Halifax-Forsyth County NcArchives Biographies.....Patterson, John Legerwood 1874 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 February 23, 2008, 11:59 pm

Author: Leonard Wilson  (1916)

JOHN LEGERWOOD PATTERSON

ONE of the most conspicuous of North Carolina families during the last one
hundred years, whether measured by personal qualities or public service, is the
Patterson family, which comes of that strong Scotch stock which has contributed
so much to North Carolina. A present-day member of that family, who, though yet
a young man, has made a most eminent success in business, and who is a community
leader, is John Legewood Patterson, born at Winston-Salem, North Carolina,
November 23, 1874, son of Rufus Lenoir and Mary Elizabeth (Fries) Patterson. His
father, who will be referred to later, was one of the strong figures of his
generation. In business he was a cotton manufacturer and merchant. His mother
was the daughter of Francis Fries, who was a pioneer, manufacturer, merchant,
farmer and member of the Legislature. His three sons are manufacturers, bankers
and presidents of railroads. His mother's grandfather, J. C. W. Fries, was one
of the celebrated Moravian Colony, which settled at Salem in 1766, and was a
native of Saxony, Germany. In the paternal line, his father was a son of General
Samuel Finley Patterson, to be referred to later, and one of his
great-great-grandfathers was General William Lenoir, one of the most notable men
in Carolina history. An uncle of John L. Patterson, Samuel Legerwood Patterson,
the younger son of General Samuel Finley Patterson, is credited by Ashe in his
biographies as having contributed as much to the agricultural development of
North Carolina as any man in its history. It will be seen from this that John L.
Patterson is descended from a very strong family stock. He has lived up to the
traditions.

    Born in a town noted for its educational advantages, he went through the
Salem Boys' School, graduated in 1887, thence to the Winston Public School,
where he graduated in 1891, and thence to the University of North Carolina,
where he was graduated with honor in 1895. He entered upon his business career
as cotton manufacturer with the South-side Mills of Winston-Salem, where he
remained from 1895 to 1900, and then became Secretary and General Manager of
Rosemary Manufacturing Company, of Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, with which he
has been identified since 1901. This company is the largest manufacturer of
cotton table damask in the world. His career has been marked by ability and
integrity, which has resulted in pronounced business success without restricting
his activity in other directions. He is at present, or has been in the past,
Vice-President and Director of the First National Bank of Roanoke Rapids,
Director of the Rosemary Manufacturing Company, of which he is the Manager,
Director of the Roanoke Mills Company and of the Roanoke Rapids Bridge Company,
Chairman of the County Highway Commission, President of the County Good Roads
Association, President of the State Good Roads Association, Secretary of the
Board of Graded Schools Trustees, Town Commissioner, Treasurer and Trustee of
the Episcopal Church, affiliated with the various Masonic bodies, a member of
the American Cotton Manufacturers' Association, the National Cotton
Manufacturers' Association, the Academy of Political Sciences, the National
Geographic Society, the Luther Burbank Society, American Highway Association,
North Carolina Good Roads Association, Appalachian Highway Association and
American Automobile Association. The mere enumeration of this list is all the
evidence that one needs of the activities of this man in the direction of good
citizenship.

    If, by any miracle, we could multiply him a million times, we would greatly
contribute to the welfare and the progress of our country. While voting with the
Democrats in State politics, Mr. Patterson uses his own judgment about political
matters, and in national politics has voted both the Democratic and Republican
tickets. He has that independent spirit which, if more fully developed, would be
a great asset to our Southern States, where political bondage is not
infrequently in evidence.

    He was married in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 26, 1904, to Margaret Newman,
born in that city, April 2, 1875, daughter of Judge William Truslow and Frances
Alexander Newman. The children of this marriage are: Margaret Newman, Frances
Elizabeth, and John Legerwood Patterson, Jr.

    The mere multiplication of words would not add anything to the brief record
here presented. But something of the history of this remarkable family is worthy
of record. The stock is Scotch, originally descended from the clan Mac Aulay, of
which the Patterson family was a sept. The Gaelic form of the name was Mac
Pheidran or Mac Phedron. From this stock is descended seven distinct families in
Great Britain, having amongst them ten Coats of Arms. These families are given
as of Dalkeith, of Dunmure, of Stirling, of Ross, of Castle Huntly (Perthshire),
of Kinnettles (County Forfar) and of London. There are three Coats of Arms in
the Ross family and one in the Patterson-Wallace family, which makes the ten.

    Numerous branches of the family are found in America but the study of many
records justifies the belief that this particular Patterson family is descended
from the Pattersons of Dalkeith. Incidentally, it may be mentioned here that the
Scotch family of the name used one "t" only and the double "t" is an American or
English addition. Reasons for the belief that this family is descended from the
Pattersons of Dalkeith is found in the fact that they are credited with being
the progenitors of the Galloway and the Ayrshire Pattersons. These Galloway and
Ayrshire Pattersons were uncompromising Covenanters and got themselves into
trouble with the government, by reason of their frowardness in matters of
religion. Patterson of Balliurd and his Galloway associates took part in the
abortive uprising which ended so disastrously at Bothwell Brig, and it was that
expedition which gave rise to the old doggerel which runs:

    "The black and the brown gaed thro' the town,
     But Patterson's filly gaes foremost."

    Robert Patterson, said to have been the original of Sir Walter Scott's
world-renowned "Old Mortality," is said to have been an humble scion of this
race whose blood now mixes with the imperial Bonaparte family of France. In a
work entitled "Concerning the Forefathers," written by Charlotte Reeve Conover,
herself of Patterson blood, it gives what appears to be the most nearly
authentic account of the history of this branch of the family.

    John Patterson was born in 1640, and left southwest Scotland after the
downfall of the Covenanters and went to Londonderry, where he took part in the
famous siege of that town as one of its defenders. His son Robert was half grown
at the time of the siege, and John Patterson was at that time a man nearly
fifty. Robert grew to manhood and had a large family of children, ten in number,
six of whom emigrated to America. There were two separate sailings of the
family. Old John, then a man of eighty-three, came over about 1723 with his son
Robert, his wife Margaret and six children. They were in New London,
Connecticut, in 1728. The family decided to move farther south and stopped in
New Jersey where the old father, John, died at nearly ninety years of age.
Robert moved on into Pennsylvania, where he afterwards became known as Robert of
Lancaster, to distinguish him from other members of the family. He was probably
one of the organizers of Big Spring congregation in the western part of what is
now Cumberland County, in 1737, as his name appears as one of the elders. At the
time of his going into Pennsylvania the children of Robert and Margaret appear
to have been: John, aged thirteen (ancestor of the Shaker Pattersons); Mary,
eleven; Francis, of Bedford, aged nine, said to have been the father of Robert
who is credited with taking part in the battle of Lexington; William, seventeen;
Robert, fourteen, and Thomas, a baby. Eight of the children of Robert and
Margaret Patterson lived to become heads of families, some of them in
Pennsylvania, and three of his sons, John, Francis and William, were enrolled in
a company of troopers organized in York and Lancaster Counties to defend the
frontiers.

    William married a Virginia girl and moved to Berkeley County. He appears on
the list of Berkeley County soldiers in 1776, was a Justice of the Peace in that
County in 1778, and appears to have participated in the battle of King's
Mountain in 1780. Here there comes a break in the story, and it will be
remembered that Robert and Margaret had eight children and we do not know the
names of all of them.

    In 1758 Robert appears in Augusta County, Virginia, as a soldier in the old
French and Indian War. Twenty years later Samuel appears in the Revolutionary
War as a lieutenant in the Rockbridge militia, and thirty-five years later
Samuel Finley Patterson, then aged fifteen, went, at the invitation of his
uncle, to North Carolina and became the founder of the family with which we are
dealing. The actual line cannot be determined, but all the evidence points to
Samuel Finley having been the son of Samuel, who was the son of Robert, the son
of Robert, the son of John. The Scotch-Irish of the Valley of Virginia came in a
direct line from the Pennsylvania Counties, and it is a fair conclusion that
other members of William's family, attracted by the fertility of the country,
moved into the valley and went on farther up. Among these upper valley
Pattersons the names of Robert, William and Samuel seem to have been favorites.

    This story would be incomplete without a short summary of the work of this
family in North Carolina.

    The father, General Samuel Finley Patterson, was born in Rockbridge County,
Virginia, March 11, 1799. Under the advice of his uncle, Major John Finley, at
the age of fifteen he moved to Wilkesboro, North Carolina, where for the next
six years he was employed in the store of Waugh and Finley. At the age of
twenty-two he was elected engrossing clerk in the House of Commons, and
re-elected annually for fourteen years. In 1835 he was made chief clerk of the
Senate. In May, 1824, he married Phebe Caroline Jones, daughter of General
Edmund Jones, a granddaughter of General William Lenoir. This marriage brought
him into association and relationship with the leaders of the State. His main
occupation through life was that of farming, but in other business lines he was
successful and was known as a strong financier. He served two years as State
Treasurer, and was President of the first railroad completed in the State, the
Raleigh and Gaston Railroad. He had moved to Raleigh, but on the death of his
father-in-law, General Jones, he returned permanently to the Yadkin Valley.

