Individual Details
James Gillham Kirkpatrick
(Abt 1769 - 1846)
James Gillham Kirkpatrick, would appear to be the second eldest child of James and Susannah Kirkpatrick. We make this assumption because along with Thomas, his brother, James is the only other Kirkpatrick that received land in 1788 in Georgia. James and Thomas both received grants in 1788 in Franklin County, one of Georgia's original counties.* We assume that this pair were the only ones of age to receive such a grant.
James appears in other land transactions in Georgia of which more later. His brother Francis appears in a Georgia land transaction but not until about ten years later in 1798. John according to our search, does not appear in any Georgia land transaction. John Fletcher Kirkpatrick, a son of John asserts that his father was youngest of the quartet. Because of the land deals in 1788 we think both Thomas and James were adults by 1788. Thomas' birth date is given as 1766. That would make him 22 in 1788. James was probably born about 1769. Confirmation of this speculation comes from the COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF THE COUNTIES OF ROCK, GREEN, GRANT, IOWAS AND LAFAYETTE, WISCONSIN (1901) which states that the died in 1846 at the age of seventy-seven. This would place his birth at about 1769. The place is the colony of South Carolina, but the specific locale we do not know of.
James shows up in the Illinois Census of 1820 with the middle initial of G. It is the only time we have found this initial. Because his older brother had a middle name, we assume he had one as well. We speculate that it is Gillham after his mother's family.
James was married to Sarah Pettyjohn in Georgia. The year is usually given as 1801. In part this may be deduced from their oldest son's birth year, 1803. If not 1801, then the year would be very close. As usual we are involved with backwoods America with it's lack of clergymen, lack of record keeping and generally wild tenor. Neither the Carolina back country nor this corner of Georgia (Jackson County) was settled to any great degree at this time.
Sarah's birth year has been given variously as 1780 (1860 Census), 1783 (obituary) and 1789 (County History). The latter date is suspect because she would have been only about twelve at the time of her marriage. 1780-1783 are more probable dates.
Sarah's parents were Jacob and Betsy Pettyjohn. Jacob Pettyjohn's will is filed in the Jackson County courthouse in Jefferson, Georgia (Book A, 1803-1860) recording survivors as wife Betsy, daughter Sally Kirkpatrick, and sons Reuben, Abram and Warren. The date of the will is 13 December, 1810. It is signed Jacob Pettyjohn without his mark, probably an authentic signature. The spelling given here uses the "Y" rather than the "I".
James seems to have been the stay-at-home. While his three brothers moved to Illinois, most of them probably in 1802, James remained behind in the same area as his mother, Susannah (Gillham) Kirkpatrick Scott, wife of Joseph Scott.**
The 1788 grant to James Kirkpatrick was for 300 acres in Franklin County, GA, described as bordered on the southeast by Scott's lands and on all other sides by vacant land. James also signed up for the 1805 Land Lottery as #282 but his two draws were both blank and he acquired no land from the lottery. (Registration for the 1805 lottery was in 1803). In 1808 James Kirkpatrick of Jackson County bought from Reuben Pettyjohn, also of Jackson County, for $300, 157 acres in Franklin County on the waters of the "Togaloe River". Reuben Pettyjohn was James Kirkpatrick's Brother-In-Law.***
In 1805 James sold to his brother Thomas for $500, 300 acres on the Curries Creek, being "part of a tract of three hundred acres granted to the said James Kirkpatrick from the aforesaid state office." This land is in Jackson County, recorded 15 Aug 1805.****
James and Sarah both signed a deed of sale that was made the 6 day of November 1807 but not recorded until 1825 in the Jackson County Courthouse. The Justice of the Peace records that James Kirkpatrick acknowledged before him that the deed was passed over 26 Mar 1811 although the agreement had been made in 1807. The sale is to John Allen for a parcel of land in Jackson County on Curry's Creek and the sum of money is $1100. The deed states that the land is 226 3/4 acres, the "same more or less which was originally granted to Thomas Kirkpatrick in the year one thousand and seven hundred and eighty-eight.*****
In yet another land transaction made in 11 November 1817, David Bergen (or Burgan--both spellings are given) and James Kirkpatrick jointly sell to Cornelius Atkinson, for the sum of $1500, three tracts of land containing 350 acres.******
All the above seem to indicate that James was in Franklin County, Georgia early on, from at least 1788, and remained there in the new county of Jackson until 1818.
