Samuel F. Patterson

Born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, Patterson went to live with his uncle in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in 1811. He married Phoebe Caroline Jones, a granddaughter of William Lenoir, in 1824. The two would live much of their life together at her family home, "Palmyra," in Caldwell County, a county which he helped persuade the state legislature to create in 1841. He and his wife had several children, including politicians Rufus Lenoir (1830–1879) and Samuel Legerwood Patterson (1850–1918), who served as North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture.

Patterson had a lifelong interest in politics. At the age of 22, he won the position of engrossing clerk of the North Carolina House of Commons. He later became clerk of the North Carolina Senate, and, from 1835 to 1837, he served as state treasurer. Even though Patterson was a Whig, he was elected treasurer by a majority-Democratic state legislature. While serving as treasurer, he also served as president of the state bank.

Patterson served as chair of the Caldwell County court; as a member of the House of Commons (1854); and as a state senator (1846, 1848, and 1864). In 1866, he served as a delegate to the second session of the state's constitutional convention. Other offices Patterson held included president of the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad, clerk of the Superior Court, justice of the peace, Indian commissioner, trustee of the University of North Carolina, and various positions with the Masons.

• Origin of Patterson School
• Inventory of the Jones and Patterson Family Papers
• North Carolina Manual of 1913