Individual Details
Richard Henry Kirkpatrick
(22 Nov 1804 - 11 May 1834)
Richard was born 22 Nov 1804 in Madison Co., Illinois. He was an early settler in the southwestern corner of Wisconsin, when that area was still part of Michigan Territory. He is found on the 1826 poll list for the Fever River Precinct of Peoria Co., Illinois, which at that time included Galena. Richard H. Kirkpatrick is also listed on a roster of miners together with the amount of lead they had mined prior to 1 Jan 1830, his diggings producing 42,809 pounds.* Richard shows in the 1830 census of the Michigan Territory (Iowa County) with a household of three, although it is not clear who the two others in the trio were.
In 1827, R. H. Kirkpatrick served with Captain James M. Strode's Company of Galena Mounted Volunteers, commanded by General Henry Dodge, under the general command of Brigadier General Henry Atkinson of the Army on the "Ouisconsin". This service was occasioned by a brief disturbance of the Winnebago Indians. In July 1827, a boat had been attacked by Indians a short distance above Prairie du Chien on the Mississippi. They killed one man, wounded two and lost a couple of their own number. Supposedly this attack was led by a Winnebago war chief named Red Bird, but he was apparently making trouble the same day at Prairie du Chien. Whatever the facts, the settlers from the entire area pulled up stakes and headed for Galena, Illinois, and safety. This streams of frantic refugees was reported to be four miles long and to number three thousand persons on the first night of the alarm. The affair passed without much further difficulty and the settlers returned in due time to their homes. Kirkpatrick, however, signed up with the area militia. A unit of the regular army also came down the river from Fort Snelling, in what is now Minnesota, to calm the disturbance.
In 1832 a larger scale conflict, the Black Hawk War, broke out. This time Richard H. Kirkpatrick served with Captain James H. Gentry's Company of militia volunteers from Michigan Territory under the general leadership of Henry Dodge. Somewhere during the course of this conflict Kirkpatrick earned the title "Major", though he does not warrant it in official records. (Many Kirkpatricks from Illinois and Wisconsin served in this war.) A minor battle was fought on the Pecatonica River in which Richard participated. Years later, after Kirkpatrick was long dead, a dispute erupted in the publications of the Wisconsin State Historical Society over which heroic leader had been in charge of which aspect of this small and forgotten skirmish. Kirkpatrick's name appears throughout these accounts.
After the Black Hawk War on 9 December 1832, Richard H. Kirkpatrick married Rebecca Lamb. In an application for bounty land based on Richard's Black Hawk War service she stated that Richard died at Diamond Grove, Wisconsin, 11 May 1834. She remarried to John Loofbourow who was a physician and considerably older than Rebecca, having been born in 1783 in Virginia. She state that he died 18 March 1859. They had seven children: William M., Wade H., Harriet, Nathan, Mary C., George, and John W. Loofbourow was made guardian of Pope Curtis Kirkpatrick, Richard's only child, on 10 May 1851 at Mineral Point, WI. Also in May 1851 Loofbourow requested bounty land on behalf of Pope Curtis Kirkpatrick based on Richard's service. He stated that the lad was about seventeen years old.
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* HISTORY OF THE LEAD REGION, Western Historical Co., Chicago, 1923, p.423
In 1827, R. H. Kirkpatrick served with Captain James M. Strode's Company of Galena Mounted Volunteers, commanded by General Henry Dodge, under the general command of Brigadier General Henry Atkinson of the Army on the "Ouisconsin". This service was occasioned by a brief disturbance of the Winnebago Indians. In July 1827, a boat had been attacked by Indians a short distance above Prairie du Chien on the Mississippi. They killed one man, wounded two and lost a couple of their own number. Supposedly this attack was led by a Winnebago war chief named Red Bird, but he was apparently making trouble the same day at Prairie du Chien. Whatever the facts, the settlers from the entire area pulled up stakes and headed for Galena, Illinois, and safety. This streams of frantic refugees was reported to be four miles long and to number three thousand persons on the first night of the alarm. The affair passed without much further difficulty and the settlers returned in due time to their homes. Kirkpatrick, however, signed up with the area militia. A unit of the regular army also came down the river from Fort Snelling, in what is now Minnesota, to calm the disturbance.
In 1832 a larger scale conflict, the Black Hawk War, broke out. This time Richard H. Kirkpatrick served with Captain James H. Gentry's Company of militia volunteers from Michigan Territory under the general leadership of Henry Dodge. Somewhere during the course of this conflict Kirkpatrick earned the title "Major", though he does not warrant it in official records. (Many Kirkpatricks from Illinois and Wisconsin served in this war.) A minor battle was fought on the Pecatonica River in which Richard participated. Years later, after Kirkpatrick was long dead, a dispute erupted in the publications of the Wisconsin State Historical Society over which heroic leader had been in charge of which aspect of this small and forgotten skirmish. Kirkpatrick's name appears throughout these accounts.
After the Black Hawk War on 9 December 1832, Richard H. Kirkpatrick married Rebecca Lamb. In an application for bounty land based on Richard's Black Hawk War service she stated that Richard died at Diamond Grove, Wisconsin, 11 May 1834. She remarried to John Loofbourow who was a physician and considerably older than Rebecca, having been born in 1783 in Virginia. She state that he died 18 March 1859. They had seven children: William M., Wade H., Harriet, Nathan, Mary C., George, and John W. Loofbourow was made guardian of Pope Curtis Kirkpatrick, Richard's only child, on 10 May 1851 at Mineral Point, WI. Also in May 1851 Loofbourow requested bounty land on behalf of Pope Curtis Kirkpatrick based on Richard's service. He stated that the lad was about seventeen years old.
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* HISTORY OF THE LEAD REGION, Western Historical Co., Chicago, 1923, p.423
Events
| Birth | 22 Nov 1804 | Illinois | |||
| Marriage | 9 Dec 1832 | Rebecca Lamb | |||
| Death | 11 May 1834 | Diamond Grove, Grant Co., Wisconsin | |||
| Burial | Old Linden, Peddlers Creek Cemetery, Iowa Co., Wisconsin |  |
Families
| Spouse | Rebecca Lamb (1816 - 1892) |
| Child | Pope Curtis Kirkpatrick (1833 - 1903) |
| Father | Thomas Newton Kirkpatrick (1766 - 1821) |
| Mother | Mary Ann "Polly" Lane (1777 - 1839) |
| Sibling | James Harrison Kirkpatrick (1798 - 1876) |
| Sibling | John Lane Kirkpatrick (1799 - 1869) |
| Sibling | Isaac Gillham Kirkpatrick (1801 - 1810) |
| Sibling | Joseph Lane Kirkpatrick (1803 - 1884) |
| Sibling | William P. Kirkpatrick (1806 - 1885) |
| Sibling | Susan Emily Kirkpatrick (1808 - 1883) |
| Sibling | Winnifred P. Kirkpatrick (1810 - 1839) |
| Sibling | Jesse Walker Kirkpatrick (1810 - 1857) |
| Sibling | Sarah Louisa Kirkpatrick (1811 - 1885) |
| Sibling | Thomas Milligan Kirkpatrick (1813 - 1886) |
| Sibling | Francis Asbury Kirkpatrick (1815 - 1879) |
| Sibling | Polly D. Kirkpatrick (1817 - 1819) |
| Sibling | Charles Alford Kirkpatrick (1820 - 1896) |
| Sibling | Jonathan Hart Kirkpatrick (1822 - 1838) |
Endnotes
1. Grant County Genealogical Society, Platteville, Wisconsin.