Patton was born in the Silver Creek area of what was, at the time, Burke County,(now McDowell County)NC. He moved with his parents at the age of eight to the Montford's Cove section of Rutherford County after the death of his father's brother, William. He grew up and married a local girl, Mary Ann Flack, whose father had a farm near the conjunction of Cove and Cedar Creeks, on April 16, 1857. Patton was a farmer. He built a two-story log house on the farm, and, as was often the custom of the time, a separate building housing the kitchen and dining room. The house deteriorated after the last family left, and is now only a memory. It was probably in the late 1960's or early 1970's that it completely collapsed. During the War of Northern Aggression, he served in Co. G, 50th Regt., NC Infantry. He was wounded and discharged on Sept. 27th, 1862. He returned home and served in the Home Guard for the duration of the war. He continued farming and was working in the field when he suddenly became ill. After suffering a ruptured appendix surgery was performed, but he died of infection on May 30, 1881. His two brothers, Lee and John Posey had been killed during the war, leaving his parents with no living sons and his wife with 10 children, 9 of whom were still at home, ranging from the age of 3 to 22.

Some of his children cannot be linked due to another person's ownership of their sites. They are listed here in birth order:
Ella Alvira Hemphill Crawford
Mary Louisa Hemphill Miller
Theodosia Priscilla Hemphill (died before age 2)
Leander Duffey Hemphill
John Posey Hemphill
Andrew Roswell Hemphill
Thomas Millard Hemphill
George Hosea Hemphill
Joseph Mills Hemphill
Charles Stein Hemphill
William Young Hemphill