George William Passwater1,2,3

M, b. 31 March 1904, d. 3 March 1990
     George William Passwater was born on 31 March 1904 at Huntington County, Indiana.4,2 He married Edith Adaline Jordan, daughter of John Franklin Jordan and Estella Mae LaVine, circa 1925 at Indiana.5 He died on 3 March 1990 at Indiana at age 85.2

Children of George William Passwater and Edith Adaline Jordan

Citations

  1. [S18] Ancestry.com, online http://www.ancestry.com/, Donald E. Passwater, U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989, Polk's Huntington City Directory, 1956, Pg. 159, R.L. Polk & Co., 431 Howard St., Detroit 31, Mich., accessed 13 Jun 2012.
  2. [S79] Find A Grave, online http://www.findagrave.com, George William Passwater, Beech Grove Cemetery, Huntington, Huntington County, IN, Plot: Middle Sec., Row 11, accessed 13 Jun 2012 (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi).
  3. [S421] Glenn E. George and Son Funeral Home, online https://www.glennegeorgeandson.com/, Official Obituary of Donald E. Passwater; Accessed: 3 Mar 2024 (https://www.glennegeorgeandson.com/obituary/…).
  4. [S18] Ancestry.com, online http://www.ancestry.com/, George Passwater, Indiana Births, 1880-1920, Huntington County, IN, Index to Birth Records, 1875-1920 Inclusive, Vol. 2, Letters N - Z, Book H-11, Pg. 30, accessed 13 Jun 2012.
  5. [S18] Ancestry.com, online http://www.ancestry.com/, 1930 U.S. Census, Huntington, Huntington County, IN, Ward 4, ED 35-9, Pg. 17B, accessed 13 Jun 2012.

Lurabell Passwater1

F
     Lurabell Passwater is the daughter of George William Passwater and Edith Adaline Jordan.1

Citations

  1. [S18] Ancestry.com, online http://www.ancestry.com/, 1930 U.S. Census, Huntington, Huntington County, IN, Ward 4, ED 35-9, Pg. 17B, accessed 13 Jun 2012.

Rachael R. Passwater1

F
     Rachael R. Passwater is the daughter of Donald E. Passwater and Judith Burman.2 She married Travis Landon Ackley, son of Larry William Frances Ackley and Loretta L. Batman, on 10 September 1994 at Shelby County, Indiana.1

Children of Rachael R. Passwater and Travis Landon Ackley

Citations

  1. [S82] Facebook, online www.facebook.com, Travis Ackley's profile page, accessed 13 Jun 2012.
  2. [S82] Facebook, online www.facebook.com, Rachael Passwater Ackley's profile page, accessed 13 Jun 2012.
  3. [S82] Facebook, online www.facebook.com, Audrey Ackley's profile page, accessed 13 Jun 2012.

William F. Passwater1

M
     William F. Passwater is the son of George William Passwater and Edith Adaline Jordan.1

Citations

  1. [S18] Ancestry.com, online http://www.ancestry.com/, 1930 U.S. Census, Huntington, Huntington County, IN, Ward 4, ED 35-9, Pg. 17B, accessed 13 Jun 2012.

Robert William Patraw1

M, b. 28 January 1921, d. 25 September 2001
     Robert William Patraw was born on 28 January 1921. He married Meta G. Curtis, daughter of James W. Curtis and Grace Louise Hunter, after 1945.1 He died on 25 September 2001 at Arizona at age 80.

Citations

  1. [S29] RootsWeb, online http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/, Schenectady, NY message board response from LeCalvin, quoting a death notice in the Schenectady Daily Gazette, July 8, 1968, Pg. 17, accessed 3 Nov 2011 (http://boards.ancestry.com/…).

Albert T. Patrick1

M, b. 26 February 1866, d. 11 February 1940
     Albert T. Patrick was born on 26 February 1866 at Texas.1 He was the son of Henry Duff Patrick and Emily T. Swilley.1 He was covicted of the murder of William Marsh Rice (Rice University). A synopsis is listed below.

Albert Patrick Trial: 1902

Defendant: Albert T. Patrick
Crime Charged: Murder
Chief Defense Lawyer: Albert T. Patrick
Chief Prosecutor: William Travers Jerome
Judge: John William Goff
Place: New York, New York
Dates of Trial: January 22-March 26, 1902
Verdict: Guilty
Sentence: Death by electrocution, later commuted to life imprisonment, and ultimately pardoned by the governor of New York.

