USA > South Carolina > Biographical sketches of the bench and bar of South Carolina, vol. II > Part 35
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That was one of the vexed questions which very much divided the Bench and Bar; one of the Judges, who, after 1836, sat in the Court of Appeals in Equity, said to Mr. Pat- terson, " the case of Stallings vs. Foreman will be reversed." He replied, “ if it is, the good sense of the case will never be re- versed." The Act of 1839, (11 Stat. 62,) affirmed the rule of Stallings vs. Foreman, and established certain guards to pre- vent possible loss.
In Calhoun vs. Calhoun, (Rich. Eq. cases, 36,) his argu- ment was also a fine one; it has not been preserved, but the opinion very much embodies his legal argument.
His argument before the Court of Errors in Kottman and wife, vs. Ayer, reported, (Ist Strob., 559-569,) is a specimen of his legal reasoning.
As a legislator, he was faithful and untiring: being always at his post, he acquired that knowledge of parliamentary rules which enabled him so long to preside over the Senate.
As a citizen, husband, father and master, the proceedings of the citizens of Barnwell, 5th July, 1854, after his death, give the highest and best testimonial of his worth. They were his neighbors, and knew him carly and late. Their proceedings, speeches and resolutions, are hereto annexed.
Happening not only to know Mr. Patterson as a lawyer and legislator, but also as a man, it cannot be amiss that I should add my good word, and say that he was plain and artless as a child, sincere and devoted as a friend, firm and resolute in every duty, affectionate and trusting as a husband and father, and, as a master, kind, but insisting on and enforcing obedi- ence. Take him all in all, we shall seldom find one so hum- ble in his pretensions, yet deserving so much ; so afflicted
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and yet so patient ; so prosperous and happy in his affairs and domestic relations, and yet making so little show; so much honored, and yet demanding so little observance.
He was a good and virtuous man ; his life of 64 years was spent for good and valuable purposes ; he has left to his posterity that most valuable of all inheritances, the " Recor- datio actœ vitæ bene est jucundissima."
TRIBUTE OF RESPECT.
The following were the proceedings of a meeting of the Barnwell Bar, held on the 5th of July, 1854, in relation to the death of the Hon. Angus Patterson.
The Hon. S. W. Trotti was called to the chair, and John A. Bellinger appointed Secretary.
After explaining the object of the meeting, the Chairman spoke as follows :
It is the humble privilege of the living to recall the virtues of the dead, and hold them up for our own, and the encour- agement of others; and it is a noble impulse of the heart which prompts us to strew, the grave of departed friends with the cypress and the willow. Time after time have we been assembled in this hall to pay our last tribute of respect to some professional brother, struck down in the pursuit of his profes- sion, full of promise and full of hope. But to-day we feel as children gathered around the grave of an honored parent. Angus Patterson, whose loss we all so much deplore, might well have been called the Father of the Barnwell Bar. Many of us studied law in his office, and under his direction, and none of us can remember the time when he was not a promi- nent member of the profession. Here, at this place, and a this Bar, more than forty years ago, he commenced that pro- fessional career, which, after many trials and struggles, led to fame and fortune. Mr. Patterson, like almost all men who have ever risen to eminence, placed but little reliance upor what is called genius. Integrity, strict attention to business, and constant mental application, were the steps by which he attained success. Mr. Patterson was a native of North Caro-
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lina, but emigrated to this State at an early age, and studied law while engaged in teaching a school. Admitted to the Bar, he established himself in this place, and by the strength of his mind and the integrity of his character, gradually ac- quired an extensive practice. Nor let it be supposed that there was any lack of talent at the Bar at that period, for there were then "giants in the land." The late Chancellor Harper, then a distinguished practicing lawyer, frequently at- tended this Court, as did also the late Judge Colcock. Edmund Bacon, whose brilliancy might well have entitled him to the appellation of the Murat of the profession, likewise practiced at this Court. And the Hon. James L. Pettigru, to whom, with one accord, has been assigned the position of head of the profession in South Carolina, and who, as a lawyer, has no superior in the Union, and the late Judge Wm. D. Martin, a name that we "would not willingly let die," were constant attendants at the Barnwell Court. And these were the intel- lectual giants with which Mr. Patterson had to measure strength ; and not one of them ever encountered him in legal argument, that did not find in him " a foeman worthy of his steel ;" and yet Mr. Patterson was neither a fluent nor a hand- some speaker ; but he was more, he was a profound thinker and reasoner. He spoke not so much to please the fancy as to convince the understanding, and whenever he spoke there was sure to be one man in the Court-House whose attention was entirely and altogether engaged, and that was the Judge himself. He would grapple the most difficult questions, and solve them with the accuracy of mathematical demonstration.
