his fortunes with the south and became lieutenant and then major in the 22d Virginia regiment, commanded by his brother, Colonel Geo. S. Patton.
It is said of him that in battle he was always at the front shrinking from no danger but braving every peril.
At the close of the war he began the study of law under his brother-in-law John Gilmer, Esq., of Pittsylvania, Virginia. On his admission to the bar, he began active practice and soon took front rank in the profession.
In April, 1869, he was married to Melinda Caperton, a daughter of Senator Allen T. Caperton of West Virginia. Shortly after commencing his professional career he formed a partnership with his father-in-law, Senator Caperton, at Union, Monroe County, West Virginia. This was his home until his death. On the resignation of Judge Moore from the Supreme bench, Governor J. B. Jackson appointed June I, 1881, James French Patton, Esq., then in his 38th year, to fill the place. He occupied this position until his death, March 30, 1882. Stricken by death in his young manhood ended a career full of promise; he left a widow and two children. His son A. G. Patton, Esq., is a promising young lawyer, now practising law in Parkersburg, West Virginia.
Another referring to Judge Patton uses this language: "In personal attraction he bad few superiors. Of commanding presence, graceful action, pleasant voice and magnetic smile which revealed the wealth of his warm heart, he attracted the confidence and esteem of all who made his acquaintance. All who came within the circle of his personal influence, were thenceforth his devoted friends. He was admired for his intellectual talents and beloved for the excellent qualities of his manly heart.
He possessed in an eminent degree that power of analysis, that quickness of perception, that equipoise of judgment and that knowledge of the law, which most befit the character of a judge of a court of last resort."
Judge Snyder was born in Highland County (then Pendleton), Virginia, March 26, 1834. After attending the local schools of the neighborhood, he attended Mossy Creek Academy, Augusta County, Virginia, in 1852–1853; Tuscarora Academy in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, in 1854–1855; Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, in 1856; and Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) Lexington, Virginia, in 1857–1858. Here he completed his studies and it was here he entered the law school of Judge John W. Brockenbrough one of the Judges of the United States District Court. Judge Brockenbrough was a scholar of profound attainments and a lawyer and judge eminent in the profession. The greatest feeling of friendship and even comradeship existed between him and his students. That he was a teacher capable of inspiring his students with love of learning and high ambitions is readily seen in the success of many lawyers of Virginia and other States even yet in active practice. It was the custom of Judge Brockenbrough to have many of his students appointed on the petit juries of his court; they attended many sessions of the court at different places and had the advantage of his oversight, instruction and tuition, thus obtaining an insight into actual practice so difficult for the ordinary student to obtain. By this means they lived with their preceptor day by day and no one profited more by this training than did young Snyder. And the kindly relations thus strengthened between students and teacher, and in after years it was the pride of these students to speak in deepest veneration of their preceptor.
Judge Snyder was an apt student; he had a strong and vigorous mind and possessed a good physique. What he learned was not by memory or rote; his ideas became a part of his life, like the sap of the tree, enlarging and strengthening him year by year by real growth and vitalizing force — no thought of his was obscure, it was clear cut, exact and well understood. His opinions on the bench
