The subject of this sketch was born August 1, 1829, being seventh son and fourteenth child of Joseph E. Patton, of Buncombe County, North Carolina, a farmer and stock-raiser. His mother was a Miss Orr, of South Carolina. William went to a neighborhood school until fifteen years of age, and at eighteen went to Lafayette Academy, Walker County, Georgia, where he remained two years. In 1853 he went into the mercantile business in Georgia, and continued in it until 1860. In that year he opened out in Chattanooga, and in 1862 joined the Confederate army, continuing in service until the close. After the war Mr. Patton farmed in Walker County, Georgia, for two years, after which he re-entered the mercantile business at Lafayette. In the fall of 1868 he re-opened at Ringold, Ga., continued in business until 1874, then moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he followed the mercantile business until 1879, when he moved to Vinita, Indian Territory, and there embarked in stock-raising and agriculture. Soon afterwards Mr. Patton opened a large mercantile establishment in the same place, which he is now conducting. In May 1862, he married Miss Jane Davis, daughter of Martin Davis, a Georgian planter. Mrs. Patton’s mother was the daughter of the well-known Colonel Sam Tate, of Cherokee County, Georgia. Mrs. Patton is one-fourth Cherokee. They have three children, Pauline (now Mrs. Ed. Halsell), Julia (now Mrs. Dr. Fite, of Muskogee), and Evelyn. Mrs. Patton is a lady of refinement and education. She has for many years assisted her husband in business, acting as his bookkeeper. Mr. Patton is a man of fine intellectual appearance, is a good business man, and well known for his many charitable actions. Mr. Patton carries a stock of general merchandise amounting to $15,000, while there is a drug store in another department of the building. He owns four stone and brick store buildings in the town, and a storehouse at Catoosa carrying $7,000 worth of merchandise. Mr. Patton is the possessor of some twenty lots in Vinita, and eight or ten residences which are rented out, besides 200 head of mules, 600 of cattle, and 1,000 acres of land in cultivation.
