Rufus Lenoir Patterson was born on this day in 1830, in Caldwell County, to Samuel Finley and Phebe Caroline Jones Patterson.
His father was a wealthy planter and a prominent politician. He was the North Carolina state treasurer and the president of the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad Company.
Rufus grew up at the family plantation and in Raleigh. He attended the Raleigh Academy and the school of Reverend T. S. W. Mott in Caldwell County. He attended the University of North Carolina and graduated in 1851, then he studied law under John A. Gilmer.
Rufus married Marie Louise Morehead in 1852. She was the daughter of Governor John M. Morehead, and the mother of their five children. She died in 1862.
In 1864 Rufus married Mary E. Fries, daughter of Francis Fries, and they had six sons.
Shortly after his first marriage, he moved to Greensboro and studied banking under his wife’s uncle, Jesse H. Lindsay. He went into business for himself, owning and managing a cotton, flour and paper mill in Salem.
He served as chairman of the Forsyth County court from 1855 to 1860, and as mayor of Salem for several years. In 1861 he was a delegate to the North Carolina Constitutional Convention, and voted for and signed the state’s ordinance of secession.
After his first wife died, he sold his Salem mills and returned to Caldwell County. He managed his father’s cotton factory until it was burned by Union troops in 1865.
Rufus did not serve in the Civil War, but was exempted because of his contribution as an owner and manager of a factory that manufactured clothing material for the Army. He received an honorary military title, and was referred to as Colonel Patterson.
After the war he returned to Salem and went into business with Henry W. Fries, and owned several cotton and paper mills and a general merchandising firm.
Rufus was elected a trustee of his alma mater, and he contributed funds to help repair the school buildings and reopen the university after the war.
Rufus passed away in 1879.
Photo courtesy of Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection.
