Alexander Kirkpatrick Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 910-911

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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HON. ALEXANDER KIRKPATRICK, the well known and popular railroad 
commissioner of the second district of South Dakota, and a prominent 
and representative farmer of Hand county, his home being on section 26, 
Grand township, was born in March, 1856, near Warsaw, Kosciusko county, 
Indiana, a son of Thomas and Clarissa (Major) Kirkpatrick, natives of 
Ohio. The father was one of the first settlers of Kosciusko county, 
Indiana, where he took up a tract of government land and engaged in 
farming until his death, which occurred March 14, 1869. The mother 
departed this life in November, 1888. In their family were three sons 
who reached manhood. William W., the eldest, gave up his life in 1863, 
in the service of his country during the Civil war. George M., twin 
brother of our subject, is now a resident of Beadle county, South 
Dakota 

During his boyhood Alexander Kirkpatrick attended the common schools of 
his native state, and later he engaged in farming in Jasper county, 
Indiana, until 1880. He then visited the Pacific coast in company with 
William Major, traveling over three thousand miles with a mule team and 
spending two years in the far west. In 1882 he and Mr. Major came to 
Hand county, South Dakota, and located in Grand township, where he has 
since been most successfully engaged in general farming and stock 
raising. Prosperity has crowned his well-directed efforts, and he is 
now the owner of six hundred and forty acres of fine farming land, 
three-quarters of which he has placed under a high state of cultivation 
and well improved. 

On the 18th of December, 1888, Mr. Kirkpatrick was united in marriage 
with Miss Helen I. Harmon, a native of Iowa, and a daughter of Rev. 
Fisk and Martha (Benjamin) Harmon. Her father was a native of Vermont 
and a Presbyterian minister. The children born to our subject and his 
wife are Harry A., Paul H. and William B. 

Religiously, Mr. and Mrs. Kirkpatrick hold membership in the 
Presbyterian church, and socially he is connected with the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen. Politically he is a stanch supporter of the 
men and measures of the Populist party, of which he was one of the 
founders in this state, and was chairman of the Hand county Populist 
committee at its organization. He was also the county's representative 
on the state committee for six years, and was secretary and treasurer 
of the same for two years. He has filled nearly all the township 
offices and in 1896 was elected state railroad commissioner for a term 
of six years, receiving the greatest number of votes and the largest 
majority of any state officer elected. He enjoys a wide acquaintance 
throughout both county and state and is held in high regard by all who 
know him. Over his life record there falls no shadow of wrong, his 
public service has been most exemplary, and his private life has been 
marked by the utmost fidelity to duty.