My Genealogy Hound

JOHN D. KIRKPATRICK, D. D., professor of historic and practical theology in Cumberland University and editor and proprietor of the Lebanon Register, was born July 8, 1836, son of Anderson and Eliza (Moss) Kirkpatrick, who were the parents of nine children. The father was of Scotch-Irish lineage, born in Wilson County in 1808, a farmer and stock raiser by occupation. He was married about 1828, and has since resided on the old homestead, which consists of several hundred acres. The mother was born in 1814 in Christian County, Ky., and died in 1875. Our subject received his rudimentary education in the county schools, and afterward attended the Hartsville High School for three years and the high school at Mount Juliet two years. At the age of nineteen he entered Cumberland University, remaining two years. In 1857 he entered the Theological Seminary of the same institution. He began teaching in 1854, and in 1858 became a minister of the Presbyterian Church, being ordained in 1860. In April, 1861, he enlisted in Maney’s company, First Tennessee Regiment. In 1862 he returned to Sumner County and raised Companies C and D, and was elected captain of Company C, Seventh Tennessee Cavalry. He participated in many of the principal battles of the war, and rose to the rank of colonel, he was seriously wounded at Cynthiana, Ky., and was compelled to give up active duty, and was given charge of the enrolling department at Richmond, Va. He was also chaplain of his regiment. After his return he resumed teaching, and November 1, 1866, he married Susan Kirkpatrick, who has borne him four children: Curry B., Donnell B., John D. and Harry B. In 1865 he was given the pastorate of the Goodlettsville Cumberland Presbyterian Church, where he remained four years, and then took charge of the Second Cumberland Church of Nashville. In 1875 he was called to Lebanon to become the financial agent of Cumberland University, and at the same time accepted the chair of historic and practical theology, which he has since filled with credit to himself and honor to the institution. In 1880 he was made managing editor and proprietor of the Cumberland Presbyterian Review. This he disposed of, however, and in 1885 took charge of the Register. In December of the same year the building caught fire, and was consumed with all its contents. He immediately re-established himself and is at present editing a newsy and valuable paper. In 1884 the degree of D. D. was conferred upon him entirely unsolicited. He is a man of unsullied reputation, a gentleman and a scholar. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and K. of H. and K. of P.