Hon. George W Patton Biography - Livingston County Illinois Genealogy & History

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Hon. George W Patton
Biography
Livingston County, Illinois

(Transcribed by: Teri Moncelle Colglazier)

At the present time it is seldom that one wins prominence in several lines. It is the tendency of the age to devote one's entire energies to a special line, continually working upward and concentrating his efforts toward accomplishing a desired end ; yet in the case of Judge Patton it is demonstrated that an exalted position may be reached in more than one line of action. He is an eminent jurist, an able judge and a leader in political circles. For several years he was successfully engaged in the practice of law in Pontiac, and is now serving as judge of the eleventh judicial circuit.
The Judge is a native of Pennsylvania, and during his infancy was brought to Woodford county, Illinois, in 1851, by his parents, Samuel R. and Jane (Haines) Patton, who were also natives of the Keystone state. His paternal grandfather was Rev. James Patton, and his great-grandfather, Rev. John Patton. both of whom achieved some local celebrity as Baptist ministers in western Pennsylvania, the latter having been pastor of the church at Smithfield, Fayette county, for thirty consecutive years, as the inscription on his monument, erected by his church, still attests. Judge Patton's maternal grandparents were John and Margaret (Anderson) Haines, farming people of western Pennsylvania. The latter was a daughter of James Anderson, a native of Ireland, who carried a musket for six years in General Washington's army during the Revolutionary war. During their entire residence in this state the parents of Judge Patton made their home in Woodford county, where the mother died in 1873, the father in 1886. He was a Democrat in politics, a successful farmer, a man of great industry, indomitable will and strong common sense, while the mother was a woman of keen wit, remarkable memory and forceful intellect.
Reared on the home farm in Woodford county, Judge Patton attended the common schools of the neighborhood until twenty years of age, and then took a three years' course at Normal, Illinois, completing the same in 1871. During the following two years he taught school in Secor and El Paso, Woodford county, and with the money thus earned he commenced the study of law with Hay, Green & Littler at Springfield, Illinois, and was admitted to the bar in 1873, being a member of the same class as W. J. Calhoun, ex-Senator T. C. Kerrick and George Torrance. Subsequently he again taught school and engaged in other pursuits until 1881, following farming for three years to regain his health. In 1881 he commenced the practice of law at Fairbury, this county, and two years later located in Pontiac, where he formed a partnership with C. C. Strawn, which was dissolved in 1888. After that time he was alone and succeeded in building up a large and lucrative practice. On the 7th of June, 1897, he was elected one of the judges of the eleventh judicial circuit, composed of Livingston, Woodford, Ford, McLean and Logan counties, and is now most creditably filling that office. His mind is analytical, logical and inductive. With a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the fundamental principles of law, he combines a familiarity with statutory law and a sober, clear judgment, which makes him not only a formidable adversary in legal combat, but has given him the distinction of being one of the ablest jurists in this section of the state.
Although reared in a Democratic atmosphere. Judge Patton has never voted that ticket, but is a stanch Republican. He was a member of the state central committee of his party from 1894 to 1896. He was made a Mason at Fairbury, and is now a member of Pontiac lodge. No. 294, F. & A.M.; Fairbury chapter. R. A. M.; Chenoa council. R. & S. M.; and St. Paul commandery, K. T., of Fairbury. He also belongs to the Odd Fellows lodge and encampment, and both he and his wife are members of the Pontiac Methodist Episcopal church, in which he is serving as an officer. The Judge was married, September 20, 1877, to Miss Flo Cook, daughter of James and Lucinda Cook, of Fairbury, and they now have two children, Marie and Proctor.
[The Biographical Record of Livingston County Illinois - Chicago - The S. J. Clarke Publishing, Company (1900)]

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