Biography of J. H. Patten This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography, including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & Co., Chicago, 1898. Pages 365-366 Scan and OCR by Joy Fisher, 1997. This file may be copied for non-profit purposes. All other rights reserved. HON. J. H. PATTEN, one of the leaders in business and political matters of Miner county and the eastern part of South Dakota, is now a resident of Carthage, where he is engaged in the grain, coal and feed business. Mr. Patten was born in Herkimer county, New York, April 4, 1839, a son of David and Nancy (Countryman) Patten, both natives of New York. The family moved to DeKalb county, Illinois, in 1850, and settled on a farm of 300 acres of government land which they improved and developed and which our subject still owns. The parents died at that place and were buried on the old farm. In religious matters they were always true to the principles of Christianity, although they were not sectarians and belonged to no sectarian denomination. Of their seven children, we have the following record: Matilda Miller; Oscar, deceased; Sylvester, of DeKalb, Illinois; our subject; Carrie Talbot, of Ogle county, Illinois; Byron, of Silver Lake, Kansas; and Milton D., Rochelle, Illinois. Byron was a soldier in the One Hundred and Fifth Illinois Volunteers during the Civil war. The subject of this sketch was eleven years of age when the family moved to DeKalb county, Illinois, and was educated in the common schools of that state. When his father died, Mr. Patten was twenty years of age and by will came in possession of the homestead by paying legacies and operated the same until 1882, when he rented the farm and moved to Miner county; South Dakota, and settled on a claim on the open prairie in Redstone township, four miles west of Carthage. His first year's crop consisted of thirty acres of beans and the same amount of buckwheat, raised on "breaking," but he soon got the farm subdued and into a condition to produce a good crop, and in 1883 he supplied it with good buildings. In 1892 he moved to town and entered into his present business. The firm consists of Hon. J. H. Patten, Hon. D. W. Jackson, and Dr. J. P. Van Voorhis, and deals in grain, coal and feed. Mr. Patten also owns property in Carthage, and is a member of the firm of Patten Bros., of Rochelle, Illinois, the owners of two tile and brick factories. Mr. Patten was married, in 1861, to Miss Martha Kendrick, who was born in New York but moved with her parents when quite young to DeKalb county, Illinois, and was there reared and educated. To this union has been born one child, which died in infancy. Although Mr. and Mrs. Patten are not members of any denomination, they have always attended church, and have taken a very active interest in religious work. Formerly, our subject was one of the leaders in the Sunday-school work in his vicinity, usually taking charge of the Bible class and often performing the duties of superintendent, but for the past three years he has been obliged to discontinue a great deal of this work on account of the partial loss of his hearing. Politically he has been a lifelong, stalwart Republican and has stood true to its principles on the silver question when the party deserted them. In 1885 he was elected to the constitutional convention which was held at Sioux Falls, and was later elected to the provisional legislature, authorized by the above named constitutional convention, which convened at Huron. In the fall of 1885 he was elected to the lower house of the territorial legislature, and in 1887 was elected to the senate. In 1889 he lost by five votes the nomination for the office of the first lieutenant-governor of the state of South Dakota. Mr. Patten is a man that, in whatever situation he may be placed, may always be depended upon to do all in his power toward the strengthening and upbuilding of good government. When he was elected to the lower house it was upon the ground of a temperance Republican. He served on the temperance committee and formulated the local option bill which became a law. When elected to the senate it was upon the same issue, and he presented what was known as the "Patten bill," or the "Prohibition law," which passed both houses but was vetoed by Governor Church.