John Patton, Jr.

Who was John Patton, Jr.?

John Patton, Jr. was a U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan.

Patton, the son of John Patton and the brother of Charles Emory Patton, was born in Curwensville, Pennsylvania. He prepared for college at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts and graduated from Yale College, where he served on the third editorial board of The Yale Record and was a member of Skull and Bones in 1875,

After graduating from the law department of Columbia College, New York City, in 1877, he moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1878, was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced the practice of law.

He was appointed by the Governor of Michigan John T. Rich as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Francis B. Stockbridge and served from May 5, 1894, to January 14, 1895, when a successor was elected and qualified. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1895 to fill the vacancy, losing to Julius Caesar Burrows.

He was then a banker and a member and later president of the Board of Library Commissioners of Grand Rapids.

He died in Grand Rapids and is interred in Oak Hill Cemetery there.