Nathaniel Kirkpatrick
Nathaniel Kirkpatrick, late of Wayne Township, Adams County, was born May 29, 1816. By the time he attained manhood he began work for himself on a farm near Harshaville. He was married in 1841 to Margaret A. Patton, daughter of John Patton of Cherry Fork, born on the sixteenth of April, 1824. They had four sons, three of whom are now living. John Patton Kirkpatrick resides at Kansas City, born June 23, 1843. He married a daughter of William L. McVey. Adams Anderson Kirkpatrick, who has a separate sketch herein, was born November 14, 1847, and Robert Stewart Kirkpatrick. His wife died soon after the birth of her youngest son, and he was married the following year to Mrs. America Kerr, widow of Robert Kerr. They had one child, Oscar Bennett Kirkpatrick, born December 6, 1856, now a physician at North Liberty.
Nathaniel Kirkpatrick lived near Harshaville when he was first married. He then removed to the old home, now the property of Huston Harsha, occupied by a man by the name of Beekly, just before his first wife died, and he resided there until 1882, when he removed to North Liberty. While residing at Harshaville, he was one of the first elders in the U. P. Church at Unity, and after his removal to his home on Grace's Run, he was a member of the Cherry Fork Church. He was a trustee of Wayne Township for many years, but never sought or held any public offices, but he usually attended all the political conventions, either as a delegate or spectator.
Mr. Kirkpatrick was a man of wide and extensive reading, well informed on all current topics of Church and State. He was a man of very decided opinions, and was fond of giving expression to them. His opinions on religious and political subjects were well considered, and he was a leader among men. He exercised a great deal of influence in the circles of his own acquaintance. To him is entitled the suggestion which made the Hon. John T. Wilson first State Senator and afterwards Congressman, and many of the political results in his county and district were due to his suggestions. He was a very ardent Republican and always antislavery. He was a conductor on the Underground Railroad, from the station at Gen. William McIntire's to the house of Joseph W. Rothrock at Mt. Leigh, and has conducted many a fugitive over this route. No fugitive applied to him in vain, and no bondsman ever placed himself under his care and was returned to slavery. He was an Abolitionist always, but prior to the war, thought it best to go into the Republican party and did so, but never acted as a third party man. Prior to the Republican party he was a Whig. He was a most agreeable companion, a good neighbor and a good citizen. He was always cheerful and genial, and it was always pleasant to meet him and converse with him. He appeared to be built on the plan of which there are very few models, and in this generation which has succeeded him there seems to be fewer. His passing was a loss to the communitv and to all who knew him. He died Iune 20, 1886.
From "History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time" - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900