Patterson, Elizabeth definition of Patterson, Elizabeth in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Patterson, Elizabeth, 1785–1879, American wife of Jérôme Bonaparte Carlo Buonaparte, 1746–85, a petty Corsican nobleman, was a lawyer in Ajaccio. He supported (1768–69) Pasquale Paoli , then changed sides and became one of the staunchest leaders of the pro-French party in Corsica. He sent his sons to be educated in France.
..... Click the link for more information. , b. Baltimore. On a visit to America, Jérôme Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, met and married her (1803). Jérôme was a minor, and Napoleon refused to recognize the marriage. When Jérôme returned (1805) to France, his wife was forbidden to land and went to England, where her son, Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, was born. Napoleon issued (1806) a state decree of annulment for his brother, and Elizabeth Patterson was given a large annual pension.

Bibliography

See E. L. Didier, Life and Letters of Mme Bonaparte (1879); C. E. N. Macartney and J. G. Dorrance, The Bonapartes in America (1939); S. Mitchell, A Family Lawsuit (1958).