Untitled From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette, Wisconsin, publ. 1901 - page 211-212

HENRY PATCH, deceased. Prominent among the citizens of Grant county who were actively identified with its early development and prosperity was the gentleman whose name introduces this sketch. He was born in Danbury, Conn., April 10, 1803, a son of Elijah and Susana (MORGAN) PATCH, the former of English, the latter of Scottish descent. The father was born Oct. 29, 1769, and died Nov. 27, 1804, while the mother was born Feb. 23, 1780, and died in October, 1820. In their family were eight children, five sons and three daughters, all of whom have passed away, namely: John T., Prosper, Henry, Mary A., Ezra, Elijah, Rebecca, and Abigail.

Henry PATCH was reared in his native place and in early manhood married Miss Emily C. BRUNSON, a sister of the well-known pioneers of Grant county, Wis., Ira and Alfred BRUNSON. Soon after their marriage they moved to Columbus, Ohio, where Mr. PATCH was engaged in farming until the fall of 1836, when, accompanied by the BRUNSON brothers, above mentioned, he came to Grant county. For a short time he lived in Section 32, in what is now Patch Grove township, but in the spring of 1837 located on land he had pre-empted, there making his permanent home. His was the fifth family in what is now Patch Grove township. In his house was conducted the first school of that township, and the first post-office, he serving as postmaster; the office was given the name of Patch Grove in his honor, and later the township and village took the same name.

Mr. PATCH became one of the most prominent and influential men of Grant county, and being public-spirited and progressive was called upon to fill various local offices, the duties of which he always faithfully and conscientiously discharged. He also ably represented his district in the lower branch of the State Legislature. He was a man of more than average ability, and always took a leading part in promoting those enterprises that were for the best interests of the community. Generous and sympathetic by nature, no one was ever turned from his door without assistance, and no man in the county was more highly esteemed or more sincerely respected than Henry PATCH. He died in the village of Patch Grove, Jan. 2, 1867, and in his death the community realized that it had lost one of its most valued and useful citizens. As a business man he had steadily prospered and became possessed of a large amount of land, both by pre-emption and by purchase.

The wife who had accompanied Mr. PATCH from her New England home to what was then the wilds of the West departed this life March 14, 1856, and he was again married, July 24, 1858, his second union being with Mrs. Louisa Nelson McCONNELL, whose maiden name was DUNBAR. She died June 20, 1900. By the first marriage there were eight children, four sons and four daughters, but only three are now (1901) living, Mrs. Cornelia W. ANDERSON, Reed Patch and Mrs. Emma GILPATRICK. Those deceased were Harriet, William H., Henry W., Thomas B. and Almira. Of the three children born to the second union only Mrs. Jennie LEWIS, born in 1861, is living, Jessie and Ada L. having passed away.



This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck