William Paterson (1658 - 1719)

Born 22 Jan 1658 in Tinwald, Dumfriesshire, Scotland

Ancestors

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Joe Ball [send private message]

Biography

William Paterson (1658-1719)

"William Paterson, born on a farm in Dumfrieshire, Scotland, in 1655, was descended from a respectable branch of the same family. He was driven from his native land in consequence of his sympathy for the persecuted covenanters, and, going into England, became an eminent merchant in London and in the West Indies. Among the great commercial and financial schemes with which he became identified was the Bank of England, of which he was the founder. He was a man of extensive enterprise, and a voluminous writer on mercantile subjects. In his obituary notice (1719) he was styled "the great calculator". Among the earliest of the name known to have settled in Ireland were John, James, and Robert Paterson. The former removed from Argyleshire and took up his abode in the parish of Priestland, town of Glenlace, County Antim, about one hundred years (1618) before the coming of his great-grandsons to America."^[1]

Sir William Paterson (April 1658 - 22 January 1719) was a Scottish trader and banker. He was one of the founders of the Bank of England and was one of the main proponents of the catastrophic Darien scheme. Later he became an advocate of Union with England.

Sources

1. ↑ Saco Valley Settlements and Families

• Wikipedia: William_Paterson_(banker)
• Vanderpoel, Emily Noyes. Chronicles of A Pioneer School, from 1792 to 1833 (University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1903) Page 3-4.

• Saco Valley Settlements and Families ( J. M. Marshall, Portland Me.: Dresser, McLellan & Co., 1895. Pages 1092-1093 of 1250)