Ralph Kilpatrick, M. D., Rapides Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller

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Ralph Kilpatrick, M. D.  Prominent in the medical fraternity of 
Rapides Parish is found Dr. Ralph Kilpatrick, who is engaged in a 
practice of gratifyingly large proportions at the thriving 
community of Alexandria, where his offices are located on Second 
Street.  Prior to locating at Alexandria in 1915, he had for 
thirty years practiced at Cheneyville, and in both communities 
is known as a capable, faithful and sympathetic member of his 
honored calling.

Doctor Kilpatrick was born in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, 
December 21, 1861, and is a son of Andrew Milton and Marjorie 
Eliza (Cushman) Kilpatrick.  His grandfather was Andrew Conger 
Kilpatrick, a native of South Carolina, who came to Rapides 
Parish in 1816, as one of the earliest settlers of this part 
of the state.  He married a Miss Tanner, daughter of Robert 
Tanner, also a native of South Carolina and a pioneer of Rapides 
Parish, who was one of those who assisted in the arrest of Aaron 
Burr.  Andrew Milton Kirkpatrick was born near Cheneyville, 
Louisiana, July 16, 1829, and served in the army of the Confederacy 
during the war between the states, principally as a courier.  
At the close of that struggle he returned to his home place and 
engaged in extensive operations as a planter and merchant, in 
which he was very successful.  A democrat in his political 
affiliation, he was one of the prominent men in his community 
in public affairs, and for a number of years served, capably, 
as mayor and justice of the peace at Evergreen.  Neither he 
nor Mrs. Kilpatrick were professed church members, but he leaned 
toward the Baptist faith and she toward the Episcopal, Mr. 
Kilpatrick died in 1897, while Mrs. Kilpatrick, who was born 
at Marksville, Louisiana, in 1837, passed away in 1867.  They 
were the parents of four children: C. M., who was clerk of the 
court and sheriff of Rapides Parish for over twenty years, and 
died in 1921; Dr. Ralph, of this review; Herbert, of Washington, 
Louisiana; and a daughter who died in infancy.

Ralph Kilpatrick attended private school at Evergreen, took 
further preparatory work at New Orleans, and finally entered 
Tulane University, from which he was graduated with the degree 
of Doctor at Medicine in 1885.  During the next thirty years 
was engaged in the practice of his profession at Cheneyville, 
where he won standing and public confidence, and served for a 
time as mayor.  In 1915 he changed his scene of operations to 
Alexandria, where his success as a general practitioner has 
increased.  Just prior to taking up his residence at Alexandria, 
he had done post-graduate work at New Orleans, in the Charity 
Hospital of that city.  Doctor Kilpatrick and his family belong 
to the Episcopal Church.  His daughters are members of the 
Daughters of the American Revolution and his son of the Sons 
of the American Revolution, being entitled to such membership 
through their mother's family, the Cushman's.  Doctor Kilpatrick 
is fraternally affiliated with the Masons and was master of his 
lodge three years; and is a past chancellor of the Knights of 
Pythias.  Politically he is a democrat, and his professional 
connections include membership in the Rapides Parish Medical 
Society, the Louisiana State Medical Society and the Eighth 
District Medical Society.

On October 15, 1891, Doctor Kilpatrick was united in marriage 
with Miss Alice Pierson, a daughter of Judge David Pierson and 
a sister of Dr. Clarence Pierson, a sketch of whose career 
appears elsewhere in this work.  To this union there have been 
born three children:  Sydney Marjorie, who attended the Sophia 
Wright School at New Orleans, graduated from the Louisiana State 
University and did postgraduate work at Chicago, New York and 
Boulder, Colorado, and is now a teacher of mathematics and physics 
in the Bolton High School, Alexandria;  David Pierson, who held 
a second lieutenant's commission during the World war and was 
stationed at Camp Jackson and Fort Sill, and is now located at 
Alexandria with the Alexander, Bolton & Lewis Insurance Company,
 and  Nainette Cushman, who is attending the Louisiana State 
University.  She is the wife of John Worthie Cox, of Baton Rouge, 
Louisiana.

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 245, by Henry E. Chambers.  
Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and 
New York, 1925.