James Kirk Biography


	This biography appears on pages 190-191 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				JAMES KIRK. 

	James Kirk has had quite an eventful life, as for a number of 
years he was a missionary in Africa, for a time was in business there, 
and is now engaged in farming in Bon Homme county, this state, where he 
is one of the best known and wealthiest men. He was born on a farm 
known as Crary Hill, parish of Duris Deer, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, 
November 9, 1854, a son of John and Margaret (McKeen) Kirk, both of 
whom died in their native land. In 1869, when a youth of about fifteen 
years, James Kirk emigrated to America, sailing from Liverpool and 
joining his brother Robert, who was a farmer in Gallatin county, 
Missouri. The two worked all winter on the construction of a railroad 
bridge at St. Charles, Missouri, and then James Kirk went to Minnesota, 
where he was employed on farms for two years. 

	In the meantime his brother became a student in the Union Park 
Theological Seminary in Chicago. James Kirk visited him in that city in 
October, 1871, shortly after the great fire. He then went south and ran 
a sawmill and later a cotton gin in Tennessee and in Mississippi. His 
next removal was to Colorado, where he bought sheep for about six 
months. Upon returning east he worked in Chicago for a year and while 
there made arrangements for going to Africa in 1873 under the control 
of the American Missionary Association. He visited his parents in 
Sanquhar, Dumfriesshire, for six months, and then went to the Sherbro 
Island, on the west coast of Africa, where he labored for three years 
and three months as a missionary. At the end of that time he was forced 
to return to a more temperate climate, as his health was becoming 
impaired. He returned to Scotland and there married, but after a few 
months returned to Africa, this time being sent by the Church 
Missionary Society and stationed in the Niger river region, in Soudan. 
After remaining there for three years and three months he again 
returned home to recuperate, and upon going back to Africa for a third 
time entered into partnership with John Dulzel Fairly at Lagos, on the 
west coast. They kept a trading store there, dealing in general 
supplies, but after one year Mr. Kirk found his health was again 
failing and went home. He returned to Africa a fourth time but became 
convinced that he could not endure the climate any longer and sold his 
interest in the store to Mr. Fairly after six or eight months. He again 
visited his relatives in Scotland and then emigrated with his family to 
America and settled upon the farm where he now lives. Before bringing 
his family he made a trip to America and purchased the south half of 
section 26, Hancock precinct, Bon Homme county. Mr. Kirk now has about 
one thousand acres of some of the finest land in the state. In the 
summer of 1914 he helped to organize the Farmers and Merchants State 
Bank at Springfield, this state, and is still one of that institution's 
largest stockholders. His brother Robert became a farmer and minister 
of Bon Homme county after completing his course in the Union Park 
Seminary of Chicago, and owns a great deal of land in South Dakota, 
although a few years ago he removed to Virginia, where he now lives. 

	James Kirk was married in 1875 to Miss Mary Mair, a native of 
Galston, Ayrshire, Scotland, and a daughter of Robert and Margaret ( 
Young) Mair. The mother died in Scotland, but the father subsequently 
came to America and passed away in South Dakota. To Mr. and Mrs. Kirk 
five children have been born. John, who is now managing the home farm, 
is proving unusually successful as an agriculturist. He spent four 
years as a student in Yankton College, graduated from the State 
Agricultural College at Brookings, and took a post-graduate course at 
the State University of Wisconsin at Madison, that state. There he met 
Miss Edna Murray Ketcham, whom he married and who is a graduate of the 
State University of Wisconsin. Margaret was for three years a student 
in Yankton College, and is now a nurse in the Chicago, Milwaukee &; St. 
Paul Hospital at Mobridge, this state. Mary, James, Jr., and Louise 
have all graduated from the State Normal School at Springfield, and 
Mary was graduated from Vermillion. James, Jr., graduated from the 
Springfield Normal, after which he took the course in the State 
University at Vermillion and then completed his legal education at 
Seattle, Washington. He entered an office at Wagner, Charles Mix 
county, this state, and is proving an able attorney. Louise is now 
teaching at Lake Andes. 

	Mr. Kirk is a republican and is a devoted member of the 
Presbyterian church. Fraternally he is a Mason and has attained the 
thirty-second degree. His has been a life in which intense moral fervor 
and an unusual business ability have been combined, and he has been a 
moving force in both the material and spiritual interests of the 
communities in which he has resided. He is not only one of the 
substantial men of Bon Homme county but he is also one of the most 
respected, because of his personal worth and close adherence to the 
standards of Christianity.