth and Wolfe Island, in the County of Frontenac. In 1851 he
removed to Stratford, having been appointed pastor of St. James' Church in
that town, the incumbency of which he has held from that time to the
present, a period of thirty-four years. He received the appointment of
rural dean of the County of Perth, from Bishop Hellmuth. Having passed the
B.A. examination at Trinity College, Toronto, he was admitted to that
degree, and subsequently received the degreee of M.A. from that
University. In 1857 he took a prominent part in the controversy that arose
between the friends of Dr. Cronyn and Dr. Bethune, in relation to the
election to the first bishopric of the Huron Diocese, and in this
controversy he exhibited a singularly effective and sound style of
argument. For many years he was chairman of the Perth County Board of
Grammer School Trustees, and of the County Board of Public Instruction for
the granting of teachers certificates of qualification. He was also
repeatedly appointed by the county council as local superintendent of
schools for several townships in the county, and public school inspector
for the town of Stratford, by the Board of Education. The latter position
he resigned in 1872, owing to the increasing pressure of parochial work.
In 1852 he was married to Jane Wauchope, youngest daughter of Donald
Mackenzie, Esq., formerly of Ottawa. Mr. Patterson is a devoted churchman
and a tireless worker, and is gifted with very able intellectual parts.
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