SIGNIFICANCE: The Albert Patrick trial illustrated the often uncertain nature of medical evidence in proving a murder. Although the jury found Patrick guilty, lingering doubts about the evidence eventually caused the governor of New York to pardon him.

AIbert T. Patrick was the sort of man who gives lawyers a bad name. A native of Texas, where he went to law school and then practiced law for several years, Patrick moved to New York in 1892 to escape disbarment proceedings initiated by a federal judge who was outraged by Patrick's conduct in a particular case. Once in New York, Patrick continued his shady ways. Although nothing was ever proven, there were suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of a wealthy fertilizer magnate who had sued Patrick for restitution of $5,500—a respectable sum in those days—and surrounding the death of Patrick's wife in 1896.

In 1896, Patrick also became involved in the affairs of William Marsh Rice, a multimillionaire and philanthropist. Rice was born in 1816 in Springfield, Massachusetts, and moved to Texas in the 1830s when it was still the raw frontier. Rice built a fortune in oil, retailing, and real estate, and his empire extended into Louisiana and Oklahoma as well. In his old age, Rice had returned to the East Coast to live with his second wife in Rice's Dunellen, New Jersey mansion. Rice's wife died in July 1896, and in her will left a considerable amount of her estate to her family and relatives. Under Texas law, her estate consisted of half of all property acquired by Rice during their marriage, which amounted to millions of dollars. Her will conflicted with Rice's desire to leave virtually all of his estate to the William M. Rice Institute for the Advancement of Literature, Science and Art in Houston, Texas. Rice, having a Madison Avenue apartment, asserted that he was a New York resident and therefore not subject to Texas law. When he started legal actions against the executor of his wife's estate, O.T. Holt, Holt went to Patrick for help.

William Marsh Rice Murdered

Holt retained Patrick to obtain evidence from anyone who had ever known Rice that could be used to prove that Rice was legally still a Texan. During his investigations, Patrick met Rice's personal valet and secretary, Charles F. Jones. Patrick and Jones thought up an ambitious scheme to murder Rice, plunder his estate by cashing forged checks on his New York bank accounts, and get at the rest of Rice's assets through a forged will naming Patrick and Jones as beneficiaries. Patrick himself drafted the fake will, also deliberately inserting generous legacies to Rice's relatives at the expense of the institute in the hope that the relatives would not challenge the will.

On the night of September 23, 1900, Jones covered the sleeping Rice's face with chloroform-soaked towels. The old man died without a struggle. Patrick and Jones were unable to carry through their scheme, however. Rice's Texas lawyer demanded an autopsy and came to New York to begin an investigation. When Patrick tried to cash the forged checks at Rice's bank, the bank officials became suspicious and notified the authorities. Patrick and Jones were soon arrested for Rice's murder. After unsuccessfully trying to commit suicide, Jones confessed and agreed to testify against Patrick in return for leniency.

Patrick Tried and Convicted

Albert Patrick's trial began on January 22, 1902. Patrick defended himself. The prosecutor was District Attorney William Travers Jerome and the judge was John William Goff. The central issue of the trial was proving the corpus delicti, namely that a murder had occurred. Although the doctors who had performed the autopsy generally agreed that Rice had been killed by chloroform poisoning, there was enough scientific uncertainty, given Rice's advanced age, that Patrick was able to keep the trial stalled for over two months. For example, take Patrick's questioning of Dr. Edward W. Lee:

Patrick: Doctor, assuming that a patient is eighty-four years of age, that prior to death he had dropsy of the lower limbs for several months from the knees down, and that the post-mortem findings revealed … the lungs congested slightly … the kidneys firm [with] a number of small cysts, and that on the day preceding his death the patient was troubled with his urine, and had to urinate frequently, … what would you say would be the cause of death?
Lee: Congestion of the lungs and diseased kidneys [which could be caused by chloroform or by tuberculosis, pneumonia or kidney disease]

On March 26, 1902, the jury returned a guilty verdict against Patrick. Goff sentenced Patrick to death by electrocution. Luckily for Patrick, however, one of his sisters had married a wealthy man, John T. Milliken, who was convinced of Patrick's innocence. Milliken financed a team of lawyers to handle Patrick's appeals, which tied up the courts for years. In 1906, Governor Frank Higgins commuted Patrick's sentence to life imprisonment. Patrick continued to fight for total freedom, however. For the next six years, Patrick and the Millikenfinanced team of lawyers pursued every avenue of appeal, including, according to accounts in the press, under-the-table payments to state legislators and officials.

