Patrick, James P. 1836-1929

PATRICK, ST JOHN, BROWN, HOFER

Posted By: S. Ferrall - IAGenWeb volunteer
Date: 4/30/2012 at 19:26:56

Capt. James P. Patrick, for many years a resident and hardware merchant of McGregor, in partnership with George McGregor and Quincey A. Sloane, died recently at his home in Portland, Oregon.

From McGregor, Capt. Patrick moved to Des Moines and enlarged his business into wholesale lines, taking the Luthe brothers into partnership and finally selling out to them. Then he moved to the Pacific coast. He was descended from a long line of southern and Irish ancestors.

The following sketch of his life is sent the Times by another prominent McGregorite, Col. E. Hofer of Salem, Oregon.

James Perkins Patrick was born at Bellefontaine, Ohio, October 27, 1836.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in Company F., Third Iowa Infantry as a private of which company his uncle, Aaron Brown was captain and who later became colonel of the regiment. After minor skirmishes, the regiment had its first taste of hard battle at Shiloh. He went through all the campaigns in the "army of the west" under Grant, being promoted through the non-commissioned grades of corporal and sergeant and was wounded by a canister shot directly through the hips while on a river transport enroute to Vicksburg.

During convalescence he was sent North on recruiting duty and upon complete recovery to his regiment and was offered and accepted a commission as Second Lieutenant in 1st United States Field Artillery, in which unit he served until the end of the war.

On parade, his battery was the finest appearing body of troops in the army. He was then detailed for shipping out and destroying all classes of war equipment. He recalled one large concentration of cavalry and artillery saddles which were piled higher than a three story building and burned.

After receiving his discharge he visited at his home in Michigan and then returned to Iowa where he first engaged in the cattle business, running cattle in open range in Northeastern Iowa which was practically all open and unsettled country a few miles back from the river. In season he delivered his beef cattle to Buffalo, New York. He recalls distinctly of having grazed cattle where the cities of Cedar Rapids and Oelwein are now situated. After a few years he returned to West Union and clerked in a general merchandise store. Then, as McGregor, on the Mississippi gave every indication of becoming a large commercial city, he moved there and engaged in the hardware business, in which he remained throughout his active business life.

McGregor had the advantage of water transportation and was across the river from the then terminus of what later became the Milwaukee Railway Company. On account of the contour of the ridges which were the natural routes for horse drawn vehicles, McGregor was one of the few points that could serve as a shipping point for farm products, largely wheat; one combination of ridges permitted the following of this series for over one hundred miles without the necessity of building one bridge. This resulted in wheat being hauled from Mason City, Iowa, Albert Lee, Minnesota and points beyond, to McGregor for transhipment. This route later became a federal military road.

Mr. Patrick was married to Louisa Meacham St. John in McGregor, March 12, 1870 and two children were born to them; Bessie and Charles C. Patrick, living at Portland, the latter having built up a large lumber export business.

He moved to Des Moines in 1892, continued in the wholesale hardware business, and retired from active business in 1903 and from 1904 on made frequent trips to Oregon where his son had located, and in February 1920 moved to Portland, Oregon.

He always took an active part in charities and civic duties in McGregor, serving as captain of the militia company and as mayor of the city several terms as well as commander of the G.A.R. Post and Knight Commander of Honorlus Commandery, Knights Templar. In Des Moines he maintained his Masonic affiliations, was a member of the Elks and Mystic Shrine and also served on the city council.

After moving to Portland, he maintained his Masonic affiliations in Des Moines but transferred his G.A.R. membership and continued to take a very active interest in that and the Loyal Legion and also kept in close touch with the surviving members of his old Company F, Third Iowa Infantry.

His funeral at Portland was attended by the Grand Army and the Masonic order, his children and grand children, and a niece well known at McGregor, Mrs. Winona Hofer. The service was held Friday, Feb. 15, the remains being cremated and returned east to be laid by the side of his late wife who was buried there.

~North Iowa Times, Thursday, March 7, 1929; page 1

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Captain James P. Patrick, 93 year old Civil war veteran and former McGregorite, whose death occurred in Portland, Oregon, in February, says the 'McGregor Times', was given a military funeral here Sunday afternoon.

~Postville Herald, May 9, 1929
~Note: buried in Pleasant Grove cemetery