Untitled Surnames: Stuart, Wright, Bennett, Westroke, Stockdale, McGowan, Reskill, Cattermole, Griffin, Albert, Mears, Stockdale, Sherburn, Owens

From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette, Wisconsin, publ. 1901 - page 257-258

JAMES KILPATRICK. Among the agriculturalists of Grant county who have attained success from a financial point of view, and have now laid aside all business cares to enjoy a well-earned rest, is this well-known and prominent resident of Platteville. He was born in Ireland Jan. 19, 1825, and the same year was brought to this country by his parents, Andrew and Elizabeth (STUART) KILPATRICK, natives of the North of Ireland, and of Scottish descent. The family located in Philadelphia, Penn., where the father worked as a laborer and weaver for about ten years, but in 1835 moved to Galena, Ill., and he opened up a farm in Jo Daviess county, devoting the remainder of his active business life to agricultural pursuits. There he died in 1896, having long survived his wife, who departed this life in 1870. Of the five children born to them, James is the eldest; Mrs. Eliza WRIGHT died in Jo Daviess county, Ill., March 2, 1881; Andrew Stuart, a farmer of the same county, died in 1896; Ellen is living near Hanover, Ill.; and Robert is an extensive farmer, residing on the old homestead in Jo Daviess county.

In Philadelphia James KILPATRICK was reared until ten years of age, and then accompanied the family on their removal to Galena, Ill., where he grew to manhood. For some time he was engaged in teaming and staging between that city and Chicago, and in 1856 moved to Lafayette county, Wis., where he followed farming until coming to Platteville, in June, 1892, since which time he has lived retired.

In response to the Presidents' call for troops, at the beginning of the Civil war, Mr. KILPATRICK enlisted in Lafayette county, in 1861, for three years or during the war, becoming a member of Company E, 11th Wis., V.I., which was assigned to the Army of the West, and was mustered in at Madison. For some time the regiment was stationed at Pilot Knob, Mo. Mr. KILPATRICK's command participated in the battles of Champion Hills, Black River Bridge, Vicksburg, and Jackson, Miss., and was then transferred to the Department of the Gulf, with which it took part in the battles of Bayou Teche and Vermilion Bayou, the siege of Mobile, Fort Blakely and Spanish Fort. Our subject was not in all these engagements, however. For three or four weeks he was confined in the regimental hospital below Helena, Ark., and for four weeks in the Sister's hospital at St. Louis, after which he was sent to the post hospital in Ironton, Mo., where he was honorably discharged Feb. 17, 1863, on the surgeon's certificate of disability. Returning to his home in Lafayette county, Wis., he resumed farming as soon as able, owning and operating a good farm in Kendall township.

At Galena, Ill., in 1847, Mr. KILPATRICK was united in marriage with Miss Esther BENNETT, also a native of Ireland, and to them were born five children: John Andrew, a resident of Cass county, Iowa, married Maria Jane WESTROKE, and they have fourteen children; Martha E., Mrs. LUDLOW, died in Lafayette county, Wis., June 22, 1888, leaving five sons; Thomas James, living on the home farm, married Aggie STOCKDALE, and has six children; Francis William, a resident of Leeds City , N. Dak., married Kittie McGOWAN, now deceased; and William B. married Bessie RESKILL, who died in 1888, while his death occurred in Lafayette county, Wis., the following year.

On June 7, 1892, Mr. KILPATRICK married Mrs. Alice A. (CATTERMOLE) GRIFFIN, his present wife, who was born in the County of Suffolk, England, a daughter of John and Charlotte (ALBERT) CATTERMOLE, natives of the same place. For forty years her father followed the baker's trade in England, and then locating in Elk Grove, Lafayette Co., Wis., where he opened up and improved a farm, pre-empting a part of the land. He became one of the leading citizens of that community, and served as postmaster at Elk Grove. He died in Platteville in 1887, and his wife passed away in 1885. In religious belief he was a Methodist. Their family numbered seven children: Alice A., now Mrs. KILPATRICK; Alfred A., who enlisted at Platteville in Company F, 10th Wis. V.I., during the Civil war, and was ill when he returned home, dying in Elk Grove in 1873; Aggie A., now Mrs. E. T. MEARS, of Independence, Kans.; Agnes A., who married and died in Wisconsin, leaving six children; Anna A., who married J. B. STOCKDALE, of Belmont, Wis., and died in 1873; Emma, wife of William SHERBURN, of Oklahoma; and Cynthia, who married William OWENS, and died in 1873. For her first husband Mrs. KILPATRICK married D. GRIFFIN, a lock and gun smith who lived for a time in Elk Grove, and then moved to Platteville, where he died in 1888.

Religiously both Mr. and Mrs. KILPATRICK are earnest and consistent members of the Congregational Church, and socially he is connected with W. T. Sherman Post, No. 66, G.A.R., of Platteville, and Belmont Lodge, No. 282, I.O.O.F. While a resident of Kendall township, Lafayette county, he served as justice of the peace six years, and was also a member of the board of supervisors, discharging his official duties in a most creditable and satisfactory manner. His loyalty as a citizen and his devotion to his country's interest have ever been among his marked characteristics, and the community is fortunate that numbers him among her citizens.



This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck