James S. Dunn and Company, "general commission merchants of fruits, fish, game, oysters, poultry and general produce," was the successor of Jackson, Dunn and Company, which was, in turn the successor of Thomas C. Patrick and Company. The Thomas C. Patrick and Company store was established in July 1887 and located at 18 North Jackson Street in Helena, Montana. In early 1888 Patrick moved the store to 111 North Main Street. On February 1, 1888, he sold the business to his former partner DeWitt C. Jackson and his partners James S. Dunn and George G. Chandler. The new owners renamed the business Jackson, Dunn and Company. It operated under this name until December 5, 1888, when Jackson left the business and it was renamed James S. Dunn and Company. In October 1889, the store went into receivership and closed. Thomas Chase Patrick was born in Lindsay, Ontario, in 1860, the son of Thomas Chase Patrick and Marion Thirkell. He moved to Helena in the mid 1880s. He married Sylvia Lyman, daughter of Lorenzo B. and Mary Lyman, in 1887 and they had one son Thomas C., born in Seattle, Washington, in 1890. Patrick died in Lindsay, Ontario, April 6, 1896. DeWitt C. Jackson only lived in Helena briefly. Nothing more is known about him. James S. Dunn was born in Ireland in August 1843. He married Annie also a native of Ireland about 1865. They moved to Montana in the mid 1880s after brief residencies in New York, New Jersey and West Virginia. The couple had at least five children; the youngest two, Andrew and Gertie were born in Helena. After the store closed, Dunn was a life insurance agent in Helena until he moved to Tacoma, Washington, in 1901.