After the death of Joseph Scott, apparently in 1817, James Kirkpatrick and his family and the widow Scott (his mother Susannah) removed to Bond County, Illinois and there joined his brothers. John Fletcher Kirkpatrick, son of John Kirkpatrick, James' brother, wrote that John Kirkpatrick went to Georgia to fetch Susannah and James and his family.
The thread on James get rather thin here. It is said he laid out the town of Mills in Bond County in 1820. This is perhaps true but there are two James Kirkpatrick's in the county at this time whom we believe to be cousins.******* No special profession seems to emerge as James' so our assumption is that he was a farmer. We have no land transactions at this writing so we do not know if he owned his own land in Bond County, Illinois.
James spent some time in Bond County, and then moved northward with his wife Sarah into Wisconsin Territory. His eldest son Francis Criswell Kirkpatrick had removed to Iowa County (then part of Michigan Territory) in 1827. James G. Kirkpatrick is listed in the 1820 US Census for Bond County, Illinois, living not far from brothers Francis and John. The 1830 census has two James Kirkpatricks, but by this date there appears to be a double enumeration of the same James and we do not know which of the original Jameses remains.
In the first territorial census of Wisconsin in 1836, James is recorded in Iowa County in the southwestern corner of the territory. He died in 1846. No will or estate papers of any kind have ever been found.
A county history tells us "James Kirkpatrick, father of Francis C., joined this colony (Wisconsin) early in the nineteenth century. In 1834 he came to Wisconsin and his death occurred in the town of Mifflin, Iowa County, when he was aged seventy-seven years. His wife, Sarah Pettijohn Kirkpatrick died in the same place, at the age of seventy-four years."********
Sarah died 15 February 1863 at Lima. Both Sarah and James are presumed to be buried in the Kirkpatrick Cemetery in Iowa County, Wisconsin, near the little town of Rewey. No markers or records exist, but the cemetery existed at the time of the deaths of the couple.
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* Grant Book PPP, page 310, Georgia Department of Archives & History, Atlanta.
**Here is where the confusion arises in Madison County, Illinois. Another James lived adjacent to the Kirkpatrick's and Gillhams in Madison County in the decade between 1805 and 1815. There seems to be at the same time, one too many John Kirkpatricks. It is from this that we deduce that two children of Thomas(2) joined the Western trek.
*** This transaction is recorded in Franklin County Deeds, Vol. RRR, Drawer 33, Box 6, pp. 27A and B, and 28A, dated 5 September 1808 (Georgia Department of Archives & History, Atlanta).
**** Jackson County Deeds, D-265
***** Jackson County Deeds, H-249 and H-250
****** Jackson County Deeds, K-514
******* See item No. 14 on John Kirkpatrick with note on James Kirkpatrick.
******** COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF THE COUNTYS OF ROCK, GREEN, GRANT, IOWA AND LAFAYETTE, WISCONSIN. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1901
James appears in other land transactions in Georgia of which more later. His brother Francis appears in a Georgia land transaction but not until about ten years later in 1798. John according to our search, does not appear in any Georgia land transaction. John Fletcher Kirkpatrick, a son of John asserts that his father was youngest of the quartet. Because of the land deals in 1788 we think both Thomas and James were adults by 1788. Thomas' birth date is given as 1766. That would make him 22 in 1788. James was probably born about 1769. Confirmation of this speculation comes from the COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF THE COUNTIES OF ROCK, GREEN, GRANT, IOWAS AND LAFAYETTE, WISCONSIN (1901) which states that the died in 1846 at the age of seventy-seven. This would place his birth at about 1769. The place is the colony of South Carolina, but the specific locale we do not know of.
