PATTEN, Alex. D.

PATTEN, BALCOM, HART, OSBORNE, SCOTT

Posted By: Joey Stark
Date: 3/26/2007 at 17:16:59

"Fairfield Ledger Weekly", October 21, 1869

Death of Alex. D. PATTEN.--- All of our citizens will remember the above gentleman, who came here in the summer of 1868, and undertook to organize the Chapter of Temperance, and the trouble that ensued. He is dead. His troubles are ended. He breathed his last on the morning of the 11th inst. at Council Bluffs, as will be seen by the following, which we clip from the "Nonpariel":

About eleven o’clock on Monday morning this city was thrown into gloom by the sudden and singular death of Mr. PATTEN, who has resided on Broadway, near the Washington House, since his arrival in Council Bluffs. Mr. PATTEN has been know [sic] to many of our citizens since his brief residence here as a gentleman of exemplary character, and has always been a consistent and energetic advocate of the temperance movement, having spent much of his time in the lecture field, and having been appointed at the recent State Chapter of Temperance, as Superintendent of the Fifth District of Iowa. He had for some time suspended his work and was engaged in the fruit business in this city. His health was so precarious as to render this course necessary. We are informed that on Sunday evening he was at church, and on his return home felt very unwell. He retired as usual, and not rising on Monday morning it was discovered that his sleep was not a natural one. Dr. BALCOM was called in, and symptoms, etc., showed that he was laboring under the effects of a heavy dose of laudanum. Remedies of restoration were prescribed, and Drs. HART, OSBORNE and SCOTT called to his side. The narcotic had gained too much headway for medical aid, and at eleven o’clock he died.--- He leaves a wife and a family of several children.

*Transcribed for genealogy purposes; I have no relation to the person(s) mentioned.