A native of Somerville, Alabama, Patterson moved to Memphis with his parents in 1872. Educated at Christian Brothers College and Vanderbilt University, he was admitted to the bar in 1883. From 1894 to 1900 he served as attorney-general for Shelby County. A three-term congressman from the old Tenth District, he was the state's third governor from West Tennessee, serving two terms (1907-11), and was from 1923 until 1934 judge of Division I of the Circuit Court of Memphis.
Submitted from the Shelby County Register's Office.