Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/235

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PASKO


PATERSON


18S7, and took his seat, Dec. 5, 1887, his term ex- piring March .3, 1893, when he was appointed by Governor Henry L. Mitchell to fill the office ad interim. When the legislature met in April, he was renominated by acclamation and un- animously re-elected for the term expiring March 3, 1899. Being again appointed to fill the office ad interim by Governor William D. Bloxham, he served until the election of James Piper Taliaferro by the legislature, April 19, 1899. In the 53rd congress he was chairman of the committee on claims. On June 10, 1899, he was appointed a member of the Isthmian Canal commission.

PASKO, Wesley Washington, typographist, was born in Waterloo, N.Y., Jan. 4, 1840 ; son of Jeremiah and Martha (Van Osdol) Probasco and a descendant of colonial families of New York. He did not adopt the surname of Pasko until after 1872. He was graduated at the public school of Waterloo, was employed in a cotton and woolen factory until 1855, when he entered a printing office in Utica, N.Y., and in 1859 went to the office of the New York Tribune, removing to Charleston, S.C, in 1860. He was arrested as an abolitionist by the vigilance committee, and on failure to prove the charge he was ordered to leave the city. He was married. Oct. 21, I860, to Elizabeth Tlieresa Jarret. He published a paper in Trumansburg, N.Y., 1860-61, and returned to tlie Tribune in 1861. He enlisted in the 16th N.Y. Heavy Artillery, and served in the army under Gen. B. F. Butler, He returned to New York at the close of the war and served on the editorial staff of newspapers both in Albany and Troy. He was an editor in the department of public instruction, assisted in codifying the N.Y. school laws in 1867, and on his return to New York city in 1868, edited the Albion and subse- quently a newspaper in Lancaster, N.H., again returning to New York to engage in the printing business. He was literary advisor for a Cin- cinnati publishing house, 1879-83, and in 1883 established the New York Typothetee, being made its secretary and librarian in 1885. He invented the Pasko Press in 1886, capable of producing 60,000 impressions of small financial and stock exchange bulletins in one hour. He is the editor of : Memvho Advertise (1868) ; Old Neio York (1870) ; author of : Biorjraplncal History of Indiana (1881) ; History of Butler County. Ohio, (1883) ; ^4. Dictionary of Printing and Book Mak- ing slthI History of Printing in Neic York from its Beginning to the Present Time. He died in New York city, Dec. 15. 1897.

PATERSON, John, patriot, was born in Farm- ington. Conn., in 1774; son of Maj. John and Ruth (Bird) Paterson. His paternal grandfather, a native of Dumfriesshire, Scotland, emigrated to America during the latter part of the seventeenth


century. His father, Maj. John Paterson, an officer in the British army, served in the French and Indian wars, was with Wolfe at Quebec and died at Havana, Cuba, Sept. 5, 1763. Gen. John Paterson was graduated from Yale in 1702, taught scliool, and studied and practised law. He was justice of the peace of Farraington and was married, June 2, 1766, to Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph and Hannah (Warren) Lee. In 1774 he removed to Lenox, Berkshire county, Mass., and the same year was elected clerk of the propriety of Lenox, selectman and assessor. He was a member of the Berkshire convention held at Stockbridge, Mass., in 1774 and was a repre- sentative in the 1st and 2d provincial congresses at Salem and Cambridge respectively. He or- ganized the Stockbridge Indians for military ser- vice and raised a regiment known as the 15th foot in the Continental service, of which he be- came colonel. It marched to Boston the third day after the battle of Lexington and threw up the first redoubt along the lines around Boston, which placed the city in a state of siege by blockading the highways. During the battle of Bunker Hill he held Fort No. 3, Prospect Hill, Charlestown Heights, and engaged in the de- fence of Lechmere's Point, Nov. 9, 1775, for which he was complimented by Washington. He joined Arnold in Canada and took part in the battle of the Cedars near Montreal in June, 1776, where seventy-nine of his men were taken prisoners. He was engaged in the battles of Trenton and Princeton, N.J. ; promoted brigadier- general, Feb. 21, 1777 ; sent toTiconderoga, being present at the evacuation, July 5, 1777 ; fought at the battle of Hubbardton, Juh' 7-11, and was with General Gates at Saratoga in October, 1777. He was with Washington at Valley Forge, 1777-78, and participated in the battle at Monmouth, June 28, 1778. He was a member of the board that tried Major Andre ; was in command at W^est Point, 1780-81, and was commissioned major- general, Sept. 30, 1783, being with the exception of Lafayette the youngest of that rank in the Continental army. In December, 1783, he retired from the army and resumed his law practice in Lenox. Upon the outbreak of Shays's rebellion in 1785, he was appointed major-general of tlie state militia and commanded the Berkshire militia. For his services in this rebellion he was tendered the thanks of the legislature. He was one of the organizers of the Society of the Cin- cinnati, his name standing second on the list after General Washington. He removed to Tioga county, N.Y.. in 1791 ; was a member of the state assembly, 1792, 1793, 1798 and 1801 ; was chief justice of Tioga and Broome counties, 1798-1808, and was a representative from New York in the 8th congress, 1803-05. He received his master's