Corporal, Co I, 4th Infantry, 3rd Division.
Killed in action near Nogentel, France, July 20, 1918. Age 22.
Town: Stafford
Burial: Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, Plot A Row 1 Grave 55, Belleau, France
John Kirkpatrick was born in Stafford (Genesee County), New York, in July, 1896. He was the youngest of six children (brothers Samuel, William, Alexander; sisters Jean and Nellie) of Scottish immigrants Samuel Kirkpatrick and wife Agnes. John’s father died in February, 1896, five months before John was born.
The 1892 NY State Census shows Samuel and Agnes Kirkpatrick living in Bergen with their first four children. The 1900 US Census shows Agnes now married to John Ivison (misspelled Iverson), living in Byron with five Kirkpatrick stepchildren, including John at age three. Mr. Ivison died in 1901. By the 1905 NY Census, Agnes Ivison had moved her family to Stafford. The 1910 US Census shows her on Morganville Road in Stafford, widowed and working as a laundress, with John at age 13. A Batavia Daily News article dated December 21, 1916, about a year before he enlisted, refers to John Kirkpatrick as “from Stafford.” The NY Roll of Honor and Kirkpatrick’s NYSS, however, list his residence (presumably at the time he enlisted) as 110 Swan Street in Batavia.
John Kirkpatrick joined the Army in Buffalo in November, 1917, and was sent to the Columbus Barracks recruit depot in Columbus, Ohio, where he was assigned to the 4th Infantry, 3rd Division. His unit left for overseas aboard the Great Northern on April 6, 1918, and arrived in France about ten days later.
On July 20, 1918, the date Corporal Kirkpatrick was killed, the 3rd Division and French forces had spent several days fighting off a massive German offensive at the Marne River and had then launched a counteroffensive to push back the enemy. Kirkpatrick’s 4th Infantry, on the division’s far left just east of Chateau-Thierry at the river’s south bank (about a mile north of Nogentel), was moving forward to cross the Marne and capture the village of Brasles. The advancing troops were under strong defensive fire from machine guns, artillery, and enemy planes.
A searcher’s report in Corporal Kirkpatrick’s Burial Case File reads, “Killed instantly by shell fire July 20/1918 near the village of Nogentel (Chateau-Thierry Sector). Company was moving across open field and were heavily shelled by the enemy.”
Corporal John Kirkpatrick was originally buried in an American cemetery at Ville Chamblon, about six miles from the front, but was later permanently interred at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in Belleau, France.
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September 21, 1918 Batavia Daily News p1 c6
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Source: New York Service Summary from Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917-1919, NY State Archives, Albany, New York
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Source: Burial Case Files, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, National Archives — St Louis, Missouri
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Source: Burial Case Files, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, National Archives — St Louis, Missouri
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Source: Burial Case Files, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, National Archives — St Louis, Missouri
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Source: Burial Case Files, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, National Archives — St Louis, Missouri
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Source: Burial Case Files, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, National Archives — St Louis, Missouri
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John Kirkpatrick memorial stone, Stafford Rural Cemetery (East), Stafford, Genesee County, New York.
GPS Coordinates: Lat 42° 58’ 43.01” N, Long 78° 4’ 24.909” W (DD: 42.978614, -78.073586)
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John Kirkpatrick headstone, Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, Plot A Row 1 Grave 55, Belleau, France
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John Kirkpatrick Sources:
– County Lists 1, 2, 3
– Feb 15, 1896 BD p1 c6
– Sep 30, 1901 BD p1 c4
– May 20, 1907 BD p3 c2
– Dec 21, 1916 BD p6 c4
– Sep 21, 1918 BD p1 c6*
– Sep 23, 1918 RDC p3 c1
– Sep 28, 1918 BT p2 c2
– “New York State Census, 1892.” Online index and images, FamilySearch.org. Entries for Samuel Kirkpatrick, age 32, and Agnes Kirkpatrick, age 27, citing Census Records, Bergen, E.D. 01, Genesee, New York; page number 7.
– “United States Census, 1900.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for John Iverson [Ivison misspelled] (head) and John Kirkpatrick (stepson, age 3), citing Census Records, Byron township, Genesee, New York; sheet number 15B, line numbers 85 and 91, microfilm series T623, Roll 1038, page 197.
– “New York State Census, 1905.” Online index and images, FamilySearch.org. Entry for John Iverson [actually Kirkpatrick], age 8, citing Census Records, Stafford, E.D. 01, Genesee, New York; page number 2, line 29.
– “United States Census, 1910.” Online index and images, HeritageQuest.com. Entries for Agnes Ivison (head, age 45) and John Kirkpatrick, age 13, citing Census Records, Stafford, Genesee, New York; sheet number 4B, line numbers 61 and 64, microfilm series T624, Roll 951, page 309.
– NYSS
– Roll of Honor (NY State), p 65
– WWI database, American Battle Monuments Commission website (www.abmc.gov/search/wwi.php)
– 3d Division, Summary of Operations in the World War, pp 32-36
– History of the Third Division United States Army in the World War, pp 12-13, 55-59
– United States Army in the World War 1917-1919 (Vol. 5), pp 101-105
– The Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War, Volume VIII, Field Operations, Chapter XII, The Aisnes-Marne Operation, pp 405-9 and map Plate XII, accessed online, U.S. Army Medical Department, Office of Medical History (http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwi/fieldoperations/chapter12.html)
– BCF
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Click for Key to Source Abbreviations. See the Bibliography for complete title, author, and publisher information, with links to online access when available.