War of 1812 Veteran Came to Linn County in 1846

As the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 continues, it's appropriate that I follow up on my June 18 column about John Kirkpatrick, the veteran of that war buried in a single-grave cemetery east of Cedar Rapids.

Decades ago the Ely American Legion began caring for the grave which is north of Ely and Highway 30. Members kept a path mowed to the original limestone marker, erected a new one and installed a flagpole. In recent years a housing development has surrounded the grave which sits on a raised area in the center of a cul-de-sac.

Following my curious nose, I located Tom Vavra of Ely, longtime legion member who raises a flag by the grave every Memorial Day, Independence Day and Veterans Day.

Little was known about John Kirkpatrick except that his tombstone said he was a private who fought with the Ohio Militia under Capt. Taylor during the War of 1812 and that he died in 1860.

"I blew a chance with a relative a few years ago from out of state," Tom said that day. "He called for information and we didn't have it. I didn't get his name."

About a week after my story, along came self-professed amateur genealogist John Wilkinson of Marion who had located one of Kirkpatrick's distant relatives. "I get a thrill out of this," he told me, "and once I get on to something I keep at it."

He'd found Tamara Gray-Becker of Phoenix who was soon to visit relatives in Mount Pleasant where she grew up. She is Kirkpatrick's great-great-great-great granddaughter. Her limited time in Iowa meant she was unable to visit the grave on her trip, but she forwarded some interesting family research.

Not only was John Kirkpatrick a veteran of the War of 1812 (so were three brothers), but his father, Andrew Kirkpatrick, was a Revolutionary War veteran and his son, Andrew Jackson Kirkpatrick., was a chaplain in the Civil War.

These Kirkpatricks came from Scotland. In fact, Andrew was born there in 1739, came to the United States (Virginia) with his parents in 1756 and fought for its freedom, He died in Adams County, Ohio, in 1827. Two brothers (one killed) also fought in the war.

John Kirkpatrick, the one in the grave, was one of Andrew's seven sons. He was born June 29, 1789, in what is now West Virginia. About 1800, his father decided to seek greener pastures so he built a flatboat and sailed the family to Ohio. In 1813, not only did John marry Ann Van Pelt (they would have 11 children), but he was called into service in the Army to fight in the War of 1812.

Reports say that John moved his family to Indiana in the early 1830s and came to Iowa in 1846, the same year it became a state. He bought a farm in Linn County about 10 miles southeast of Cedar Rapids and in 1851 received another 40 acres from the government as a War of 1812 veteran. He died in 1860.

Andrew Jackson Kirkpatrick was born in 1816 in Ohio, grew up and married in Indiana, then came to Louisa County. Records show he had 17 land transactions there from 1847 to 1858. By 1861 he was a Methodist Preacher in Mount Pleasant (involved with Iowa Wesleyan College) and enlisted in the Union Army where he served until 1864. He and his wife, Nancy, had 13 children, although seven died in infancy. He died in 1884 at Brighton where he's buried.

One son, also Andrew Jackson Kirkpatrick, grew up to join the Barnum & Bailey Circus, but that's another story.