    Largely through his instrumentality Caldwell County was created in 1841 out
of Burke and Wilkes. His home, "Palmyra," fell in the new County. He was elected
chairman of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, and held this position
until the abolition of the old system in 1868. He served two terms in the State
Senate as a representative of his County. In 1854 he was again in the
Legislature as a member of the House of Commons. In 1864 he was elected a third
time to the Senate. In 1865 he represented his County as a delegate to a
convention to bring about the reorganization of State affairs and readmission to
the Federal Union. In 1866 he was a delegate from North Carolina to the
Philadelphia Peace Convention. Between his first election as clerk in the
Legislature and the end of his public life, a period of fifty years, he was
constantly in the public service. Neglecting no public duty, he yet found time
to create a model farm at his place "Palmyra," and for many years was regarded
as an authority on all matters pertaining to agriculture. No one who was ever
permitted to visit his beautiful and attractive home during his lifetime will
forget the stately figure which gave his guests such a cordial welcome. He died
January 20, 1874, leaving two sons, Rufus Lenoir and Samuel Legerwood Patterson.

    The elder of these sons, Rufus Lenoir, was born June 22, 1830, at "Palmyra,"
in that part of the Upper Yadkin known as "Happy Valley." He entered the State
University in 1847, and graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in 1851. He won the
esteem of his fellow-students and of the faculty during his college course,
winning the chief-marshalship in 1850. His tastes run to business life.

    In 1852 he married Marie Louise, daughter of Governor J. M. Morehead. The
children of this marriage were Jesse Lindsay, a prominent lawyer of
Winston-Salem; Caroline Finley, wife of Judge A. L. Coble, of Statesville;
Letitia Walker, who became the wife of Frank H. Fries and died soon after, and
Louis Morehead, who died after an honorable course at the State University and
the University of Virginia. Mr. Patterson's first wife died in May, 1862. He was
chairman of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of Forsyth County for five
years, and was Mayor of Salem. After the death of his wife he became manager of
a cotton mill at Patterson on the Yadkin, which was burned by General Stoneman
in 1865. He had been exempted from military service because the Confederate
Congress decided that factory managers were more useful to the cause than
soldiers. His military title of colonel was an honorary one, as he was on
Governor Vance's staff. In 1864 he married Mary E. Fries, daughter of Francis
Fries. Of this marriage there were six children: Frank F., member of the staff
of the Baltimore "Sun;" Samuel F., cotton manufacturer of Roanoke Rapids, North
Carolina; Andrew H., professor of physics in the University of North Carolina;
Rufus L., manufacturer and capitalist of New York City; Edmund V., contractor
and real estate agent, Charlotte, and John L. Patterson, the principal subject
of this sketch.

    After the burning of his factory on the Yadkin, Colonel Patterson moved back
to Salem and entered the mercantile business with H. W. Fries, in which he
continued until his death in 1879. He was a strong advocate of internal
improvements, was a trustee of the University of North Carolina, and was very
active in measures looking to its reopening in 1875. He was an intimate personal
friend of Governor Zeb Vance, whose name is a household word in North Carolina.
His convictions led him to an alignment with the young Republican party in 1856,
but he took no part in the corrupt practices of that party in the late sixties,
and declined to allow his name to go before the Republican Convention of 1872 as
a nominee for office.

    Though reared an Episcopalian, after long residence in Salem he became a
member of the Moravian Church.

    Samuel Legerwood Patterson, the younger son of General Samuel Finley
Patterson, did his greatest and best work for the progress of North Carolina in
connection with the State Board of Agriculture. He was born March 6, 1850,
attended Faucettes' School, Bingham's and Wilson's Academy, entered the
University of North Carolina in 1867, where he remained one year, and then spent
one year at the University of Virginia. He later became a clerk and bookkeeper
in Salem for his older brother, Rufus.