His efforts in the Court of Appeals, more especially on the Equity side of that Court, are among the ablest that have ever been made before that body.
Mr. Patterson's high position at the Bar, and his stern integrity, made it desirable to the people of the District that he should represent them in the Legislature; and for over thirty years consecutively, he represented the people of Barn- well District, first in the House of Representatives, and then in the Senate, of which latter body he was, for a number of
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years, President, until his failing health rendered it necessary for him to decline a re-election to the Senate. Such fidelity on the part of the representative, and such entire and contin- ued confidence on the part of his constituents, is, perhaps, without a parallel in the legislative history of South Carolina. His district not only confided in him, but was proud of him, and he repaid her confidence with the love and affection of a son.
It was during his service in the Senate that the great Nul- lification contest of 1832 occurred; and he was one of the counsellors whose wisdom and firmness conducted our ship of State in safety through that dark and stormy period.
In his intercourse with the members of the profession, Mr. Patterson was extremely kind and courteous, and all yielded to him the most unbounded deference and respect, and which was the more readily yielded on account of his gentle, modest and unostentatious bearing. As was very properly said of him, a few days ago, by a member of this Bar, Mr. Patterson, in his palmiest days, when professional fame and fortune had crowned his efforts with success, exhibited the same modesty and unpresuming manner as when a young man, struggling for the means of support. For several years past, the declin- ing health of Mr. Patterson admonished us all that his earthly career was drawing to a close. He was, himself, fully aware of the fact. By the advice of friends and physician, he sev- eral times tried a change of climate, hoping that that might benefit his health, but it was all of no avail; and Providence kindly permitted that when the messenger of death did come, he should find him at home, and prepared for the summons ; and here, at home, surrounded by every member of his fam- ily, who eagerly sought to do for him everything that affection could suggest or contribute, he left this world in peace with all men, and in peace with his God.
I have thus briefly alluded to some of the incidents con- nected with the life and character of Mr. Patterson, which will be readily recognized by others. As to my own private relations with the deceased, I may not be permitted to speak. I will not unveil the friendship which was extended
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to me by him from my earliest entrance on the threshold of manhood up to the last hours of his existence : of this it is proper that I should say nothing.
" But I'll remember thee, Glencairn, And all thou hast done for me."
Colonel W. A. Owens then rose, and made the following remarks :
Mr. Chairman,-The cause of our assembling, which you have announued in such appropriate terms, is truly one of mournful interest. Death has again obtruded himself in our midst, and borne away one on whom we were all accustomed to look with veneration and respect, and who was connected with most of us by the tenderest ties. As a man, as a pre- ceptor, and as the Father of our Bar, Mr. Patterson had uni- ted in himself the warmest regard, not only of his professional brethren, but all with whom, in social life or political pursuits, he came in contact; and in meeting, as we do, to pay the last tribute of respect to one so regarded, it is gratuitous to say we perform not a mere empty ceremony. His life and character are eminently suggestive ; and now, when the grave has closed upon him, we feel that we can find much profit and interest in the inquiry as to how he filled up the measure of his days. He was the son of Alexander and Elizabeth Patterson, who were of Scotch extraction, and were natives of North Caro- lina, where he was born, in the County of Robeson, on the 5th day of December, 1790. From various teachers in that State he received a good academical education, of which, to a respectable extent, the ancient classics formed a part. At this early period in life he manifested that quiet earnestness and laborious zeal which were ever his distinguishing character- istics. Desiring to complete his education, and being unable to obtain adequate means in his own State, he came to South Carolina, in 1808, and obtained a school near Patterson's Bridge, in Colleton District. While engaged in teaching, he devoted all his leisure time to the improvement of his own mind. Soon after this, having determined to embrace the profession of the law, he accepted an invitation from the late
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Johnson Hagood, Esq., of this District, who was a member of the Bar, to become a private tutor in his family. His preparation for the Bar was completed under the direction of the late Judge Richardson, in Charleston, who was, at that time, the Attorney General of the State.
In May, 1813, he was admitted to the Bar, and, Mr. Hagood having died, Mr. Patterson settled in Barnwell, and succeeded to most of his business. Since that period, his name and fortunes have been identified with nearly every matter of interest connected with his adopted district. His success, from his first entrance into the law, was rapid and permanent; and for forty years suffered no abatement. Without aspiring to the higher powers of an advocate, he had within him an earnestness and perspicuity often more successful than that attained by the most brilliant parts. He was always at his post, prepared for the professional conflicts in which he engaged; and being keenly alive to the interest of his clients, it is questioned whether any member of the Bar of the State enjoyed, for so long a period, such uninterrupted success. Mr. Patterson's judgment in all matters on which he professed to be informed, was of the highest order; and his powers of discrimination in the departments of the law and of politics, were such as would, to one more pretending, have secured a far wider fame. But from the time he passed the threshold of manhood, until he passed away, upon all occasions, and under all circumstances, he was accompanied by a modesty and an unaffected simplicity of character, that elevated to an inappreciable degree his worth, to those who knew him intimately. He would have much preferred the imputation of ignorance than that of arrogance.
He rose by the strength of his own merits, and fought the battle of life with a calm determination that never flagged. In 1818, he was elected a Representative from this district, which office he held for four years, and was then transferred by his constituents to the Senate, where he remained for twenty-eight consecutive years; the last twelve of which he was the presiding officer of that body. The fact, that for thirty-two years he maintained the confidence of his fellow-
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citizens in these high positions, and never once sustained a defeat, when it is added, that, during the period, our State passed through some of the severest struggles that she has ever known, is, in itself, a sufficient eulogy. His constituents always felt, that their political bark was safe, while his hand was at the helm. His position was obtained and kept with- out other exertion on his part, than the performance of duty; he never trimmed his sails to catch the popular gale, but rested his claims on the merits of his acts.
As President of thé Senate of South Carolina, as chairman of many of the most important committees in that body, he received the highest respect and regard of those over whom he presided, and with whom he was associated. Their con- fidence ever rose in proportion as their knowledge of him ex- tended; having commenced by regarding as a compeer and an officer, they soon learned to venerate and love. He was impartial, able, dignified and just; and the even tenor that marked his official course, is the highest evidence of his fit- ness for the elevation he enjoyed. He entered the Legislature known to but few; he left it, after a connection of a third of a century, possessed of its highest honors, and without an enemy.
But it was in his domestic relations that Mr. Patterson's excellence shone with a peculiar lustre. In the sequestered walks of life, parallels may frequently be found to that which is claimed for him in this regard; but rare, indeed, are exam- ples to be met such as he afforded when accompanied by conflicts, in which to triumph, taxes and absorbs the best en- ergies of our nature. He was simple as a child, confiding as a woman, and the word of unkindness to his household never passed his lips. In his home, all his affections were garnered up, and even in his dying hour, shed a sweet fragrance around him. Under a somewhat cold and reserved exterior, the fire of feeling burnt intensely. All his struggles for position and fortune, both of which he obtained in an eminent degree, were more for his, than himself, and his chief delight in suc- cess was, as the sharer of the joys of others. In the decline which set in upon him, and which was protracted to an
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unusual severity, he bore himself with all "the native hue resolution," which had accompanied him through life. His patience, resignation, and calm fortitude failed him not in his dying hour; and as he sank to his last slumber, surrounded by those he had lived to bless with honors and with fortune, he could not but be solaced with the reflection, that he had done his duty well.
He came to our district a poor, unfriended stranger; he lived to become the most distinguished and wealthy citizen she possessed, and died in a home only unhappy because he had left it. I move you for the adoption of the following resolutions:
Resolved, That, in the death of the Hon. Angus Patterson, the State has sustained the loss of one of her most distin- guished and patriotic citizens, who, in every station he was called on to fill, discharged his duty with a zeal, ability and fidelity, that endeared him to the hearts of all with whom he was associated.
Resolved, That our district recognizes in the deceased not only a faithful and tried public servant, but a citizen who was closely identified with, and who constituted much to advance all her varied and increasing interests; and who, as her Re- presentative and Senator for more than thirty years, never faltered in the discharge of his duty, and in whom her con- fidence was never shaken.
Resolved, That as the senior member of our Bar, and a bright ornament to our profession, he was eminently entitled to our highest regard and veneration; and while we are una- ble to recall all the acts of kindness which we have received at his hands, we are equally unable to bring to our minds one act of unkindness that he ever did.
Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with his afflicted family in their sad bereavement, and tender to them the only consolation that we can offer, in an earnest recognition of the great deprivation they have sustained.
Resolved, That, as a manifestation of our regard for the de- ceased, the members of this Bar will wear the usual badge or mourning for thirty days.
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Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be communi- cated, by the secretary of this meeting, to the family of the deceased.
Col. A. P. Aldrich arose to second the resolution, and said,
" Mr. Chairman, as I hold the oldest commission at this Bar, perhaps it will not be considered obtrusive or inappro- priate, if I offer a few remarks on this mournful occasion. My relations with Mr. Patterson while living, do not preclude me from paying a tribute of respect to his memory, now that he is dead.
" This has been a season of trial and affliction to our small community. If death has not entered into each family, he hath so cast his darts, that the sympathies and affections of us all have been aroused ; not one of us but feels that he has had cause to mourn. The death of Mr. Patterson has been expected-his brethren at the Bar have for many Courts missed his venerable form in its accustomed place, and we have long known that he would never again raise his voice in this hall. When last he was here, his emaciated form and his sunken voice, were sure tokens that his race was run, that he had fought his last battle, tried his last cause, and now that he is dead, it is fit that we pay appropriate honors to his memory.
" The history of Mr. Patterson is full of profitable instruc- tion. I do not propose to enter at large into a narrative of his life ; it is sufficient for my purpose to say, that he was not blessed by nature either with the graces that become an ora- tor, or the ready delivery of an accomplished advocate ; but he had that which overcame all difficulties : he had the will to succeed, and the industry to accomplish. Hence, by labo- rious preparation, we find him gradually rising, step by step, until he established himself as the leader of the Bar, which post he kept undisputed until disease drove him from the field of his labors. And this is no small praise, when we remember that such men as Martin, Elmore, Preston and McDuffie, contended on the same field where he won his highest honors. The sound logic of Martin and Elmore, and the brilliant eloquence of Preston and McDuffie, never de-
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terred Patterson from pressing with earnest zeal the cause that was committed to his care. He won the confidence and affec- tion of his fellow-citizens, and retained to his death the respect of the Bench and the Bar. It is true, he did not attain the highest honors of the profession, so far as office was con- cerned, but his rewards were ample. For years he was re- turned to the Senate of the State without opposition, and he presided over that body for a longer period than any other who has preceded him. In his illness and death, he illus- trated his life. For long weary months he bore the pains of disease with the patience and fortitude which had been taught him in the struggles of life ; his mind was made up to meet death, and when death came, he received him with the calm philosophy of one who perfectly understood and justly comprehended, the ordeal through which he had to pass. He had prepared to meet his God, and, to use his own language, ' he went out as a flickering candle.'
