Justice William Paterson
(Dec 24, 1745-Sep 9, 1806)
Occupation: Attorney, US Supreme Court Justice. Education: College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, at age 14; studied law under lawyer Richard Stockton, admitted to the bar in 1768. Interred: Albany Rural Cemetery, Menands, New York Lodge affiliation: 1791 - Trenton Lodge #5, Trenton, N.J. Justice Paterson was born in County Antrim, now in Northern Ireland. His family moved to what is now the United States when he was two years old. He entered the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, at age 14. After graduation, he studied law with the prominent lawyer Richard Stockton and was admitted to the bar in 1768. He was selected as Somerset County, New Jersey delegate for the first three provincial congresses of New Jersey, where, as secretary, he recorded the 1776 New Jersey State Constitution. After Independence, Paterson was appointed as the first Attorney General of New Jersey, serving from 1776 to 1783, maintaining law and order and establishing himself as one of the state's most prominent lawyers. Paterson went on to become one of New Jersey's first US. senators (1789–90). During his tenure in the Senate Judiciary Committee, he played an important role in drafting the Judiciary Act of 1789 that established the federal court system. The first nine sections of this very important law are in his handwriting. He resigned from the U.S. Senate in 1790 in order to succeed fellow signer William Livingston as governor of New Jersey. President Washington nominated Paterson to the Court on March 4, 1793. He was immediately confirmed by the Senate, and received his commission and served from 1793 until his death in 1806 when he died as a result of lingering injuries from a coach accident in 1803.