George Washington PATTERSON, Congress, NY (1799-1879)

PATTERSON, George Washington, (brother of William Patterson and uncle of Augustus Frank), a Representative from New York; born in Londonderry, Rockingham County, N.H., November 11, 1799; completed preparatory studies, and was graduated from Pinkerton Academy; moved to New York and settled in Genesee County in 1818; engaged in the manufacture of fanning mills; settled in Leicester, N.Y., in 1825 and engaged in agricultural pursuits and the manufacture of farming implements; commissioner of highways of Leicester; justice of the peace; member of the State assembly 1832, 1833, and 1835-1840, and served as speaker in 1839 and 1840; basin commissioner at Albany in 1839 and 1840; moved to Westfield, N.Y., in 1841 to take charge of the Chautauqua land office; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1846; elected Lieutenant Governor of New York in 1848; chairman of the harbor commission at New York 1855-1857; quarantine commissioner of the port of New York in 1859; supervisor and president of the board of education for many years; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1856 and 1860; elected as a Republican to the Forty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1877-March 3, 1879); was not a candidate for renomination in 1878; died in Westfield, Chautauqua County, N.Y., October 15, 1879; interment in Westfield Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present