" My brethren of the Bar, this death speaks to us in strong, very strong language. You who are just commencing your professional career, are admonished not to be deterred by diffi- culties ; patient industry, earnest effort, will overcome them all. When you feel disheartened and your spirits flag, re- member, that your old leader, by determined will, conquered as great, if not greater, opposition, than that which now ob- structs your path. He rose to eminence and to opulence. Labor as he did, work as he did, and eminence and opulence await you in the distance. Be not disheartened : the true, brave heart, will conquer ere it die. All of us are admonished to live as he lived ; be modest, be faithful, and let us all try so to live, that when we come to die, we may pass from time to eternity, with the hope of a glorious immortality.
" I second the Resolutions."
At the conclusion of Col. Aldrich's remarks, the resolu- tions were unanimously adopted.
On motion of I. M. Hutson, Esq., it was
Resolved, That the Chairman of this meeting present the above resolutions to the presiding Judge of the Court of Com- mon Pleas, at the next term, with the request, in behalf of
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the Barnwell Bar, that they be entered on the minutes of the Court ; and that they also be presented to the presiding Chan- cellor at the next term of the Court of Equity, with the request that they be also entered on the minutes of that Court.
Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be published in the Barnwell Sentinel, with the request that the Charleston and Columbia papers publish the same.
On motion, the meeting then adjourned.
HON. S. W. TROTTI, Chairman. J. A. BELLINGER, Secretary.
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THOMAS WILLIAMS.
Colonel Thomas Williams was born in Williamsburg Dis- trict, on the Sth of June, 1789, and from that time to the 25th of August, 1858, sixty-nine years, he remarked, in a letter to the author : "During the whole of this time, God, in his merciful Providence, has blessed me with the most remarka- ble health, never having had but one attack of fever in my life, and that was in 1815."
He studied law in the office of William Grant, Esq., of Georgetown. Matthew Irving Keith, late of Charleston, was one of his fellow-students. Of him he said, in his letter to me : " A more noble man never lived-no man ever sustain- ed loss by his friendship. He was my near and dear friend. May God grant protection to his family left behind."
Colonel Williams says: "I am the last out of nine young men, who read law at the same time " in Mr. Grant's office.
He was admitted to the Bar in Charleston, January, 1811, as he informed me by his letter, but his name does not appear on the roll of attorneys furnished to me by my excellent and obliging friend, Daniel Horlbeck, Esq.
Colonel Williams' modesty has prevented him from fur- nishing to me a full autobiography, as I hoped he would have done. I know, from reputation, he settled at Lancaster, and there practiced law. When he lived there, Lancas- ter possessed many bold, and, some very, ungovernable spirits. Among them Colonel Williams was forced to bear his part, which he did with that strong arm and bold spirit with which he was endowed by nature.
In the same way, I have been informed, he was induced by his friend, Judge Smith, to leave Lancaster, and settle at York, where he lived and practiced law in that and the adjoin- ing Districts of Union, Chester and Lancaster, with eminent and signal success, until his removal in 1835.
I first saw Colonel Williams at Union Court-House, at an
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extra term of the Court, held by Judge Johnson, in August, 1818 ; and there I first had the pleasure of hearing one of his forensic efforts. He then seemed to me to be worthy of the position which he long held in our Courts, as one of our ablest jury lawyers. I did not then attend Union Court. I was merely passing as a traveler to the Pacolett Springs.
In 1820, I became a regularly practicing lawyer at Union Court, and often had occasion to test the powers of Colonel Williams, and I always found him a prompt and ready lawyer, prepared to bear his part, whether in guerilla or regular warfare.
Colonel Williams came into the House of Representatives in the General Assembly, in 1820. He was a Member until 1834, and nobly sustained his patron and friend, Judge Smith, in all the storms and difficulties of Nullification. When early friends deserted the brave old man, he uniformly found his friend Williams by his side.
In December, 1830, Colonel Williams ran for the office of a Circuit Law Judge, and was only defeated by a single vote, by that admirable Judge, William D. Martin .. In 1831, I think, he attended, as a delegate from York, with Judge Smith, the great Philadelphia Anti-Tariff Convention. That it ended in nothing was no fault of him or his colleague.
There were master spirits at work to bring about the unfor- tunate estrangement of South Carolina from the Union, and for more than a quarter of a century we have felt its fatal effects, and are now just recovering.
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