    He married Miss Mary S. Senseman, of Salem, daughter of Rev. E. T. Senseman,
a Moravian minister of Indiana. He inherited his father's agricultural tastes,
and made farming his vocation. A Republican in politics, he was appointed a
Justice of the Peace by Democrats, and later elected County Commissioner in a
Democratic County. Under Democratic influence he was appointed Supervisor of the
Census of 1880. He supported Cleveland in 1884, and remained a Democrat
thereafter. In 1891 he was elected by the Democrats to the House of Commons from
Caldwell County. He also served a term in the State Senate. He was four times
elected and served four terms as Commissioner of Agriculture, being returned
each time by an increasing vote. The work he did in that department was the
foundation upon which his successors have built, until to-day North Carolina
ranks in agricultural matters as the most progressive State of the cotton belt.

    Lindsay Patterson, of Winston-Salem, son of R. L. Patterson by his first
marriage, brought some new Patterson blood into the State by his marriage to
Lucy, daughter of Colonel William Houston Patterson, of Philadelphia, who was a
son of Major General Robert Patterson, who was a lieutenant in the War of 1812,
a major general in the Mexican War, a major general in the Civil War and for
fifty years a foremost citizen of Philadelphia. This branch of the Patterson
family was founded by Francis, father of General Robert Patterson, who came from
Ireland to America nearly seventy years after John and Robert Patterson.

    The Fries family, of which John L. Patterson is descended in his maternal
life, is quite as notable in its way as the Pattersons. Francis Fries, his
grandfather, was a son of John Christian William Fries, who was born in Europe
in 1775, educated in the Moravian School at Niesky, came to North Carolina in
1809, and married Johanna Elizabeth Nissen. Of this marriage Francis Fries was a
son. The history of the Fries family is one of profound interest. In the middle
of the seventeenth century Sigismund Eberhard von Fries was a colonel in the
army and commandant of the city of Hoechet-am-Main. He married a Scotch woman,
Anna Hamilton. Of this marriage was born Heinrich Sigismund von Fries, who was a
lieutenant in the emperor's army and fell in the campaign against Hungary in
October, 1863. A posthumous son was born of his marriage to a daughter of Philip
Moritz von Erokebrecht. This son, Konrad von Fries, was born at
Frankfort-on-the-Main in March, 1684. His mother lost her property, and he was
compelled to apprentice himself to an apothecary in Erfurt, and according to the
customs of that time he dropped the "von" from his name, that being an evidence
of nobility, and the nobility resenting any of their members going into trade.
Konrad Fries settled at Montbeliard and married Judith von Scharfenstein,
daughter of a local goldsmith. He had a large family, and died in 1763 as Mayor
of his town. The youngest of his seven sons was Peter Konrad Fries, born on
November 1, 1720. He decided to study theology, graduated at Strasburg with a
degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1741, became a Lutheran pastor and was thrown
in contact with Count Zinzendorf and his Moravians, who in those days called
themselves United Fratrum, which is still the legal name of the church. He
became very intimate with Zinzendorf, allied himself with the organization of
which the Count was the head, and did a great work for the church, in which he
rose to eminence.

    Of his two sons, Jacob Fredrich, a very learned man, became a professor of
mathematics and logic at the University of Jena, and Johann Christian Wilhelm
came to North Carolina. He left two sons and a daughter. He was of good
influence in North Carolina, having his full share of what may be called
Moravian conscience. This Moravian church is the most remarkable of all
Protestant church bodies. It has won the distinction of being the most
successful in its missionary work, and is unique in the fact that it is the only
Christian organization which has more members in its foreign work than it has in
the home church. Its educational work has everywhere been superb, and membership
in the organization is more the nature of a certificate of character than it is
in any other Christian church, for the Moravians do not stand for slackness.
They are good people, so good in fact that their excellent qualities seem to be
transmitted unimpaired from generation to generation.

    Enough has been written here, even though briefly, to illustrate the quality
of the subject of this sketch. The strongest trait in the character of this
family seems to be public spirit. The men have been energetic, thrifty, capable
in everything that they have undertaken, but they have always duly subordinated
their private interests to the public service when a call was made. It is due to
these men, and others like them, that North Carolina has made such a splendid
record in the history of the nation, and as long as such men remain a
controlling force the State may be expected to continue in the line of progress,
and of a healthy, material and moral development.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

MAKERS OF AMERICA
BIOGRAPHIES OF LEADING MEN OF THOUGHT AND ACTION

THE MEN WHO CONSTITUTE THE BONE AND SINEW OF AMERICAN PROSPERITY AND LIFE

VOLUME II

By
LEONARD WILSON,
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

ASSISTED BY PROMINENT HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WRITERS
Illustrated with many full page engravings
B. F. JOHNSON, INC.
CITY OF WASHINGTON, U. S. A.
1916

Copyright, 1916
by
B. F. Johnson, Inc.

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