James shows up in the Illinois Census of 1820 with the middle initial of G. It is the only time we have found this initial. Because his older brother had a middle name, we assume he had one as well. We speculate that it is Gillham after his mother's family.
James was married to Sarah Pettyjohn in Georgia. The year is usually given as 1801. In part this may be deduced from their oldest son's birth year, 1803. If not 1801, then the year would be very close. As usual we are involved with backwoods America with it's lack of clergymen, lack of record keeping and generally wild tenor. Neither the Carolina back country nor this corner of Georgia (Jackson County) was settled to any great degree at this time.
Sarah's birth year has been given variously as 1780 (1860 Census), 1783 (obituary) and 1789 (County History). The latter date is suspect because she would have been only about twelve at the time of her marriage. 1780-1783 are more probable dates.
Sarah's parents were Jacob and Betsy Pettyjohn. Jacob Pettyjohn's will is filed in the Jackson County courthouse in Jefferson, Georgia (Book A, 1803-1860) recording survivors as wife Betsy, daughter Sally Kirkpatrick, and sons Reuben, Abram and Warren. The date of the will is 13 December, 1810. It is signed Jacob Pettyjohn without his mark, probably an authentic signature. The spelling given here uses the "Y" rather than the "I".
James seems to have been the stay-at-home. While his three brothers moved to Illinois, most of them probably in 1802, James remained behind in the same area as his mother, Susannah (Gillham) Kirkpatrick Scott, wife of Joseph Scott.**
The 1788 grant to James Kirkpatrick was for 300 acres in Franklin County, GA, described as bordered on the southeast by Scott's lands and on all other sides by vacant land. James also signed up for the 1805 Land Lottery as #282 but his two draws were both blank and he acquired no land from the lottery. (Registration for the 1805 lottery was in 1803). In 1808 James Kirkpatrick of Jackson County bought from Reuben Pettyjohn, also of Jackson County, for $300, 157 acres in Franklin County on the waters of the "Togaloe River". Reuben Pettyjohn was James Kirkpatrick's Brother-In-Law.***
In 1805 James sold to his brother Thomas for $500, 300 acres on the Curries Creek, being "part of a tract of three hundred acres granted to the said James Kirkpatrick from the aforesaid state office." This land is in Jackson County, recorded 15 Aug 1805.****
James and Sarah both signed a deed of sale that was made the 6 day of November 1807 but not recorded until 1825 in the Jackson County Courthouse. The Justice of the Peace records that James Kirkpatrick acknowledged before him that the deed was passed over 26 Mar 1811 although the agreement had been made in 1807. The sale is to John Allen for a parcel of land in Jackson County on Curry's Creek and the sum of money is $1100. The deed states that the land is 226 3/4 acres, the "same more or less which was originally granted to Thomas Kirkpatrick in the year one thousand and seven hundred and eighty-eight.*****
In yet another land transaction made in 11 November 1817, David Bergen (or Burgan--both spellings are given) and James Kirkpatrick jointly sell to Cornelius Atkinson, for the sum of $1500, three tracts of land containing 350 acres.******
All the above seem to indicate that James was in Franklin County, Georgia early on, from at least 1788, and remained there in the new county of Jackson until 1818.
After the death of Joseph Scott, apparently in 1817, James Kirkpatrick and his family and the widow Scott (his mother Susannah) removed to Bond County, Illinois and there joined his brothers. John Fletcher Kirkpatrick, son of John Kirkpatrick, James' brother, wrote that John Kirkpatrick went to Georgia to fetch Susannah and James and his family.
