Notes:

According to jpkirkpatrick.com:
James Kirkpatrick is said to have been born in 1743. Since his father emigrated from Belfast, Ireland in 1736, and shortly lived in Pennsylvania prior to being found in 1750-51 in South Carolina and receiving land grants from the governor of North Carolina in 1754.

According to family sources he was killed by a group of Tories during the Revolution. He is buried in Bullock's Creek Cemetery, York County, SC. The headstone reads: "James Kirkpatrick, Deceast, 1781"...the stone lies flat to the ground and is found in the older part of the cemetary near other Kirkpatrick's

James Kirkpatrick served in the Revolution with the South Carolina militia. An indent is on file in Columbia, SC, at the South Carolina Archives, made to James Kilpatrick for duty with Brandon's Regiment 'Before and since the fall of Charleston'. Brandon would be Thomas Brandon, born in Pennsylvania and migrant to what is now Union County, SC. Brandon often served under General Sumter. We know he was active at Musgrove's Mill, King's Mountain, Blackstock's and Cowpens. We do not have any information as to whether James Kirkpatrick was with Brandon during any of these actions. This indent (U2956 Book X) was paid 17 November 1788 and received and signed for on that date by Thomas Gillham, executor, James Kirkpatrick's father-in-law. The signed receipt, again, bears the name of James Kilpatrick but is unquestionably James Kirkpatrick.

Kirkpatrick met his death during the Revolution in his own home during a tumultuous period of the war. South Carolina was torn by war, by shifting allegiances, by bitter blood fights between the native Patriots and Tories, and by family differences. After an engagement James Kirkpatrick went parole for a captured Tory neighbor named Mayfield, allowing him to return home to his family. The men returned to their respective homes. Still smarting from the battle loss, a group of Tories who had discovered from Mayfield that Kirkpatrick had returned home, surrounded his house. Bursting through the doors they killed him in front of his wife. The date is ordinarily given as New Years Day, 1781. This is family tradition, but has continued to be told in all four son's families down through the years.

James Kirkpatrick married Susannah Gillham, a daughter of Thomas Gillham abt. 1765 or thereabouts their oldest child was born in 1766. James Kirkpatrick died intestate. We have uncovered NO records--inventories, sale bills, guardianships or otherwise-- bearing on this intestacy.

After Kirkpatrick's death Susannah Kirkpatrick married Joseph Scott. Day Jewell states that this marriage took place in South Carolina circa 1783. He further states that the Scott family moved to Georgia about 1788. From later records we find the family in Jackson County Georgia. Scott's will dated 25 November 1817, and on file in Jackson County, Georgia, states: "First I give to beloved wife Suanna Scott one negro woman named Nance & her girl child named Rachel together with their future increase to be disposed of in any way she may think proper, also two cows & calves, her choice, one bay horse called Raustor, all my stock of hogs, one feathered bed & furniture, all my household & kitchen furniture & all my plantation tools, all to be at her disposal except one cupboard which at my wifes decease I give to my son Joseph....."

Susannah (Gillham) Kirkpatrick Scott removed to Illinois in 1818 with her son James Kirkpatrick, escorted apparently by his brothers John and Francis who returned from Illinois Territory for the task. Susannah died, date unknown, apparently in Sangamon County, Illinois, while living with her son John.

An undated paper by John Fletcher Kirkpatrick, a grandson of Susannah (Gillham) Kirkpatrick Scott, tells the story this way: "After his death (James Kirkpatrick) she married a man by the name of Potts (actually Scott--probably a transcription error over time). At his death my father (John Kirkpatrick) and uncle Frank (Francis Kirkpatrick) went to Georgia after her and Uncle James and family and moved her to Illinois, but I cannot remember the year. She lived with us when we lived in Bond County and went with us when we moved to Sangamon County, near Springfield, where she died." ("History of the Kirkpatricks", paper by John Fletcher Kirkpatrick, son of Susannah's son John. No date.)

He was married to Susannah Gillham (daughter of Thomas Gillham and Margaret Campbell) in 1765 in York Co., South Carolina. Susannah Gillham was born about 1746. She died in 1831 in Sangamon Co., Illinois.

