Individual Details
William M. Kirkpatrick
(10 Feb 1806 - 19 Mar 1898)
William was born at what was termed Jefferson Courthouse, the county seat town of Jefferson, Jackson Co., GA, 10 Feb 1806, before the family migrated to Bond Co., Illinois. He was married twice. His first wife was Sarah Daniel whom he married in Adams Co., Illinois in 1835.* He had no known children by this marriage. After Sarah's death in Kentucky, William married Mary T. Winfrey at Carrolton, Missouri, 26 Nov 1837. Mary was born in Livingston Co., MO, 11 Sept 1822 (although according to her gravestone and the 1850 census she was born in 1821).
William died 19 Mar 1898 at Arthur, Wisconsin. Mary died 22 Dec 1903. Both are buried in the Kirkpatrick Cemetery near Rewey, WI. He was over 92 years of age, and his wife, Mary was over 82 when she died.
William, along with his brother Francis C. and cousin Richard H., was among the first settlers in the southwestern corner of Wisconsin. He was given on the 1826 poll list of the Fever River District of Peoria Co., Illinois, along with Richard and James Harrison Kirkpatrick. In a county history there is this entry:
"In spite of the fact that farming was prohibited by the ruling of the War Department, Captain J.B. Estes in 1829 broke 40 acres in Mifflin Township (Iowa County), William Kirkpatrick doing the work. Kirkpatrick also did some planting for J. Jenkins near Dodgeville."**
William served in both the Winnebago Indian Uprising and the Black Hawk War. In these conflicts he was in companies that included other relatives. In 1827 he was in James Strode's company organized at Galena in the spring and mustered out in September 1827. One of the sergeants was James L. Kirkpatrick, two of the privates were Richard H. and John L. Kirkpatrick, all cousins, and Francis C. Kirkpatrick, his brother.
In 1832 he is found with Captain James Craig's company of mounted volunteers from Galena, attached to the command of Colonel Henry Dodge of the Michigan Territory Volunteers. Again he is with relatives. In the application of his widow for pension based on his Indian war service he is described by her as 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with dark eyes (sometimes hazel), black hair and a dark complexion. His occupation is given as farmer or farmer-miner.
William M. Kirkpatrick was in the Kirkpatrick expedition that crossed the plains in 1850 to seek gold in California. He traveled with a nephew, James Cochran Kirkpatrick, and with others that included A. W. Moore, who in Kirkpatrick's pension application alludes to the trip: ". . . from intimate acquaintance, having crossed the plains with the claimant in 1850. . ."
William was a wanderer. In his pension claim, when asked to list places he had lived since his stint in the service he gives this list: Adams County, Illinois, 2 years; Blue River, Wisconsin, 1 year; Carroll County, Missouri, 5 years; Grant County, Wisconsin, 10 years; California, 2 years; Oregon, 2 years; Grant County, Wisconsin, 8 years; Montana, 2 years; Grant County, Wisconsin, "ever since". It is not clear whether Mary Kirkpatrick accompanied William on any or all of these junkets. Nor is it clear exactly where he lived in each state -- Oregon and Montana, for instance. The California trip ended in El Dorado County, where wagons were sold, but where he traveled from there is unknown.
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* This is not of record in Adams County. However, a marriage of Margaret Damron to a William Kirkpatrick is recorded 22 January 1835.
** Southwestern Wisconsin: A History of Old Crawford County, by John G. Gregory, S.J. Clark Publ. Co., Chicago, 1932, 4 vols., p. 464, "Iowa County"
William died 19 Mar 1898 at Arthur, Wisconsin. Mary died 22 Dec 1903. Both are buried in the Kirkpatrick Cemetery near Rewey, WI. He was over 92 years of age, and his wife, Mary was over 82 when she died.
William, along with his brother Francis C. and cousin Richard H., was among the first settlers in the southwestern corner of Wisconsin. He was given on the 1826 poll list of the Fever River District of Peoria Co., Illinois, along with Richard and James Harrison Kirkpatrick. In a county history there is this entry:
"In spite of the fact that farming was prohibited by the ruling of the War Department, Captain J.B. Estes in 1829 broke 40 acres in Mifflin Township (Iowa County), William Kirkpatrick doing the work. Kirkpatrick also did some planting for J. Jenkins near Dodgeville."**
William served in both the Winnebago Indian Uprising and the Black Hawk War. In these conflicts he was in companies that included other relatives. In 1827 he was in James Strode's company organized at Galena in the spring and mustered out in September 1827. One of the sergeants was James L. Kirkpatrick, two of the privates were Richard H. and John L. Kirkpatrick, all cousins, and Francis C. Kirkpatrick, his brother.
