My Genealogy Hound

COL. WILLIAM K. PATTERSON, an influential farmer of Rutherford County, Tenn., and a native of this State, was born October 22, 1823. He is the son of Hugh K. and Cynthia (Murray) Patterson, both natives of North Carolina. The father was one of the early settlers of Sumner County, Tenn., coming here in 1800 and engaging in farming and milling, conducting the latter business for sixty-five years. He was a Democrat in politics, of the old Andrew Jackson type; himself and family are members of the Presbyterian church, and in 1872, at the unusual age of ninety-two he passed from this earth. The mother died in 1866. Our subject was reared on the farm and secured a good education, attending the Wirt College of Sumner County; at the early age of seventeen he commenced teaching school and studying law in Sumner County. He studied law for eight years, and in 1853 removed to Arkansas where he purchased a farm and commenced the practice of his profession. He was soon afterward appointed presiding judge of the cavalry court of Arkansas, under Gen. Kirby Smith, with the rank of colonel, remaining as such until the close of the war, when he resumed the practice of law. In 1876 he removed to Tennessee, purchasing the farm on which he now resides; and has since been engaged successfully in farming and stock raising, having 600 acres of excellent land. On November 27, 1849, he was united in marriage to Miss S. J. Ridley, a native of this State and a daughter of Moses Ridley, a prominent farmer of this county, whose sketch appears in this volume. To Mr. and Mrs. Patterson were born four children, only two of whom are living: Thomas R., deceased; Mary J., deceased; William K. and Ella M. Col. Patterson is a Democrat in politics, a member of the Masons (a Knight Templar), and I. O. O. F. and himself and family are leading members of the Presbyterian Church. native of the city, and only son of Gen. Joseph B. Palmer, was born September 20, 1853. Episcopal Church South, and he is known as an active and rising attorney, a reliable citizen and justly popular official of the city and county.