James Vaughn Kirk

CONWAY, HAMBLIN, KIRK, THOMPSON, VAUGHN

Posted By: Judy Wight Branson (email)
Date: 6/29/2006 at 09:34:15

James V. Kirk, living on section 30, Monroe township, has long occupied his present farm, which comprises four hundred acres of rich and valuable land that responds readily to the care and labor which he bestows upon it. He was born in Morrow county, Ohio, August 8, 1843, a son of William B. and Rebecca T. (Vaughn) Kirk, natives of Columbiana county, Ohio. They were members of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, of which sect the family have been representatives for three hundred years. The parents removed to Iowa when their son James was serving in the Civil war and settled in New Sharon, Mahaska county, where both the father and mother passed away.

James V. Kirk was reared in Ohio and in November, 1863, when but twenty years of age, he responded to the country's call for troops, his patriotic spirit being aroused by the attempt of the south to overthrow the Union. He donned the nation's blue uniform and marched under the stars and stripes to the front as a member of Company E, Thirty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. With his command he participated in the engagements at Lynchburg, Cloyd Mountain, Winchester, Perryville, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek and Beverly. During the last named engagement he was captured and spent two months in Libby prison, after which he was exchanged. He was mustered out at Wheeling, West Virginia, and received an honorable discharge at Columbus, Ohio.

While on a furlough Mr. Kirk came to Iowa, to which state his parents, had in the meantime removed. Making his way to Madison county, he here purchased two hundred acres of land, after which he returned to the front and completed his term of service as one of the valiant soldiers of the Civil war. He then came again to Iowa and spent several years in trapping in the northern part of this state and in Minnesota. He also made one trip as a freighter across the plains to Virginia City, which was then the capital of Montana. In 1872 he took up his abode upon his land in Madison county. The year before he had hired forty acres broken, for two summers he lived in a tent and then built a frame house sixteen by twenty feet, which continued to be his home until 1908, when he erected his present large and substantial residence. He has been very successful as the years have gone by and is now the owner of four hundred acres of land which he has brought to a high state of cultivation, making his property one of the good farms of the county.

On the 15th of April, 1875, Mr. Kirk was married to Miss Martha Hamblin, who was born in Columbia county, Wisconsin, a daughter of Simeon and Eleanor (Thompson) Hamblin, who in 1854 settled in Monroe township, this county, where their remaining days were passed. Mrs. Kirk was educated in the district schools and at Winterset and for eight years capably engaged in teaching. Mr. and Mrs. Kirk have had no children of their own but reared a little girl, although they did not legally adopt her. She was known as Katherine Kirk and is now the wife of Glenn Conway, a resident farmer of Monroe township, by whom she has two children, Lloyd and Russell Kirk.

Mrs. Kirk is a member of the Methodist church. Both Mr. and Mrs. Kirk have a wide acquaintance in Monroe township and other parts of the county. He has devoted many years of his life to farming, and industry and perseverance have been the foundation of his present gratifying success.

Taken from the book, “The History of Madison County, Iowa, 1915,” by Herman Mueller.