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JOHN R. KIRK   Click image to enlarge
John R. Kirk visited Iranistan in the summer of 1853, for the first time, having been in the country but a short time, and says he remarked to his brother-in-law, R. D. McGeehon, who was with him that if the rough element that he saw at play were a specimen of the civilization which prevailed in Cass county, he would have to go back to Illinois. He did not go back, however, but soon became convinced that the Iranistan roughs were not fair specimens of the county's citizenship.
The next settler in this [Atlantic] township was John R. Kirk, who was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, July 19, 1830. His father, Timothy Kirk, died in July, 1863, in Indiana. His mother, Ann (Bailey) Kirk, died in the same State in April, 1841. John R. Kirk removed, with his parents, to Lorain county, Ohio, in 1835, and in the fall of the same year, to Sandusky county, near Port Clinton, where they engaged in farming until the fall of 1837. They then removed to Kosciusko county, Indiana, where John R. received his education. In the spring of 1849, he
(John R.) went to Logan county, Illinois, where he located on a farm, and February 27, 1851, was married to Melicent Hoblitt, a daughter of Timothy B. and Barbara (Bickel) Hoblitt. She belongs to a family which is, to this day, one of the most prominent in Logan county. Mr. and Mrs. Kirk removed to Cass county in the spring of 1854, locating then, upon section 14, of Atlantic township, where they have since resided. They are pioneers of Cass county, and, in fact, of Western Iowa. At the time of their arrival, there were only fifteen or twenty houses in the county. The first school in Atlantic township was taught in his log cabin, by Mary Curry, of Ohio. They have five children living - Jennie A., George Scott, Albert M., Seldon H. and Effie H. (adopted.) They have lost four children. Mr. Kirk owns five hundred and fifty acres of fine, well improved land, and is engaged in stock-raising. He has two orchards with five hundred bearing trees, also a fine vineyard. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Kirk was steward for twenty years, and for the last ten years has been a local preacher of that denomination. He was a class leader for several years, and was ordained a deacon by Bishop Andrews, at the annual conference of the Methodist Episcopal church at Red Oak, on Sunday, September 14, 1884. He was converted in Logan county, Illinois, in 1851, under the pastorate of Rev. Mason, of the Baptist church, and united with the Methodist Episcopal church in this county. He is the leader of the church in this section. He has been an active worker in the Sabbath School, either as class leader or superintendent, for twenty years. He has held local offices, but has
no political ambition. In politics he is a strong Republican. He enlisted in July, 1861, in the Fourth Iowa Infantry, under command of Colonel (afterward General) Dodge, and served one year, when he was discharged for disability, contracted while in the service.
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