My Genealogy Hound

J. R. PATRICK, attorney-at-law of Holdrege, Phelps county, is a native of Armstrong county, Pa., and was born March 4, 1855. He comes of old Pennsylvania stock, his father, A. C. Patrick, being a native of Armstrong county; his mother, Catherine (Hill) Patrick, was born in Westmoreland county. His mother is dead, but his father still lives in Armstrong county and is well advanced in years.

J. R. Patrick was reared in his native county and received an academic education. He began teaching while yet in his teens, and, conceiving a great liking for books, he decided to devote his life to the pursuit of one of the liberal professions, and in 1880 began reading law. Mr. Patrick was a poor boy, and his first steps towards acquiring a knowledge of his profession were attended with many difficulties. But he adopted the methods pursued by ambitious young men of limited means who aspire to the higher walks of life. He made the earnings from his school-room work pay his way through the preparatory stages of his career, and what advantages he had not money to procure he abundantly made up for by his assiduous application at home by private study. He started West in 1880, and stopped first at Paxton, Ill., where, after reading awhile in the law office of Kinnear & Maffett, he was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1882, and at once began practice. Not long after, he was elected prosecuting attorney of his district, and held the office for a year, when he resigned to move further west. He came to Nebraska and located at Holdrege in October, 1884, and immediately formed a partnership with John Smith, of that place, and entered on the practice. This partnership lasted only a short time. He then formed another with W. P. Hall, the firm becoming Hall & Patrick, and so continuing until the present time. It is no flattery to these gentlemen nor any injustice to their many deserving brothers of the bar, to say that the firm of Hall & Patrick do the bulk of the legal business of the town of Holdrege and Phelps county. It is recognized as one of the strongest law firms in southwestern Nebraska. No small amount of the success it has attained has been due to the junior member.

For his chosen profession, Mr. Patrick possesses a special aptitude, having a remarkably strong and vigorous mind, a clear and discriminating judgment and a knowledge of men and their many devious ways far beyond the average of his years. He is a close student, especially in the facts of his cases, and he has the happy faculty of getting at the true inwardness of a complicated statement of facts and presenting the merits of an issue in a clear and intelligent manner to court and jury. He has achieved much of his reputation as a trial lawyer. He is a strong, forcible speaker, rising to the “height of the argument” on all occasions, his speech frequently reaching the dignity of true eloquence.

Mr. Patrick married April 13, 1887, the lady whom he took to share with him the pleasures and sorrows of this life being Miss Lulu Ballard, daughter of D. H. Ballard, of Hastings, Nebr. Mr. Patrick and his worthy lady have a pleasant home in Holdrege and they are deservedly popular in the best society of their place.