Bio: Rev. Joseph Anthony Kirkbride; Manchester, ENG., then Caddo Parish,
Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller
Date: 1999-2000





**********************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
**********************************************
 



Rev. Joseph Anthony Kirkbride, C. S. Sp., now of Shreveport, is a member of
the congregation of the Holy Ghost, a Catholic order devoted to the salvation
of abandoned souls.

He was born at Manchester, England, March 4, 1894, and has been a naturalized
American citizen since March 14, 1924.  His parents were Joseph Aloysius and
Annie (Conway) Kirkbride.  His father was a dentist.  His mother died February
17, 1920.  In the family were seven sons and one daughter, one son dying at
the age of three years.  All the other sons were soldiers in the World war,
except Rev. Joseph A., who was exempted as a clerical student.  One Of his
brothers was killed in the service.  The daughter became a school teacher and
the other Sons took up the medical profession.

Joseph Anthony Kirkbride attended the Holy Name parochial school at
Manchester, England, entered college at Castlehead, Grange-Over-Sands,
England, in 1908, with the congregation of the Holy Ghost.  In August, 1911,
he came to America to Study for the same order, entering the Holy Ghost
Apostolic College at Philadelphia and graduating in 1912.  He entered the
seminary at St. Mary's, Ferndale Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1912, becoming a
member of the congregation of the Holy Ghost on August 15, 1913.  In 1915 he
went to the Duquesne University at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, remaining there
two years as a student, prefect and teacher.  He took the Bachelor of Arts
examination in 1917, and was graduated June 21st of that year.  Then returning
to the seminary at Norwalk, Connecticut, he was ordained Christmas Eve, 1919. 
For a time he was engaged in ministerial duties in Connecticut and New York,
and in October, 1920, sailed for England, being at Castlehead,
Grange-Over-Sands, until July, 1921.

On returning to the United States in 1921 he took charge of a parish at
Portsmouth, Rhode Island, remaining there until April, 1922, when he was
called to supply for a sick professor at Cornwells Heights, Pennsylvania.  In
October, 1922, he went to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, as assistant pastor, and
in April, 1924, came to Shreveport to take up his special work under the
order.  Father Kirkbride was initiated in the Knights of Columbus at Marshall,
Texas, in May, 1924, and became chaplain of the Shreveport Council in the same
year.  He is also chaplain to the Catholic Daughters of America at Shreveport.

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 193, by Henry E. Chambers.  Published by
The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.