Individual Details
Jacob Kirkpatrick
(8 Aug 1785 - 2 May 1866)
In the northern part of Warren Township, Somerset County, New Jersey, in the beautiful valley of the Passaic, about six miles south-east from Baskingridge stands the house where Jacob Kirkpatrick was born, on the 8th of August, 1785, son of Alexander Kirkpatrick and Sarah Carle. On the south lies Stony Hill, and on the north extending half a mile to the banks of the Passaic is a slope of green and fertile meadow, while in the distance in full view is the continuous range of high land in Morris County known as Long Hill, covered with well-tilled farms and dotted with comfortable farm-houses. The lasting spring of pure water not far from the door seems to tell the stranger as he slakes his thirst, that many who once drank of it have been scattered far and wide and are now sleeping in the dust.
Here on a tract of four hundred acres taken from the large landed estate of Judge Carle, the parents settled soon after their marriage and endeavored to train up their family in the fear of God. The responsible charge of thirteen children who grew up to manhood and womanhood was committed to their trust. In this work they were assisted by the able and faithful servants of God, the Rev. Samuel Kennedy, M.D. and the Rev. Robert Finley, D.D., successively pastors of the Church of Baskingridge on whose ministrations they attended. They were regular in their attendance at the sanctuary after the example of his Scotch ancestors, and never did Alexander Kirkpatrick and his family disturb the devotions of the congregation by arriving after the public exercises had begun. He was habitually so early that one of his neighbors, it is said, never began his preparations until he had seen Mr. Kirkpatrick drive by his door; and often, when that tardy neighbor, whom for the sake of the incident we will call John Smith, reached the church, the wags who were hanging around the door were accustomed to say to each other with a wink of the eye: "It's time to go into meeting, for John Smith has come." The records of the Baskingridge Church show that Mr. Kirkpatrick was an active and useful member.
Much of the time of Jacob's childhood, when not prosecuting English studies in the common schools of the neighborhood was occupied in such labor on the farm as suited his age. He was accustomed to relate to his own children how often he had taken the grist to mill on horseback and driven the team over the mountain with loads of wood. All these labors served to strengthen a constitution naturally good, and to prepare him for that constant exposure and toilsome service to which he was to be subjected in after life as a minister of Christ.
When he was thirteen or fourteen years of age, a circumstance occurred which made that, in all probability, a turning-point in the history of his life. He had been drinking, after the custom of those times, some intoxicating liquor with one of his companions, when suddenly he turned around to his friend and said, with great earnestness: "We ought never to drink any more liquor; if we don't stop drinking we'll become drunkards." He did stop from that hour; and for the remainder of life, not only as a personal safeguard, but for the sake of the example, he was a total abstinence man. His companion formed no such resolution, but continued to drink until the habit became too inveterate to be overcome, and he died a drunkard.
It is not improbable that young Kirkpatrick had been awakened to thoughtfulness on this subject by something he had heard from the lips of his pastor. On one occasion, early in his ministry, Dr. Finley exchanged pulpits for a Sabbath with the pastor of a neighboring church. At the latter place the tavern was opposite to, or near by the church, and with the bar kept open on Sunday as well as other days, according to the old custom. Being much fatigued with the ride, he dismounted and walked into the bar-room and drank something stronger than water for his refreshment. As he passed out of the tavern for the church he saw two young men, one of whom he overheard saying to the other: "Come, let's go hear the Dominie preach -- he has just had 'a smaller,' and I guess we'll have a good sermon." How good the sermon he preached to that congregation was, tradition does not inform us, but he felt that a pungent sermon had been preached to him in the brief sentence uttered by that young man. It so affected him that he resolved henceforth that no man should have the opportunity to quote him as an example to justify drinking-habits; he resolved to abandon altogether the use of intoxicating liquor as a beverage -- and those who knew him were aware that for Dr. Finley to resolve was to execute.
At the age of fourteen, Jacob began his course of classical study, making his home with his grandfather, David Kirkpatrick, Esq., at Mine Brook, because it was four miles nearer to Baskingridge than his father's house.
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A selection from the Kirkpatrick Memorial, 1867, Westcott & Thomson, Philadelphia, PA
Here on a tract of four hundred acres taken from the large landed estate of Judge Carle, the parents settled soon after their marriage and endeavored to train up their family in the fear of God. The responsible charge of thirteen children who grew up to manhood and womanhood was committed to their trust. In this work they were assisted by the able and faithful servants of God, the Rev. Samuel Kennedy, M.D. and the Rev. Robert Finley, D.D., successively pastors of the Church of Baskingridge on whose ministrations they attended. They were regular in their attendance at the sanctuary after the example of his Scotch ancestors, and never did Alexander Kirkpatrick and his family disturb the devotions of the congregation by arriving after the public exercises had begun. He was habitually so early that one of his neighbors, it is said, never began his preparations until he had seen Mr. Kirkpatrick drive by his door; and often, when that tardy neighbor, whom for the sake of the incident we will call John Smith, reached the church, the wags who were hanging around the door were accustomed to say to each other with a wink of the eye: "It's time to go into meeting, for John Smith has come." The records of the Baskingridge Church show that Mr. Kirkpatrick was an active and useful member.
