Thomas Jefferson Patten Jr was born 25 February 1856 in Provo UT to his parents, Thomas Jefferson Patten Sr and Joanna Hollister. He was a well built man of five feet eleven inches in stature. He was just 7 years old when his family moved onto the Provo Bench (now known as Orem) being the first family to live there. He learned early in life the secret of good farming and horticulture. He loved budding, grafting and pruning trees and in the developing of new varieties of fruit. He also learned and loved the to study the honey bee and later in life he kept from 40-60 hives. He attended BYU and studied the carpentry trade and later in life, he helped in the construction of the majority of the building on the Provo Bench as well as many in Provo. He worked for months on the Timpanogos church house and ward amusement hall donating most of his time and means to the project. To his advantage in this trade, he had an excellent sense of balance and was an asset to him in his construction work. In his time, most of the churches had steeples and lofty roof pitches which were at dizzying heights but these never bothered Thomas. Rather, it was a source of joy and satisfaction for him to be at such great heights. He often said, the higher he could climb, the more beautiful the view and the fresher the air.
He married Clara Isabella Billings 1 Nov 1883 in Manti Temple, UT. They met during the time they were both attending BYU. He was studying carpentry and was also doing finishing work on the Manti Temple as a carpenter with his folks. She was studying to be a school teacher and taught in Sterling and Manti.
In his honey bee raising, he loved to tell his children about the habits of the honey bee and how far they might go to gather honey and why they would swarm in the summer. Once or twice in a summer, he would extract honey and he would light his bee bellows and puff smoke into the hive, making the bees drowsy so he could easily extract the honey.
He never wasted time, if he sat down for 10 minutes, he was studying some fine book. He was a faithful Latter-day saint and taught his children. He searched the scriptures and knew them well.
He filled a 2 year mission (1910-1912) in the northwestern states; which he enjoyed very much. He loved to teach the gospel.
He loved his home and beautified it with lovely shade trees, which stand today a living monument to him. He loved to explore the country and often took a load of fruit and headed for some distant part of the state, selling the fruit as he went and when the load was gone, he traveled on just to see the country. He loved the mountains and every fall made several trips to their summits for kindling.
He loved to fish and raised them in a large pond on his property. He liked to study their habits and ways.
He kept a flock of dryland geese which he would catch several times a summer and pick the down which would later be used for bedding. He also kept herds of turkeys. They took satisfaction in their fine jersey dairy cows which helped out the family budget greatly. His team of horses were always slick and fat, but that wasn't difficult with a large barn full of hay and the bin of oats near by.
He died 23 April 1917 in his home in Orem, UT.