Corinne N. Patterson (born Corinne Nunn; formerly Corinne Young) was born on July 23rd, 1926 in Parkville, Missouri. She married John Young in 1946, with whom she had two children: Leroy and Paris Bernard. She and Young later divorced, and Patterson remarried in 1964 to Maurice Patterson. Her son Leroy had a daughter, Denise Young Agummadu, who has also had a daughter, Joy Agummadu.

Patterson has received recognition from BAWA for her business work and from the city of Kansas City, Missouri for her efforts to improve area neighborhoods. Her interest in genealogy led her to co-found the Midwest Afro-American Geneologist Interest Coalition (MAGIC).

Patterson’s great-grandfather Jeremiah was born in 1848 in Mount Vernon, Missouri and later enslaved to the McCanse family. He joined the Union Army as a drummer boy in Company A of the 113th United States Colored Infantry organized out of Arkansas. After the Civil War, Jeremiah McCanse moved to Olathe and re-settled in Spring Hill, a city located in Johnson and Miami Counties, Kansas. There, Jeremiah met a woman named Rachel Chilton, and they married and had six children (five daughters and one son). Jeremiah became a prominent member of Spring Hill's community. He was initially engaged in the barber business but later expanded his repertoire to real estate development and serving in political offices. He died in 1904.