History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests / compiled from the official records of the county, the newspapers and data of personal interviews, under the editorial supervision of Thaddeus D. Seeley.

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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

in Oakland county. Mr. Patterson is general counsel for the Pontiac.
Oxford and Northern Railroad Company, to which position he succeeded Judge A. C. Baldwin, deceased, in 1901, and he is a director and
also attorney for the First Commercial Bank, one of the strongest financial institutions in the county, as well as being identified in similar
capacities with many another leading business house in Pontiac and
Oakland county.
In I889 Mr. Patterson was united in marriage with Miss Ella Stanton, the daughter of L. W. Stanton, at one time sheriff of the county
and for a quarter of a century a prominent citizen of Pontiac. He died
in I899. Mrs. Patterson was born in Oxford, Oakland county. Three
children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Patterson: Donald S., Clarence
K. and Marion, all living in Pontiac at this time. Mr. Patterson is a
Democrat of strength and conviction and has always given his efforts
in the interests of that party. He is identified fraternally with the
Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and
the Masonic lodge.
JAMES H. LYNCH
James H. Lynch, member of the firm of Perry & Lynch, one of the
leading law firms of Oakland county, was born March 12, 1859, in Goshen,
Orange county, New York; where his parents, Thomas and Mary
(Markey) Lynch, natives of Ireland, had settled when they arrived in
the United States in about I855. When he was eight years of age his
parents moved to Commerce, Oakland county, where the father engaged
in farming and where the parents passed the remainder of their lives,
and there James H. Lynch attended the district schools of Commerce
township. Ile worked on the farm between school seasons, and for a
time taught in the country schools of his district. Later he attended the
high school at Pontiac, from which he was graduated in 1884, after
which he began the study of law in the offices of Aaron Perry and
Arthur R. Tripp. So well did he utilize the time devoted to his studies
and so apt were his preceptors in the law, that in September, I886, the
young man was admitted to the bar, and on January I, 1887, he entered
upon the active practice of his profession, in which he has ever been
prosperous and prominent. In November of the sme year in which he
was admitted to the bar Mr. Lynch was elected circuit court commissioner on the Democratic ticket and reelected in I888 and 1890, and was
appointed to the office of city attorney for the years 1898 and 1899.
Mr. Lynch is an orator of high reputation and ability, and officiated
as presiding officer of the ceremonies attending the laying of the cornerstone of the new Oakland county courthouse, on August 30, 1894. His
address as president of the day was a masterly effort, and a brief portion is culled from his speech and here offered as a fair sample of his
style and sentiment, lack of space forbidding the using of the entire
speech: "Some people who reason lightly and without a full consideration of the subject, express surprise at and speculate as to why it is
that the lawyer will defend men whom the world at large and the community in general have branded as guilty. But the principle of the law