Brother Patrick lives at The Glades in Laurel county. He was born in North Carolina, May 18, 1805. He moved, with his parents, to Tennessee when about five years of age. After the death of his parents he moved to Kentucky when 17 years of age, and made his home with a family that had moved from North Carolina. At the age of 21 he married and thirteen children were born into his home. Shortly after his marriage he was converted, and in a very little while felt his call to the Gospel ministry. He had no advantages for an early education, consequently he was uneducated, but with a determination to know God's Word he gave himself to the study of the same. It was perhaps the only book he had, and with the aid of the Holy Spirit and his tallow candle dip he became a strong and effective preacher.He was a missionary from the start and met with considerable opposition in his advocacy of this great Bible doctrine. Like many others he did not keep any record of his work in the ministry, and therefore it is not known with what success his labors were crowned, but it is safe to say that no one in his day did a greater work for the Master than Bro. Patrick. His labors were mostly in Whitley, Laurel and Clay counties, and he is held in the highest esteem by all who know him. He is now in his 96th year, and bears the marks of a long and laborious life, both on the farm and in the ministry, as he worked hard by day and studied hard by night that he might carry the joyful message to his fellowmen. In 1892 he became a beneficiary of our Ministers' Aid Society. In this way he has been provided against suffering in his old age and infirmity. His wife died June 29, 1898. He said to George H. Cox, the Corresponding Secretary of our Aid Society, last September: "Brother Cox, I wish I could see every one of your Board of Trustees in person that I might tell them what a great blessing and help they have been to me." It is such as these our Aid Society is caring for - these men who have given so much of their time and labor to the cause of our Master and who have received little or nothing for their service. Every Christian heart should be enlisted in this noble work. The endowment fund of $50,000 should be completed at once, and it is hoped those who have large means will give liberally.
=========== [From The Baptist Argus, December 6, 1900, p. 7; via Baylor U. digital edition. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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