William Patterson

William Patterson (1752–1835) was a businessman, a gun-runner during the American Revolution, and a founder of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. His many business dealings included shipping, banking, and the Baltimore Water Company. Early life and career Patterson was born in 1752 in Fanad, County Donegal, Ireland. He moved to Philadelphia as a penniless fourteen-year-old and set about making his fortune through grim determination and risk-taking. By making connections with older businessmen and merchants, he was able to buy two shares in ships transporting guns from Europe to the Americas. Patterson went along on the voyage. When the ships docked in the West Indies, he left the ship and saw a golden opportunity to roll his money into being a middleman by investing in warehouses where goods were stored before being shipped north to America. He returned to the United States and settled in Baltimore, which at the time was a quickly growing city with many opportunities in trade and business, thanks to its harbor and Mid-Atlantic location. He married into the respectable Spear-Smith family and build a grand townhouse on South Street next to his counting house. Once settled into his business, the risk-taking that had formed his youth mellowed, and he became a cautious, conservative businessman. He was a founder of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. He was also a founder of the Merchants Exchange, the first president of the Bank of Maryland, and a founder of the Canton Company, a business established in 1828 by Patterson and Peter Cooper, most remembered for inventing and manufacturing the Tom Thumb steam locomotive. He was reputed to be the second-wealthiest man in Maryland, after Charles Carroll of Carrollton. He was a slave owner who owned several plantations and country estates in the Baltimore area, along with buildings and lots within the city, and branches of his business that reached all the way to the European continent.