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The honored subject of this review has traveled
extensively and mingled much with men, and his long and varied experience in different fields of endeavor has greatly strengthened and
enriched his mind, giving him a fund of useful and practical knowledge of far greater value than a collegiate or university training could
have imparted. James Kirk, farmer, stock raiser and representative citizen, is a native of Dumfriesshire, Scotland, and the son of John
and Margaret (McKean) Kirk, both parents born and reared in
Dumfriesshire, the father a farmer by occupation. John Kirk was a man of substantial worth, industrious, upright in his dealings, and he
lived a God-fearing life, honored and respected by all who knew him. He never left the land of his birth and now sleeps beneath the soil of his
native heath, having died in the year 1896. His widow is still living in Dumfriesshire and of the family of six children three are citizens
of the United States. Thomas, the oldest of the family, is a worker in iron, and at this time holds the position of foreman in a large
blacksmith shop in Scotland. John, the second son, was graduated from the University of Glasgow, came to America in 1888, and settled in Bon
Homme county, South Dakota; later he moved to Sioux Falls, near which place he purchased farm property and for a number of years he has been
actively identified with the civic and public interests of that part of the state He has held various official positions, served in the
legislature and is now in the assessor's office at Washington, D. C. William, the third in order of birth, came to the United States a
number of years ago and is now a prosperous farmer of Oregon. Robert, also a farmer and stock raiser, lives in Bon Homme county, South
Dakota, and Margaret, the youngest of the number, now the wife of David Calvert, has never left the land of her nativity.
James Kirk, the fifth of the above family, was born November 9,
1846, and spent his early life in Dumfriesshire, receiving a good education in the schools of his native place. When eighteen years of
age he went to England, where for a period of six years he was engaged in the dry goods business, but in 1869 he closed up affairs in that
country and came to the United States. After spending some time in Chicago and other cities, he went to Colorado and engaged in sheep
raising, to which he devoted his attention for about six years, and at the expiration of that time returned to Scotland and spent one year at
his old home in Dumfriesshire. Yielding to the solicitation of certain friends as well as to his own inclinations, Mr. Kirk in 1874 went as a
missionary to Sierra Leone, Sherboro, Africa, and spent the ensuing three and a half years in that colony, instructing the natives in the
principles and truths of Christianity and teaching them in various other ways. At the expiration of the time noted he resigned his
position and went back to England, but after spending one year there he was induced to resume missionary work in western Africa, being sent a
second time by the Church of England. His second experience in the mission field covered a period of three and a half years, at the end of
which time he returned to England, but after a six months' sojourn he again went to Africa and engaged in merchandising at Logos, as a member
of the firm of Kirk, Fairley & Company.
Disposing of his interest in the business at the end of three years,
Mr. Kirk returned to Scotland and spent a short time at his old home in
Dumfriesshire, after which he came to the United States, arriving in South Dakota in the year 1887. Being pleased with the appearance of Bon
Homme county, he purchased a half section of land in the same and a few months later returned to Scotland, where he remained until 1889, when
he again came to America for the purpose of improving his land and preparing a habitation for his wife and children. Mr. Kirk brought his
family west in 1889 and from that time to the present has lived on his original purchase, devoting his attention the meanwhile to agriculture
and stock raising. He has developed his land from a wild state into one of the finest farms in the county, besides adding to his possessions at
intervals, being at this time the owner of eight hundred acres of valuable real estate, four hundred of which are in cultivation and
otherwise highly improved. By industry and good management he has not only brought his place to a successful state of tillage, but has
accumulated a sufficiency of this world's goods to enable him to rent the greater portion of his land and live a life of comparative ease.
Despite his independent circumstances, however, he still gives personal attention to his various business interests, making a specialty of live
stock, in the breeding and raising of which he has achieved an enviable reputation. His cattle, of which he keeps a large number, are of the
noted Galloway breed and for several years past he has given considerable attention to the Poland-China breed of hogs and fine-wooled sheep, also blooded horses of a high grade, meeting with
encouraging success in the raising and selling of his different kinds
of domestic animals.
Mr. Kirk was married in his native county, in 1879, to Miss Mary
Mair, of Galston, Ayrshire, Scotland, the union being blessed with five children, whose names are as follows: John Robert, a student of the
Tyndall high school; Margaret, who is attending school in Yankton; Mary, James and Louise, the last three at home.
Mr. Kirk is a Republican in politics and a stanch supporter of
his party. He has been an earnest and devout member of the Congregational church for many years and his zeal and activity in all
lines of religious work were the means of his having been sent on the important missions alluded to in preceding paragraphs. He keeps in
close touch with religious thought and action throughout the world, stands firm for Christian enlightenment and moral reform in his
community, and is a leader in all movements for the intellectual and spiritual good of the people among whom he lives. As a citizen he is
public-spirited and progressive, giving his influence and support to enterprises for the material advancement of his county and state and in
the ordinary relations of life his conduct has ever been that of a whole-hearted, self-sacrificing philanthropist and true benefactor of
his kind. |
