One relative of this family group, Alphus Patrick, married Nancy Ann Weeks in
Perquimans Co, NC in 1833.
Crystal Jensen
Biographical Record of Macoupin Co, ILL 1904
William Patrick, one of the highly esteemed retired residents of Staunton, Macoupin
County, was born April 28, 1831, in Ayrshire, Scotland, and was nine years of age
when he accompanied his parents, John and Margaret (Stirritt) Patrick, to America.
John Patrick was born September 25, 1788, in Ayrshire, Scotland, and died near
Bunker Hill, Illinois, October 13, 1867. In his own land, he was an expert silk
weaver, but, with a family of 13 children, he found it necessary to make a change in
order to provide for their necessities. Hence, in 1841, with his family and
household possessions, among which was a sword which had done good work in the hands
of an ancestor in the early wars, he sailed from Liverpool, and by slow traveling at
length reached Bunker Hill, Illinois, which was then a hamlet of 10 houses and one
general store. Here he bought 120 acres of land and spent the remainder of his life.
His wife Margaret was the only daughter of James Stirritt, and was born September
16, 1792, in Dairi (Dalry), Scotland, and died January 18, 1874, aged 83 years. The
eight members of their family who reached maturity were; James, who died at Alton,
Illinois; John, who died at Bunker Hill, Macoupin County; Mrs. Ann Templeton, who
died at Bunker Hill, Macoupin County; Mrs. Margaret Muir, who died near St. Louis,
Missouri; Mrs. Janet Galloway, who died at Bunker Hill, Macoupin County; William,
who is the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Mary Dickie, who is the mother of Postmaster
Dickie, of, Bunker Hill, Macoupin County; and Robert E., of Omaha, Nebraska. The
family was reared in the Presbyterian Church.
Although 63 years have passed since Mr. Patrick left his natitve land, during which
period he has lived an active and at times an adventurous life, he distinctly
recalls the family embarkation at Liverpool, the long voyage of 39 days before
landing at New York and the continued trip across the country to Pittsburg, from
which point an Ohio River boat transferred the travelers to one on the great
Mississippi, and at length Alton, Illinois, was reached.
Including the wait of two weeks at Pittsburg, the trip from the coast had taken over
a month which can now be accomplished in less than 24 hours. Mr. Patricks boyish
interest was excited by the way the hinged smokestacks on the locomotives were
worked as the noisy little engines passed under bridges.
One Winter was passed by the family at Alton, but in 1842 they permanently located
at Bunker Hill, Macoupin County, and our subject remained with his father until he
was 18 years of age.
In 1850 he started with an ox team to cross the plains to California, accompanied by
his brother-in-law, Andrew Muir. After many adventures and dangers from the Indians,
they reached the gold regions and Mr. Patrick spent seven years there, accumulating
a capital which gave him a good start in life. He earned it by hard work, working in
deep canyons, where he saw the sun neither rise nor set, enjoying its light for but
a few hours a day. He returned to Bunker Hill, but a year later crossed the plains
again with a mule team, in 1859.
Mr. Patrick has the honor of being one of the discoverers of gold at Central City,
and was a companion of Green Russell, of Georgia, who named Russells Gulch, a rich
mining locality. Mr. Patrick discovered the noted Mammoth Lode, and in the fall he
returned to Bunker Hill.
In the following spring, equipped with tools and mining machinery, including a
quartz mill, he made a third trip and worked in this lode until late in the fall and
again returned. This was Mr. Patrick's last trip to the far West.
When the last call was made for troops for the Civil War, Mr. Patrick enlisted in
Company G, 20th Reg., Illinois Vol. Inf., and served until the close of the war,
taking part in the battles of Nashville, Tennessee, and of Wise's Forks, North
Carolina, and was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky in July, 1865. Mr. Patrick
draws a pension, and is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
After remaining one more year at Bunker Hill, he went to Montgomery County,
Illinois, where he improved a farm and continued to operate it for 12 years,
removing then to Staunton, where he has resided ever since. Mr. Patrick opened up a
stone quarry, but this venture was not successful, and brought upon him a loss of
some $2,000.
He built his present pretentious home for a hotel and operated it for 10 years as
the Patrick Hotel, and since then has occupied it as a private residence. For seven
years he was engineer for the Consolidated Coal Company. For some years he has lived
retired from business responsibilities.
Mr. Patrick was married March 14, 1860, to Althea Aeolian Wood, who was born near
Bunker Hill, Illinois, March 14, 1837, and is one of a family of eight children born
to Samuel and Keziah (Daugherty) Wood, natives of Kentucky. The children of this
marriage were: William H., who is a banker at Clarendon, Texas; Jeannet, who is the
wife of Charles R. Wall, a banker of Staunton, Macoupin County; Elgin, who is a
resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Rosalie, the widow of Charles D. Mitchell,
who resides with our subject, with her two children, Leland and Margaret; George
Bley, a resident of Decatur, Illinois, who is a conductor on the Wabash Railroad,
and has two children, Hazel and George; and Bernean, who lives at home. One son,
Bernard, died aged one year.
Mr. Patrick has always supported the Republican party, but has not sought political
honors, although his friends have upon several occasions elected him alderman. He
was reared in the Presbyterian Church. Fraternally he is a Royal Arch Mason, and is
an honorary member of the Woodmen.