On November 28, 1912, Governor John A. Dix pardoned Patrick. Dix claimed that "there has always been an air of mystery about the case." Dix's pardon was widely criticized, but there was nothing that could be done about it, especially as Dix was about to leave office anyway. Patrick left New York, never to return, and died in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1940. Although the Patrick case amply illustrated the fact that medical evidence is often inconclusive in proving a murder, it also demonstrated that money makes a difference in the American system of justice.

—Stephen G. Christianson on 26 March 1902.2,3,4,5 He died on 11 February 1940 at Tulsa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma, at age 73.1

Citations

  1. [S145] Wikipedia.org, online http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page, Albert T. Patrick; Accessed: 7 Mar 2021 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_T._Patrick).
  2. [S376] Encyclopedia.com, online https://www.encyclopedia.com/, Albert Patrick Trial: 1902; Accessed: 7 Mar 2021 (https://www.encyclopedia.com/law/law-magazines/…).
  3. [S375] NYS Historic Newspapers, online https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/, Publication: The Elizabethtown Post, Elizabethtown, N.Y.; Date: 5 Dec 1912; Page: 5; Accessed: 07 Mar 2021.
  4. [S377] Historical Crime Detective, online https://www.historicalcrimedetective.com/, Duke, Thomas; "The Murder of Millionaire William Rice by Albert Patrick, 1900"; Accessed: 7 Mar 2021 (https://www.historicalcrimedetective.com/ccca/…).
  5. [S129] Lubbock Avalanche-Journal Online, online http://lubbockonline.com, Bridges, Ken; Date:27 Feb 2021; Accessed: 7 Mar 2021 (https://www.lubbockonline.com/story/opinion/2021/02/27/…).

Henry Duff Patrick1

M, b. circa 1832, d. circa 1902
     Henry Duff Patrick was born circa 1832 at USA.1 He married Emily T. Swilley before 1870 at USA.2 He died circa 1902 at USA.1

Children of Henry Duff Patrick and Emily T. Swilley

Citations

  1. [S79] Find A Grave, online http://www.findagrave.com, Bellefontaine Cemetery, St.Louis, Missouri, Milliken family mausoleum.
  2. [S79] Find A Grave, online http://www.findagrave.com, Bellefontaine Cemetery, St.Louis, Missouri, Milliken family mausoleum (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi).
  3. [S145] Wikipedia.org, online http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page, Albert T. Patrick; Accessed: 7 Mar 2021 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_T._Patrick).

John Patrick1

M
     John Patrick married Deborah Sue Bow, daughter of Cullen Landis Bow and Phylis Mae Ayers, on 2 October 1971 at Marion County, Indiana.1

Citations

  1. [S68] Marion County, IN Marriage Records, online http://www.biz.indygov.org/apps/civil/marriage/, Marriage Record Number      280166
    Groom      JOHN PATRICK
    Bride      DEBORAH BOW
    Marriage Date      10/02/1971
    Page Number      732
    Ref. Book Number      257.

May Patrick1

F, b. circa May 1871, d. 2 December 1942
     May Patrick was born circa May 1871 at Texas.1,2 She was the daughter of Henry Duff Patrick and Emily T. Swilley.3,4 She married Newton Samuel Walton before 1893 at USA.4 She married John Thomas Milliken, son of John Milliken and Harriet Louisa Hord, circa 1897 at USA.1 She died on 2 December 1942 at USA.4

Child of May Patrick and Newton Samuel Walton

Children of May Patrick and John Thomas Milliken

Citations

  1. [S18] Ancestry.com, online http://www.ancestry.com/, 1910 US Census, St. Louis, Missouri, Ward 28, pg 14A.
  2. [S18] Ancestry.com, online http://www.ancestry.com/, 1900 US Census, St. Louis, Missouri, Ward 28, pg 11A.
  3. [S79] Find A Grave, online http://www.findagrave.com, Bellefontaine Cemetery, St.Louis, Missouri, Milliken family mausoleum.
  4. [S79] Find A Grave, online http://www.findagrave.com, Bellefontaine Cemetery, St.Louis, Missouri, Milliken family mausoleum (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi).

Berthal A. Patterson1

F, d. before July 1965
     Berthal A. Patterson married Thomas Alonga Stewart, son of John Stewart and Sarah Davis, before 1922 at Texas.1 She died before July 1965.2

Child of Berthal A. Patterson and Thomas Alonga Stewart

Citations

  1. [S136] Longview News-Journal.com, online http://www.news-journal.com/, Obituary of Byron Thomas Stewart, published 8 May 2009 (http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/news-journal/obituary.aspx).
  2. [S28] Family Search, online http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp, Texas Death Certificate of Thomas A. Stewart.