The thread on James get rather thin here. It is said he laid out the town of Mills in Bond County in 1820. This is perhaps true but there are two James Kirkpatrick's in the county at this time whom we believe to be cousins.******* No special profession seems to emerge as James' so our assumption is that he was a farmer. We have no land transactions at this writing so we do not know if he owned his own land in Bond County, Illinois.
James spent some time in Bond County, and then moved northward with his wife Sarah into Wisconsin Territory. His eldest son Francis Criswell Kirkpatrick had removed to Iowa County (then part of Michigan Territory) in 1827. James G. Kirkpatrick is listed in the 1820 US Census for Bond County, Illinois, living not far from brothers Francis and John. The 1830 census has two James Kirkpatricks, but by this date there appears to be a double enumeration of the same James and we do not know which of the original Jameses remains.
In the first territorial census of Wisconsin in 1836, James is recorded in Iowa County in the southwestern corner of the territory. He died in 1846. No will or estate papers of any kind have ever been found.
A county history tells us "James Kirkpatrick, father of Francis C., joined this colony (Wisconsin) early in the nineteenth century. In 1834 he came to Wisconsin and his death occurred in the town of Mifflin, Iowa County, when he was aged seventy-seven years. His wife, Sarah Pettijohn Kirkpatrick died in the same place, at the age of seventy-four years."********
Sarah died 15 February 1863 at Lima. Both Sarah and James are presumed to be buried in the Kirkpatrick Cemetery in Iowa County, Wisconsin, near the little town of Rewey. No markers or records exist, but the cemetery existed at the time of the deaths of the couple.
=========================
* Grant Book PPP, page 310, Georgia Department of Archives & History, Atlanta.
**Here is where the confusion arises in Madison County, Illinois. Another James lived adjacent to the Kirkpatrick's and Gillhams in Madison County in the decade between 1805 and 1815. There seems to be at the same time, one too many John Kirkpatricks. It is from this that we deduce that two children of Thomas(2) joined the Western trek.
*** This transaction is recorded in Franklin County Deeds, Vol. RRR, Drawer 33, Box 6, pp. 27A and B, and 28A, dated 5 September 1808 (Georgia Department of Archives & History, Atlanta).
**** Jackson County Deeds, D-265
***** Jackson County Deeds, H-249 and H-250
****** Jackson County Deeds, K-514
******* See item No. 14 on John Kirkpatrick with note on James Kirkpatrick.
******** COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF THE COUNTYS OF ROCK, GREEN, GRANT, IOWA AND LAFAYETTE, WISCONSIN. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1901
Events
| Birth | Abt 1769 | South Carolina | |||
| Marriage | 1801 | Jackson Co., Georgia - Sarah Pettyjohn | |||
| Death | 1846 | Mifflin, Iowa Co., Wisconsin | |||
| Burial | Kirkpatrick Cemetery, Lima, Grant Co., Wisconsin |  |
Families
| Spouse | Sarah Pettyjohn (1780 - 1863) |
| Child | Francis Criswell Kirkpatrick (1803 - 1877) |
| Child | Sarah Kirkpatrick (1805 - ) |
| Child | William M. Kirkpatrick (1806 - 1898) |
| Child | Elizabeth Louisa Kirkpatrick (1808 - 1889) |
| Child | Susannah Caroline Kirkpatrick (1811 - ) |
| Child | James Gillham Kirkpatrick Jr. (1813 - 1897) |
| Child | John J. Kirkpatrick (1816 - 1880) |
| Child | Mary Ann Kirkpatrick (1820 - 1876) |
| Father | James "The Patriot" Kirkpatrick (1743 - 1781) |
| Mother | Susannah Gillham (1747 - 1831) |
| Sibling | Thomas Newton Kirkpatrick (1766 - 1821) |
| Sibling | Francis Kirkpatrick (1772 - 1835) |
| Sibling | John Kirkpatrick (1776 - 1845) |
| Sibling | Polly Kirkpatrick (1777 - ) |
Endnotes
1. Ancestry.com Family Tree of Granville/Howard.