Bio: Fitzpatrick, Patrick Ignatius (1914)

Contact: crystal@wiclarkcountyhistory.org.

Surnames: Fitzpatrick, Maher, Pendigast, Kellogg, Haden

----Source: History of Eau Claire County Wisconsin (1914) pages 709-710

Patrick Ignatius Fitzpatrick, the well-known and prosperous farmer of Brunswick township, is the son of John and Ellen (Maher) Fitzpatrick, and was born in the town of Brunswick, Eau Claire county, August 17, 1879. His father was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1852, and came to the United States, landing in Boston, Mass., in the fall of 1868. For a short time he was employed at Portsmouth, N. H., going from there to New York City, where he worked as a laborer in Central Park and later as a special policeman, remaining there until 1875, when he came west to Eau Claire county and located in Brunswick township, and for a few years was employed by Thomas Pendigast. In 1878 he purchased a farm of 80 acres and commenced farming on his own account. He has been successful, and by hard work and economy he has added to his original purchase until now his farm contains 240 acres of well improved land. He followed general farming and dairying up to a few years ago, when he retired, and the farm is now carried on by his son, Patrick.

For thirty-five years Mr. Fitzpatrick took an active interest in all the affairs of his town; he served as school treasurer and held other minor school offices for thirty-five years; was overseer of roads and a member of the town board. He is a Democrat in politics and belongs to the Catholic church. In 1878 he married in Eau Claire Miss Ellen Maher, daughter of John Maher, of Tipperary, Ireland, who was steward for William P. Perry, a justice of the peace and landlord of Dublin. Their children are: Patrick I.; Mary married James Kellogg, now deceased; Margaret, a teacher in the schools of Eau Claire; John is at home on the farm; Grace, and Ellen, a stenographer of Eau Claire.

Patrick Fitzpatrick, grandfather of our subject, married Mary Haden, and resided in Tipperary, where they followed farming. They were the parents of eleven children.

Patrick Ignatius was educated in the schools of Brunswick township and worked at home on the farm with his parents nearly all his life, and is now carrying on his father's farm of 240 acres, besides 80 acres of his own, and is one of the leading farmers and dairymen of the county. In all public affairs he takes a deep interest, and as a member of the State Highway Commission for Eau Claire is interested in the subject of good roads. He has served as town clerk of Brunswick for five years, has been chairman of the town board for five years and a member of the county board. As one of the highway commissioners for the past two years he has been instrumental in having concrete bridges built in Brunswick, personally superintending their construction. He is an independent Democrat, a member of the Catholic church and the Catholic Order of Foresters. He is also a Modern Woodman and a Knight of Columbus. He also, with four others, started and incorporated in Eau Claire the Farmers' Co-operative Products Company, being its first trustee and president and a member of its board of directors for three years.