My Genealogy Hound

STEPHEN S. KIRK. This gentleman, who owns four hundred acres of land located three and a-half miles from Rockwood, is a native of Tennessee, having been born near Gainesboro, Jackson County, March 7, 1842. He is the son of George M. and Rachael (Brown) Kirk, the latter a native of Tennessee. The father of our subject was born in Virginia in 1810, and when a small boy removed with his parents to Tennessee.

Stephen S. Kirk spent his childhood in his native county attending the subscription schools, which were conducted but three months in the year. On the outbreak of the Civil War he was in his nineteenth year, but being desirous of defending the Stars and Bars, he in September, 1861, enlisted in Company G, Twenty-fifth Tennessee Infantry, C. S., serving faithfully and well until November, 1863. During that period he participated in the battles of Mill Springs, Ky., Murfreesboro, Beech Grove, Fairfield, Miss., Stephenson, Ala., and Perryville, Ky. Although engaging in so many conflicts, he was never taken prisoner nor wounded, with the exception of a slight bruise received while at Beech Grove.

The first year after the war Mr. Kirk remained in the south and put in a crop of corn for a planter. During the following year he engaged with his brother, John H., in making shoes near a tanyard, among the hills of Tennessee. On coming to Illinois, he sojourned for one year and a-half at Du Quoin, working first on the railroads, and later in the blacksmith department of the railroad shops. In the spring in 1866, he came to Randolph County, and in company with his father, who had preceded him hither, began cultivating the land on the river bottom above Rockwood. In the fall of that year he returned to Tennessee, where he remained for a twelvemonth working for an uncle, and then came to this county, where he has since been engaged in farming. During the past ten years, however, he built a landing near his home, which bears his name, and the business of which occupies a portion of his time and attention.

August 15, 1872, Stephen S. Kirk and Miss Adeliza, daughter of Samuel Mansker, were united in marriage. Mrs. Kirk was born January 20, 1857, at the old Mansker residence near her present home, where her mother still resides. Their union has been blessed by the birth of ten children, of whom those living are: Stephen E., Mabel B., Herman N., Gracie A., William N. and Hy C. Those deceased are Nannie A., Elveretta, Ora L., and one who died in infancy.

Mr. Kirk is at present the possessor of several fine farms on the main land and Crane’s Island, which aggregate more than four hundred acres. His home farm, which consists of thirty-two acres of finely improved land, bears a comfortable residence which overlooks the river and is but a short distance from Kirk’s Landing. In religious affairs Mrs. Kirk is a member of the Free Will Baptist Church. In his political relations, our subject is a Democrat, and is prominent in both national and state politics. He has been Director of the Clifton School for many years, and occupies a high place in the regard of the community in which he resides.