In 1832 he is found with Captain James Craig's company of mounted volunteers from Galena, attached to the command of Colonel Henry Dodge of the Michigan Territory Volunteers. Again he is with relatives. In the application of his widow for pension based on his Indian war service he is described by her as 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with dark eyes (sometimes hazel), black hair and a dark complexion. His occupation is given as farmer or farmer-miner.
William M. Kirkpatrick was in the Kirkpatrick expedition that crossed the plains in 1850 to seek gold in California. He traveled with a nephew, James Cochran Kirkpatrick, and with others that included A. W. Moore, who in Kirkpatrick's pension application alludes to the trip: ". . . from intimate acquaintance, having crossed the plains with the claimant in 1850. . ."
William was a wanderer. In his pension claim, when asked to list places he had lived since his stint in the service he gives this list: Adams County, Illinois, 2 years; Blue River, Wisconsin, 1 year; Carroll County, Missouri, 5 years; Grant County, Wisconsin, 10 years; California, 2 years; Oregon, 2 years; Grant County, Wisconsin, 8 years; Montana, 2 years; Grant County, Wisconsin, "ever since". It is not clear whether Mary Kirkpatrick accompanied William on any or all of these junkets. Nor is it clear exactly where he lived in each state -- Oregon and Montana, for instance. The California trip ended in El Dorado County, where wagons were sold, but where he traveled from there is unknown.
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* This is not of record in Adams County. However, a marriage of Margaret Damron to a William Kirkpatrick is recorded 22 January 1835.
** Southwestern Wisconsin: A History of Old Crawford County, by John G. Gregory, S.J. Clark Publ. Co., Chicago, 1932, 4 vols., p. 464, "Iowa County"
Events
| Birth | 10 Feb 1806 | Jefferson, Jackson Co., Georgia |  | ||
| Marriage | 1835 | Adams Co., Illinois - Sarah Daniel | | ||
| Marriage | 20 Nov 1837 | Carrollton, Carroll Co., Missouri - Mary T. Winfrey | | ||
| Death | 19 Mar 1898 | Arthur, Grant Co., Wisconsin | | ||
| Burial | Kirkpatrick Cemetery, Rewey, Iowa Co., Wisconsin | |
Families
| Spouse | Sarah Daniel ( - ) |
| Spouse | Mary T. Winfrey (1821 - 1903) |
| Child | Oregon Strong Kirkpatrick (1845 - 1916) |
| Child | Oscar Kirkpatrick (1846 - 1931) |
| Child | Taylor Kirkpatrick (1848 - ) |
| Child | M. Kirkpatrick (1849 - 1850) |
| Child | Eugene Cleaveland Kirkpatrick (1855 - 1939) |
| Child | Olive Hortense Kirkpatrick (1858 - 1921) |
| Child | Harriet Kirkpatrick (1861 - 1929) |
| Father | James Gillham Kirkpatrick (1769 - 1846) |
| Mother | Sarah Pettyjohn (1780 - 1863) |
| Sibling | Francis Criswell Kirkpatrick (1803 - 1877) |
| Sibling | Sarah Kirkpatrick (1805 - ) |
| Sibling | Elizabeth Louisa Kirkpatrick (1808 - 1889) |
| Sibling | Susannah Caroline Kirkpatrick (1811 - ) |
| Sibling | James Gillham Kirkpatrick Jr. (1813 - 1897) |
| Sibling | John J. Kirkpatrick (1816 - 1880) |
| Sibling | Mary Ann Kirkpatrick (1820 - 1876) |
Endnotes
1. A Kirkpatrick Genealogy; Melvin Kirkpatrick & David Hudson, 1995.
2. A Kirkpatrick Genealogy; Melvin Kirkpatrick & David Hudson, 1995.
3. Ormesher, Susan, Missouri Marriages Before 1840 (n.p: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, 1986, n.d), Page 128.
4. A Kirkpatrick Genealogy; Melvin Kirkpatrick & David Hudson, 1995.
5. A Kirkpatrick Genealogy; Melvin Kirkpatrick & David Hudson, 1995.