JAMES T. KIRK was born April 7, 1858, in Franklin County, Ala., and is a son of James I. and Louisa Clere Kirk.

Mr. Kirk was left an orphan at an early age and dependent upon his own resources. He made the best of the advantages offered at the common schools, alternating his time with farming and teaching until he was about eighteen years of age, when he took a clerkship in Winston County. In September, 1876, he began reading law with J. B. Moore, of Tuscumbia; was admitted to the bar in spring of 1880, and has since been in the practice at this place. In 1886 he formed a partnership with E. B. Almon under the firm name of Kirk & Almon. Mr. Kirk was married December, 1886, to Ella P. Rather, daughter of Gen. John D. Rather.

James M. Kirk, grandfather of Mr. K., was born in North Carolina in 1794; moved to Franklin County, Ala., in his early life, and is identified with the oldest interests of said county. He fought through the Seminole War, and still lives on his old homestead near Russellville, Ala. His family consisted of three sons and three daughters. James T. Kirk, father of J. T. Kirk, Jr., was born in Franklin County in 1828, and died April 7, 1858. He married Louisa, daughter of George D. Cleere, and extensive planter and merchant in Lawrence County.

[SOURCE: Northern Alabama Historical and Biographical. Illustrated. Smith and De Land, Birmingham, Ala. 1888., p. 439] Typed for inclusion here by Linda Ledlow.

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