Kenneth Cartwright Patty (December 2, 1891 – March 27, 1967) was a Virginia lawyer who served as the 27th

Attorney General of Virginia The attorney general of Virginia is an elected constitutional position that holds an executive office in the government of Virginia. Attorneys general are elected for a four-year term in the year following a presidential election. There are no ter ...

. Patty was an assistant attorney general before Governor Thomas Stanley appointed him after the resignation of his boss,

J. Lindsay Almond James Lindsay Almond Jr. (June 15, 1898 – April 14, 1986) was an American lawyer, state and federal judge and Democratic party politician. His political offices included as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 6th congre ...

. Almond was member of the Democratic political organization led by Senator

Harry F. Byrd Harry Flood Byrd Sr. (June 10, 1887 – October 20, 1966) was an American newspaper publisher, politician, and leader of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party in Virginia for four decades as head of a political faction that becam ...

, and he stepped down to run for Governor during the

Massive Resistance Massive resistance was a strategy declared by U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd Sr. of Virginia and his brother-in-law James M. Thomson, who represented Alexandria in the Virginia General Assembly, to get the state's white politicians to pass laws and p ...

crisis in Virginia. Patty's tenure at that position ended after

Albertis Harrison Albertis Sydney Harrison Jr. (January 11, 1907 – January 23, 1995) was an American politician and jurist. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party associated with Virginia's Byrd Organization, he was the List of Governo ...

, elected during that same 1957 election, took office.

Personal life

Kenneth Patty was born in

Parrottsville, Tennessee Parrottsville is a town in Cocke County, Tennessee, Cocke County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 263 at the 2010 census. Geography Parrottsville is located in northeastern Cocke County at (36.009391, -83.091186) U.S. Route 321, a f ...

, where his father, Rev. William Monroe Petty, served at Harned's Chapel. His mother, the former Minnie Bushong, bore at least 3 sons (one of whom, Graydon Patty, became a minister like his father) and 3 daughters. An ancestor served in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. The family subsequently moved to

Tazewell, Virginia Tazewell () is a town in Tazewell County, Virginia, Tazewell County, Virginia, United States. The population was 4,627 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Bluefield, West Virginia, Bluefield, West Virginia, WV-VA Bluefield micropolitan area, micr ...

. Patty attended

Washington and Lee University Law School The Washington and Lee University School of Law (W&L Law) is the professional graduate law school of Washington and Lee University. It is a private American Bar Association-accredited law school located in Lexington in the Shenandoah Valley reg ...

, graduating in 1918. Patty married Ruth Friend Lacy (1892-1967) and had a daughter. Patty died in 1967 and is buried at Forest Lawn cemetery in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Patty, Kenneth Cartwright 1891 births 1967 deaths Virginia Attorneys General Virginia Democrats Virginia lawyers Washington and Lee University School of Law alumni 20th-century American lawyers People from Cocke County, Tennessee