Much of the time of Jacob's childhood, when not prosecuting English studies in the common schools of the neighborhood was occupied in such labor on the farm as suited his age. He was accustomed to relate to his own children how often he had taken the grist to mill on horseback and driven the team over the mountain with loads of wood. All these labors served to strengthen a constitution naturally good, and to prepare him for that constant exposure and toilsome service to which he was to be subjected in after life as a minister of Christ.
When he was thirteen or fourteen years of age, a circumstance occurred which made that, in all probability, a turning-point in the history of his life. He had been drinking, after the custom of those times, some intoxicating liquor with one of his companions, when suddenly he turned around to his friend and said, with great earnestness: "We ought never to drink any more liquor; if we don't stop drinking we'll become drunkards." He did stop from that hour; and for the remainder of life, not only as a personal safeguard, but for the sake of the example, he was a total abstinence man. His companion formed no such resolution, but continued to drink until the habit became too inveterate to be overcome, and he died a drunkard.
It is not improbable that young Kirkpatrick had been awakened to thoughtfulness on this subject by something he had heard from the lips of his pastor. On one occasion, early in his ministry, Dr. Finley exchanged pulpits for a Sabbath with the pastor of a neighboring church. At the latter place the tavern was opposite to, or near by the church, and with the bar kept open on Sunday as well as other days, according to the old custom. Being much fatigued with the ride, he dismounted and walked into the bar-room and drank something stronger than water for his refreshment. As he passed out of the tavern for the church he saw two young men, one of whom he overheard saying to the other: "Come, let's go hear the Dominie preach -- he has just had 'a smaller,' and I guess we'll have a good sermon." How good the sermon he preached to that congregation was, tradition does not inform us, but he felt that a pungent sermon had been preached to him in the brief sentence uttered by that young man. It so affected him that he resolved henceforth that no man should have the opportunity to quote him as an example to justify drinking-habits; he resolved to abandon altogether the use of intoxicating liquor as a beverage -- and those who knew him were aware that for Dr. Finley to resolve was to execute.
At the age of fourteen, Jacob began his course of classical study, making his home with his grandfather, David Kirkpatrick, Esq., at Mine Brook, because it was four miles nearer to Baskingridge than his father's house.
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A selection from the Kirkpatrick Memorial, 1867, Westcott & Thomson, Philadelphia, PA
Events
| Birth | 8 Aug 1785 | Mine Brook, Somerset Co., New Jersey |  | ||
| Marriage | 1809 | Mary Howell Burroughs Sutfin | | ||
| Death | 2 May 1866 | Ringoes, Hunterdon Co., New Jersey | | ||
| Title (Nobility) | Rev. | ||||
| Burial | Amwell Ridge Cemetery, Ringoes, Hunterdon Co., New Jersey | |
Families
| Spouse | Mary Howell Burroughs Sutfin (1791 - 1874) |
| Child | Calvin Kirkpatrick (1809 - ) |
| Child | John Sutfin Kirkpatrick (1810 - 1816) |
| Child | David Bishop Kirkpatrick (1811 - 1890) |
| Child | Alexander Kirkpatrick (1812 - 1886) |
| Child | Henry Augustus Kirkpatrick (1816 - 1851) |
| Child | Lydia Kirkpatrick (1816 - ) |
| Child | Newton Kirkpatrick (1820 - 1863) |
| Child | Sarah Kirkpatrick (1823 - 1920) |
| Child | Mary Kirkpatrick (1825 - ) |
| Child | Charles Whitehead Kirkpatrick (1826 - 1912) |
| Child | Jacob Kirkpatrick Jr. (1828 - 1859) |
| Child | Frances J. Kirkpatrick (1830 - 1910) |
| Child | Anna F. Kirkpatrick (1831 - 1909) |
| Child | Elizabeth G. Kirkpatrick (1832 - 1922) |
| Father | Alexander Kirkpatrick (1751 - 1827) |
| Mother | Sarah Carle (1760 - 1842) |
| Sibling | David Kirkpatrick (1776 - ) |
| Sibling | Mary Kirkpatrick (1781 - ) |
| Sibling | John Kirkpatrick (1783 - 1855) |
| Sibling | Sarah Kirkpatrick (1787 - ) |
| Sibling | Elizabeth Kirkpatrick (1789 - ) |
| Sibling | Lydia Kirkpatrick (1791 - ) |
| Sibling | Anne Kirkpatrick (1794 - ) |
| Sibling | Rebecca Kirkpatrick (1796 - ) |
| Sibling | Jane Kirkpatrick (1798 - ) |
| Sibling | Alexander Kirkpatrick (1800 - ) |
| Sibling | Martha Kirkpatrick (1802 - ) |
| Sibling | Robert Finley Kirkpatrick (1805 - ) |
Endnotes
1. Find A Grave.
2. Find A Grave.
3. Find A Grave.
4. Find A Grave.