FIFTH GENERATION

257. James Lane Kirkpatrick was born in 1802 in Georgia. He died about 1858 in Bellevue, Jackson Co., Iowa.
This man was born in Jackson County, Georgia in 1802 and moved west to M adison County, Illinois with the family in the same year. After his fa mily's move from Madison County, Illinois, James Lane apparently lived f or a time in Bond County, Illinois. He married there to Phereby Hufner o f Kentucky on 29 March 1821. Phereby is sometimes erroneously given on r olls as Phoebe.

James was involved in the Black Hawk War and the Winnebago Indian distu rbance in the Northwestern corner of Illinois. He is listed as a 4th S ergeant in Captain James Strode's company of Galena Mounted Volunteers, u nder Henry Dodge, in the 1827 Indian trouble near Galena and on "the Ou isconsin". The muster says he was mustered into service by the Committ ee of Safety of Galena in August and was out of the service in Septembe r.

James was living in Jo Davies County, Illinois, in 1830. He was in Cap tain Duncan's Company of Mounted Riflemen, Illinois Volunteers, under t he general command of Colonel Henry Dodge in the Black Hawk War of 1832 . Apparently he carried the rank of First Lieutenant until Duncan was t aken ill and then Kirkpatrick succeeded to the Captaincy, but only on a n acting basis. In his bounty land warrant applications there is an oa th that he took as an officer which is signed by him. The wording inclu des a ban on "sending or accepting a challenge to fight a duel", or "in a ny other manner in violation of the act to suppress dueling." The pape r is signed 26 June 1832. He became an officer of the 27th Regiment.

In August, Duncan became disabled and Kirkpatrick took over command of t he company. He was ordered to move some government cattle from Apple R iver across the Fever River to Galena. In the stream he was hit by the s urging cattle and injured. He resigned from the regiment in August tho ugh his name seems to be carried through to the September muster out. J ames M. Strode, signing as late acting colonel of the 27th Regiment of I llinois Militia, includes a statement confirming Kirkpatrick's injuries : "injured and disabled, as I then understood and verily believe, in t he hip and loin by the said cattle swimming against him in said Fever R iver, causing as I believe, a permanent injury and disability by the br uises and contusions on his said hip, loin, and I believe his back." S trode's statement was made in 1848.

After the events of the Black Hawk War, James Lane Kirkpatrick removed t o the community of Bellevue in Jackson County, Iowa. He is generally c onceded to be one of the first settlers of this Mississippi River town, h aving arrived probably in 1838 with his brother, the Reverend Joseph Sc ott Kirkpatrick. James quickly became one of the leaders of the little f rontier town. In 1840 he was County Attorney. In 1846, he was elected o ne of the Jackson County Commissioners. From 1842 to 1848 he was one o f the Town Trustees of Bellevue, and in 1846 he was elected president o f the Trustees, in which capacity he served until 1848.

James was one of the leaders in the Bellevue War which took place in Ap ril of 1840. The Bellevue War is a classic story of frontier justice i n action. The upper Mississippi Valley had been plagued for some time b y a gang of thieves and murderers who had become increasingly arrogant a s it became clear that the legally constituted authorities of the area w ere unable to cope with them. The citizens of Bellevue and Jackson Cou nty had become convinced that the ringleader was a man named W. W. Brow n, who ran a hotel in Bellevue. In March of 1840, a group of citizens m et secretly to decide what to do about the outrages being committed wit h apparent impunity in their midst. From this meeting came a document w hich has become known to history as "The Cox Agreement".

"Bellevue, March 9th 1840
"Whereas the town of Bellevue is infesteed with a Clan of Thieves a nd Counterfeiters, whose depredations have become so outrageous that li ves and property of all men are unsafe, and,

"Whereas, they have become so numerous that they openly defy the l aw to be enforced against them and in all cases, even counteract the ad ministration of the Law and by that means acquire a legal title to the p roperty and substance of all honest men whom they can provoke to a suit a t law with them, which grievances have become so bold and frequent that i t is beyond forbearance.

"We, therefore, whose names are hereunto attached, in order to sec ure to the inhabitants of the Town of Bellevue and the County generally , safety for their property and lives, do hereby pledge ourselves each t o the other and to the people, to expel from the Town of Bellevue W.W. B rown (who is known to be the leader of the band) together with all othe rs of like character and occupation, and to effect the same we will ado pt and prosecute such means as may be thought advisable by a majority o f those who belong to, or may join us, and to support the foregoing Res olution we mutually pledge our property, our lives and our sacred word a nd honor:"

This document was signed by twenty-five citizens, including James Kirkp atrick.

The course of action determined by the conspirators was to organize a l arge enough posse to be able, by the threat of violence, to force Brown a nd his cohorts to leave town. On the appointed day, the posse, compose d of citizens of Bellevue and other nearby communities gathered in Bell evue. Whether the Brown Gang suspected anything was happening is not k nown, but most of the gang gathered at the Brown Hotel at the same tim e. The posse marched in a body down the main street of the little town t o the Brown Hotel and demanded that Brown come out. The intent was to g ive him an ultimatum.

However, when Brown came out the front door of the hotel to talk, a sho t rang out. No one knows who fired that first shot, whether it was an o vereager member of the posse or a member of the gang. In any case, bot h sides immediately opened fire, and Brown fell mortally wounded. The b attle continued for some time. A portion of the posse, including James , stormed the hotel, but were unable to drive the gang from the hotel. S o they set fire to it, thus literally smoking the gang members out. In t he open, most of them were quickly captured, although a few escaped. W hen the shooting stopped at least a dozen men were dead and many more w ounded. Among the dead were four members of the posse.

The question now was, what to do with the prisoners? Apparently the co nspirators had not given much thought or consideration to this possibil ity. Accordingly, eleven of the leading men of Bellevue gathered at Ja mes Kirkpatrick's house to determine what to do next. They first electe d James as president of this Kangaroo Court, then proceeded to discuss t heir options. Some wanted to hold the prisoners for the legal authorit ies. It was protested that this was impractical, since they had no jai l to hold the men in. After discussion, two different plans were favor ed. One faction wanted to hang them immediately. The other faction wa nted to whip them and set them adrift in boats on the Mississippi with t hree days provisions and no paddles. A vote was taken using beans depo sited in a container (white beans for hanging, red beans for whipping) T he vote narrowly favored whipping, and this course was followed.

James is reported to have run a hotel in Bellevue himself in 1838. If t his is true, he apparently soon gave it up. James seems to have settle d in as a grocer.

He wrote a will dated 20 June 1856 which is on file in Jackson County, I owa. Named as his heirs are his wife Phereby (given as Feraby) and two d aughters, Eudora Anna and Clarissa F. His witnesses are I. M. Brakey, J ohn T. Kirkpatrick and Sylvester Farrell. The will was admitted to pro bate in January 1859. We are not certain of his death date, nor that o f his wife.

The following list of his children is compiled from county records, but i s not certain. From the 1830 and 1840 censuses, it appears that he had n ine children. We are only certain of three of them, Jesse, Eudora, and C larissa. The others listed are probable, but not certain.

James Lane Kirkpatrick and Phoebe Hufner had the following children:

851 i. Mary M. Kirkpatrick.
852 ii. Nancy S. Kirkpatrick.
+853 iii. John T. Kirkpatrick.
854 iv. Daughter Unk Kirkpatrick.
855 v. Allen H. Kirkpatrick.
856 vi. Jesse Kirkpatrick.
+857 vii. Caroline Kirkpatrick.
858 viii. Eudora Anna Kirkpatrick.
859 ix. Clarissa F. Kirkpatrick.