Robert W Kirkpatrick
ROBERT W. KIRKPATRICK was born Sept. 5, 1862, on the farm where he now resides in Cowanshannock township, and the family had been in Armstrong county since 1798, when his great-grandfather, James Kirkpatrick, settled here.
The Kirkpatricks are of Scotch-Irish origin. James Kirkpatrick was born in Cumberland county, Pa., and thence in early life moved to Westmoreland county, this State, where he lived a number of years. In 1798 he located on Cherry run, near Elderton, in Plum Creek (now Cowanshannock) township. At that time the settlers had many hardships to endure besides the ordinary privations of pioneer life, and his house was attacked by Indians who killed two of the inmates. A young child was also wounded, but the mother made her escape with it, reaching Loyalhanna, Westmoreland county, where it afterward died. Not long after this occurrence, James Kirkpatrick purchased a large tract of land in what is now Cowanshannock township, cleared and improved his homestead, and passed the remainder of his life there, engaging in farming. He was a prominent member of the first Presbyterian Church organized at Glade Run, near Dayton, in Wayne township, and served as elder of same. In politics he was a Whig. To him and his wife Mary (Larimer) were born eight children, four sons and four daughters. One of the sons, James was a soldier in the war of 1812.
David Kirkpatrick, son of James and Mary (Larimer) Kirkpatrick, was born in 1778 in Westmoreland county, and was a young man when he came to Armstrong county with his father. He became a prominent farmer of Cowanshannock township in his day, and died in 1844 in his sixty-seventh year. In politics he was a Whig, in religious connection a Presbyterian. By his first wife, Elizabeth (Varns), he had two children, William and James N. To his second marriage, with Mary Thompson, daughter of John and Jane (Riddle) Thompson, were born nine children, namely: John; Moses; Robert B., who enlisted in 1861 in the 78th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and served for three years; Simon; Martha; Mary, who married Archibald Findley; Margaret, who married Christian Good; Lydia C., who married George F. Currie; and Martha (2).
John Thompson, father of Mrs. Mary (Thompson) Kirkpatrick, was born in Allegheny county, Pa., where his father settled on coming from Ireland. He was a farmer by occupation. By his first wife Jane (Riddle), he had three children, and eight children (three sons and five daughters ) were born to his second marriage, to a Miss Breckenridge.
Moses Kirkpatrick, son of David and Mary (Thompson) Kirkpatrick, was born Nov. 30, 1829, on this father's homestead farm, and lived and died on that place, passing away Jan. 20, 1898. He married Anna Elder, who was born Nov. 22, 1824, near Clarksburg, Indiana county, daughter of Thomas Elder, and died Dec. 26, 1892. They became the parents of four children: David, who died when five years old; Rose, who died in1883, aged twenty-three; Robert W.; and Mary, who died two months after her sister, when eighteen years old.
Robert W. Kirkpatrick grew to manhood at the old homestead and received a public school education in the locality. He has always lived on the home farm, now owning and occupying part of the home place, having a tract of seventy acres, which he keeps under excellent cultivation. He is a substantial citizen of his neighborhood, progressive in his agricultural work and public-spirited in his attitude on affairs of general interest to the community, a thoroughly representative descendant of the sturdy Scotch-Irish stock which has played so important a part in the development of the State of Pennsylvania. He is Republican in politics and a Presbyterian in religions connections.
In 1889 Mr. Kirkpatrick married Sarah Adams, daughter of Robert and Jane (McKelvey) Adams of Westmoreland county. They have had three children, all sons, Ivan E.; Robert Earl and Frank K. Ivan E. was married Oct. 18, 1912, to May Catherine Hull, of New Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Source: Pages 687-688, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J.H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed September 1998 by James R Hindman for the Armstrong County Beers Project
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