HON. THOMAS L. PATTERSOX. One of the distinguished, yet unassuming members of the Oakland county bar, Hon. Thomas L. Patterson is noted as one of the oldest and most successful attorneys of Holly, his position as a man and a lawyer eminently entitling him to representation in this biographical volume. A son of James Patterson , he was born March 22, 1836, at Clarkson , Monroe county , New York, coming from thrifty Scotch - Irish stock.

James Patterson was a native of Pennsylvania, his birth having occurred in Rock Bottom valley, York county, not far from Gettysburg. He was of Revolutionary ancestry, his father, James Patterson, Sr. , having served , it is said , in the Revolutionary war. As a young man he learned the trade of a blacksmith , but after his marriage removed to Monroe county, New York, where he was for a time engaged in business as a lumber manufacturer and dealer. In 1836 he migrated to Michigan, which was then a territory, and in 1839 took up a homestead claim in Oakland county, one mile north and half a mile west of what is now Holly. In 1857 the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad was constructed, passing through much land which he owned, including the present site of the village of Holly , in which he immediately took up his residence. Becoming very active in public matters, he served in many offices of trust and responsibility. He was a member of the first state legislature that convened in Lansing, being one of the five chosen to represent Oakland county in that deliberative body, and for many years served as justice of the peace, an office which he was filling at the time of his death , which occurred in 1865 , at the age of sixty-nine years.

The maiden name of the wife of James Patterson was Elizabeth Patton. She was born in Rock Bottom valley, York county, Pennsylvania, and died in Holly , Michigan, at the age of sixty-nine years. Nine children were born of their union , as follows : James C. , a successful merchant, spent the closing days of his long life in Holly, Michigan, passing away in the ninety-first year of his age; Andrew J., a farmer , died in Romeo, Michigan, in 1908 ; Simeon B., who served in the Civil war as sergeant in Company C, Eighth Michigan Cavalry, and was afterwards engaged in agricultural pursuits, died in Holly, aged fifty - six years ; William F. , also a farmer, died at Caro, Michigan , at the age of sixty-four years; Sarah S., who married William G. Sherwood, died in Rose township, Oakland county, Michigan, at the advanced age of eighty nine years; Eliza J., wife of Harrison Smith, died in Detroit, at the age of eighty-two years; Theresa, wife of Oscar Holmes, of Holly, passed away at the age of three score and ten years; Silvane, who married James W. Keath, died in middle life ; and Thomas L .; the subject of this sketch, and the only survivor of the parental household.

A lad of ten years when he joined his parents in Michigan , Thomas L. Patterson continued his early studies in the old slab school house, his first instructor having been David A. Elliott, who died in Greenville, Michigan, in 1910 , at a venerable age. Returning to New York in 1851 , he was graduated in 1855, from what was then the Brockport Collegiate Institute, but is now a normal school. He read law sometime in New York, and after his return to Michigan was admitted, in 1863, to the bar. Prior to that time, however, he had taught one or more terms in the Patterson school building, which replaced the old slab school house of his earlier days, and also in the village of Holly. Mr. Patterson ap plied himself diligently to his profession, and through his legal ability and knowledge has achieved a splendid success as a lawyer. In 1884 he was elected judge or probate for Oakland county, a position which he held for sixteen consecutive years, a period of great importance in the history of the county. Previous to his election as judge he had been engaged in the practice of law with the late James K. Patterson, who was prosecuting attorney from 1874 until 1879. During the Civil war Mr. Patterson raised the full quota of troops required from his township, while his father, who was then serving as supervisor, also assisted in raising troops in the county.

Although not a strong partisan, Mr. Patterson uniformly supports the principles of the Democratic party, and has filled various local offices most acceptably, for seventeen years having been supervisor. Frater nally he belongs to the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, in which he has taken the Knights Templar degrees. Mr. Patterson married, in 1865, Eunice A. Hadley, who was born in Rose township, Oakland county, Michigan, a daughter of John and Eunice Hadley. She passed to the life beyond, in Holly, August 5, 1902. Mr. Patterson married for his second wife, in 1904, Alice I. Allen, who was born in Holly, Michigan, a daughter of Ira Allen, who came to Oakland county in 1836 , and a granddaughter of Jonathan T. Allen, a native of New Jersey, who migrated to Michigan in territorial days. Mr. Patterson has three sons, namely: John H., an attorney at Pontiac, William F. and Stuart D. William F. Patterson, the second child , who completed his early studies at the university of Michigan, which he attended two years, is now engaged in general farming and stock feeding on the old Patterson homestead. He married Florence Donovan, who was born in Holly, and they are the parents of three sons, Donovan , Sam and Stuart. Stuart Patterson, the youngest son, also engaged in agricultural pursuits, married Etta Addis, and they have two daughters, Gladys and Margaret.