Biographical Note
William Kirkman was born in Bury, England on December 7, 1832 to a
Scotch-Irish factory foreman. He immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts in 1852
and moved to California in 1853. Between 1853 and 1862, he lived in Australia,
the Sandwich Islands, and British Columbia. In 1862, he returned to California,
but soon migrated northeast, as he began supplying cattle for miners in Boise,
Idaho and Walla Walla, Washington.
In San Francisco, California on February 2, 1867, he married Isabella
Potts, a native of Balla Bay, Ireland who had emigrated to live with her
sister. They moved to Idaho City, Idaho to pursue economic ventures in the
cattle business. After enduring the difficult winter of 1868-1869 and heavy
economic and personal losses, including the death of their son George, they
returned briefly to San Francisco.
In 1870, William and Isabella Kirkman moved to Walla Walla, Washington
and built a small house on Colville St. The Kirkman House preserved today as a
museum was built around 1873. William Kirkman and John Dooley partnered as
cattle ranchers and enjoyed great economic success. In 1890, Kirkman bought out
Dooley's interest in the business and founded the Walla Walla Dressed Meat
Company. He also became involved in wheat farming, operating two farms near Dry
Creek.
William and Isabella Kirkman were active in the Walla Walla community.
William Kirkman served on the City Council, the School Board, and the Whitman
College Board of Trustees. He was also a founding member and president of the
Walla Walla Club and served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention
in 1892. The Kirkmans had four children who survived into adulthood: William H.
Kirkman, Fanny A. Kirkman, (Mrs. Allen G. Reynolds), Myrtle B. Kirkman, and
Leslie G. Kirkman.
William Kirkman died in Stevens Point, WI in 1893. Isabella Kirkman
died near Belfast, Ireland in 1931.
Content Description
The collection contains of a wide variety of documents. The
correspondence file contains William Kirkman's letters to his family written in
the 1850s and 1860s. Isabella Kirkman's 1867 scrapbook contains clippings of
poems and newspaper articles. Invitations received by the family in the 1870s
and 1880s provide evidence of their social engagements. A travel journal kept
by William Kirkman describes his family's 1892 European tour. Genealogists will
be especially interested in the clipping file, the family record in the family
Bible, and an unpublished booklet entitled "The Kirkmans of Walla Walla" by
Patrick Peebles. A small collection of financial records, land records, and
materials from the 1892 Republican National Convention complete the
collection.