Class of 1888

Birth: Sep. 9, 1871, Mount Pleasant, Cabarrus County, North Carolina, USA
Death: Feb. 16, 1941, Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, USA

Parents:
George Washington Blackwelder (1846 – 1926)
Amy Selina Lippard Blackwelder (1839 – 1933)

Spouse:
Rev. Robert Leonidas Patterson (1871 – 1944)

Siblings:
Mary Ann Cress Petrea (1861 – 1951)*
Leah Jeanette Blackwelder Fisher (1870 – 1965)
* Half Sibling

Burial:
Greenlawn Cemetery
China Grove, Rowan County, North Carolina, USA

Source: www.findagrave.com, # 171113688.

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Abstracts of the Lutheran Visitor, Dec. 22, 1898 – Oct. 31, 1902, http://www.genealogytrails.com/scar/lutheran_visitor/1898-1902_2.htm

Miss Virginia A. Blackwelder married Rev. Robert L. Patterson of Union Bridge MD on (No date given) in Holy Trinity E. L. Church at Mt. Pleasant NC officiated by Rev. B. S. Brown assisted by Rev. J. D. Shirey, Lutheran Visitor 1/17/1895, page 8.

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The Charlotte News (Charlotte, NC), 17 Feb 1941, 7.

Patterson Rites Set
Prominent Charlotte Religious Leader Dies

Funeral services for Mrs. Virginia A. Patterson, 69, prominent Charlotte religious and educational worker and wife of Dr. Robert L. Patterson of 508 Pecan Avenue, will be held tomorrow afternoon at 3 o’clock at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. Mrs. Patterson died yesterday afternoon in a local hospital after an illness of two weeks.

The Rev. Olin Sink, pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, will conduct the services and burial will be in the family plot at China Grove.

A native of Rowan County, Mrs. Patterson was a daughter of the late George W. and Amy Lippard Blackwelder. She was graduated in 1891 from the Mount Amoena Seminary at Mount Pleasant in Cabarrus County and taught school for a few years. She then attended Irving College.

She was married Jan. 1, 1895, to the Rev. Robert L. Patterson and they lived in Union Bridge, Md., and Somerset, Pa., before coming to Charlotte in 1908. Dr. Patterson was pastor of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church here from then until 1915. Mrs. Patterson was president of the Woman’s Missionary Society of the North Carolina Lutheran Synod from 1914 until 1915.

LEFT CHARLOTTE

The Pattersons  moved in 1915 to Atchison, Kans., where Dr. Patterson served as pastor of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church until 1923. They then lived in Selinsgrove, Pa., where Mrs. Patterson was active in the work of the church and of Susquehanna University, and from there went to Fremont, Neb., where Dr. Patterson joined the faculty of Western Theological Seminary and Midland College. They returned to Charlotte in 1928.

Mrs. Patterson is survived by her husband; a daughter, Mrs. J. C. Grimes of Charlotte; three sons, F. B. Patterson of Albemarle, G. R. Patterson of Hickory and L. W. Patterson of Charlotte; and three sisters, Mrs. A. G. Ketchie of China Grove, Mrs. J. H. C. Fisher of Mount Pleasant and Mrs. Edward Fullenwider Sr. of Troutman.

The body will remain at the funeral home of J. M. Harry and Co. until 1 o’clock tomorrow afternoon.