Charles E. Patton, representative in congress from the Twenty-first district of Pennsylvania, composed of the counties of Cameron, Center, Clearfield and McKean, whose total population in 1910 was 192,704, was born in Curwensville, Clearfield county, Pa., July 5, 1859. He still [1911] resides in that place.

He received his early education in the common schools of his native place and later attended Dickinson Seminary* at Williamsport, Pa., and was married in 1883 to Mary R. Beggs, of Ebensburg, Pa.

He started in business as a dry goods merchant, but later branched out in various lines of business and won general success in all. He is now identified with many of the most important business ventures of the community in which he resides, being stockholder and director in the Curwensville National Bank [Organized by his father John Patton in 1864], president of the Curwensville Electric Company, interested in lumbering and contracting business, besides owning several fine farms, in which he takes an unusual interest, and his agricultural ex- periments have been of great benefit to the community.

He has held nearly every elective office in his own town; in the contest for Re- publican nomination for congress he defeated Hon. Lewis Emery, Jr., of Bradford, Pa., who four years ago was candidate for governor on the independent and Democratic tickets and was defeated by Gov. Stuart. He carried the district by 1,355 [votes over?] Emery; was elected to the Sixty-second congress, receiving a plurality over William C. Heinle, the Democratic nominee, of 4.953 votes, the largest plurality ever given for congress in the district. Like his honored father, the late General John Patton, he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Curwensville, and one of the official board.

Mr. Patton is a Mason and an Odd Fellow, as well as a member of the Grange. Mr. and Mrs. Patton have four children.881
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A Representative from Pennsylvania. Attended the common schools and was graduated from Dickinson Seminary, Williamsport, Pa., in 1878; engaged in the lumber business; owned and operated the Curwensville Electric Co., and then engaged in the construction contracting business; also largely interested in agricultural pursuits; director of the Curwensville National Bank [Organized by his father John Patton in 1864]; President of the Curwensvile Light & Power Co. member of the school board, serving as president; member of the city council, and served as burgess;† elected as a Republican to the Sixty-second and Sixty-third Congresses (March 4, 1911-March 3, 1915); was not a candidate for renomination in 1914; appointed Secretary of Agriculture for the state of Pennsylvania October 15, 1915, and served in this capacity until January 22, 1920; retired from active public pursuits to a farm near West Grove, Chester County, Pa., where he resumed his interest in agricultural pursuits; died on his estate, the Maples”.882,883
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A successful merchant at Curwensville [PA in 1898].884
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Eventually he developed what was to be his primary business - construction contracting. He organized and operated the Reed & Patton and the Curwensville Construction Compainies and for many years was engaged to contracting on a large scale, dealing with highway, railway, waterworks, bridge and kindred building. In 1902 with A.P. way he erected the Avenue Theatre in Dubois and had been interested in it until his death.

Toward the latter part of his service in Governor Brumbaugh’s administration from 1915-1919 he purchsed the large farm estate near West Grove, in Chester County, known as “The Maples.” There he established his home upon retirement from office and resided there until his death.

One of his surviving sisters was Mrs. Edward Gros, wife of a prominent American Physician in Paris, France.

Funeral services were held in the Lininger Undertaking Parlors on Curwensville, PA.878
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In 1886-1887, Charles, Frank and Harry Wells (from Osceola) started the first light company in town [Curwensville] and it was called the Anderson Creek Electric Company. F. I. ("Nace") Thompson bought the plant in 1890, and his brother Jack operated it. Mr. Thompson later sold to Wm. F. Patton the old direct current plant and Mr. Patton built a new alternating current plant. This plant was sold to Charles E. Patton. It was known as the Curwensville Electric Light Company, until Mr. Patton sold to the Penn Public Service Company in 1912.885

[Charles and William F. Patton are first cousins.]
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Charles E. Patton is listed as a Past Master of the Noble Lodge No. 480, F. & A.M [Free and Accepted Masons] of Curwensville in 1902.886
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The present [1949 Curwensville Methodist] "Stone Church" came as the result of John Patton [Charles’ father], a leading member of the Methodist Church, who announced that it was his desire to contribute to the building of a new "stone church", to be built of native stone from the Roaring Run Stone Quarry.... The church was ... dedicated. Sunday, August 27, 1893, the cornerstone was laid with impressive ceremonies. The building committee included Charles E. Patton.821
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The Opera House Building in Curwensville was owned by the Patton estate until Wm. K. Wrigley purchased the building sometime in the early 1900s. Wrigley had prior to that time purchased the first established drug store in the community from Joseph M. Irwin and moved the store to a room in the building. He conducted the business until May 1919 when he sold the business to J.W. Murphy. Murphy continued to own the drug store in 1949 which had been operating for a period of 84 years.887
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Charles had been stricken ill on December 2, his malady being dignosed as coronary thrombosis, and his condition had been so critical for several days that death was not unexpected by those at his bedside.878
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Oak Hill Cemetery [where Charles is buried] began as a small 2¼ acre plot in December 1856 when William Irvin [Jr. 1801-1869] conveyed a parcel of land to the Curwensville Borough for burials. Three additional parcels were conveyed by Mr. Irvin’s son Col. E. A. Irvin, and the remainder of the property came from Charles and the heirs of his father Hon. John Patton. The Irvin and Patton families, both of which played key roles in the early growth and development of Curwensville are interred there. The Patton family plot holds one of the tallest monuments on the grounds.879
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In his obituary one of Charles’ sisters is identifies as “Mrs. Edward Gros, wife of a prominent American physician in Paris, France.888

*Dickinson Seminary was a preperatory school for Dickinson College which became Lycoming College located in Williamsport, PA. The two institutions were closely related during the nineteenth century when they were both affiliated with the Central Pennsylvania Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church.889

†Burgess is a magistrate of a borough; generally, the chief officer of the corporation, who performs, within the borough, the same kind of duties which a mayor does in a city.890