Background
George Smith Patton, Sr., was a California attorney, businessman, and political figure. He was the son of George S. Patton,
Sr., a Confederate Colonel who fought and died during the American Civil War, and the father of George S. Patton, Jr., the
famed General of the U.S. Third Army during World War II. George Smith Patton, Sr., was born in West Virginia in 1856. He
graduated from Virginia Military Institute and studied law in Lexington, Virginia, and became an attorney. In 1877 he moved
to Los Angeles. In 1884 he married Ruth Wilson, daughter of Benjamin Davis Wilson, a wealthy landowner in the San Gabriel
Valley, businessman, and political figure; George and Ruth had two children: George S. Patton (1885-1945) and Anne Wilson
Patton (1887-1971). Patton was a friend and neighbor of Henry E. Huntington and became the first Mayor of San Marino, the
location of the Huntington Library. The Pattons were themselves wealthy landowners as they owned property throughout Los Angeles
County and were investors in several oil companies. George S. Patton died in San Marino in 1927.
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