Died:
According to jpkirkpatrick.com:
James died on 1 Jan 1781 at the hands of a neighbor whom he had paroled to his home. He was killed in front of his wife and family.

James married Susannah GILLHAM in 1765 in York Co., South Carolina. Susannah (daughter of Captain Thomas GILLHAM and Margaret (Peggy) CAMPBELL) was born in 1746 ? in Virginia?; died in 1831 in Sangamon Co., Illinois. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

According to jpkirkpatrick.com:
"James Kirkpatrick was born abt. 1710 (1700-1715 WFT Est.) in Dumfrieshire, Scotland. Settled briefly in Pennsylvania before receiving Land Grants in South Carolina (in a portion of the colony that at that time was administered by North Carolina).

"His will is dated March 10, 1786 he and Mary (Newton) were buried in "The Old Irish Cemetery/Graveyard" near Loves Crossing on the Broad River in South Carolina. Today this cemetery is abandoned which is located in the bottoms of the Broad River about one mile South of the bridge at Lockhart, SC, on the Chester County side of the river. The cemetery has been used recently as a cattle grazing pasture and is very difficult to reach.

"The tradition of the descendants of James Kirkpatrick, who settled on lands granted by the Governor of North Carolina to him, that lay along Turkey Creek, a branch of the Broad River and situate in now what is York and Chester Counties, South Carolina are that this is a Scottish family that moved to North Ireland, in a 'neck-saving' operation. One Robert Kirkpatrick, a descendant of the Barony of Kirkmichael, was hung in 1746, for his part in the rebellion of 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' in 1745.

"It had been believed that in 1746, James migrated to Northern Ireland with his father and five brothers. (New information has been found to show that James and his four brothers migrated from Belfast, Ireland to the colonies in 1736. Originally it was believed that two younger brothers, Andrew and Alexander had left Scotland about this time and came to the colonies, while the remainder of the family migrated to N. Ireland, and thence came to the colonies in the later years. Evidence now shows that the family had moved to N. Ireland in 1725, and thence to the Americas in 1736.)

"He came to America and landed in the area around New Castle, Delaware but settled in the area now known as Reading, PA, but was not there very long, and in early 1750's he appears in South Carolina. There is no 'official date' on the move to South Carolina, but the Gaston and Gillham families, with whom they were very closely associated, both went there in 1750-1751. His brother Alexander and Andrew moved to New Jersey soon after landing in New Castle by crossing the Delaware at Philadelphia.

"On 24 September 1754 he is given land grants by the Governor of North Carolina to lands situate Turkey Creek in what is now South Carolina. The total of his land grants were 1,350 acres along Turkey Creek.

"Mary Newton? died on 16 Sep 1769 in Rockhill, York or Fairfield Co., South Carolina."

---------------------------------------------

Another clue? From the Kirkpatrick Newsletter (cited):
"I am connected to the Kirkpatricks through Alexander [James "the Immigrant's brother] who came to America in 1736 via Ireland. We visted Basking Ridge, N.J. and saw Alexander's grave in the churchyard there. We noted that although other family members buried in the churchyard used Kirkpatrick, Alexander's stone used Kilpatrick... Last spring my wife and I were in Ireland. I noticed there were quite a few names preceded by "Kil". I was told that Kil means church in Gaelic. Could it be that Alexander, who lived about ten years in Ireland before coming to America, adopted the Irish version of Kirk? In later years descendants of Alexander Kirkpatrick dropped the "patrick" and went by the shortened name, Kirk.

"When we visited the churchyard at Basking Ridge, NJ we were told by the pastor that members of his church [were] living in the Alexander Kirkpatrick house at Mine Brook. He called them for us and they kindly showed us through this stone house. It had been modernized, but still had the old flavor to it. Up the road was another house, built of stone by one of his sons...David, I believe."

James married Mary (Hanna?) NEWTON about 1734 in South Carolina?. Mary was born in 1710-1714 in Chester, , South Carolina, U.S.A.; died on 16 Sep 1769 in Rockhill, York or Fairfield Co., South Carolina; was buried in The Old Irish Cemetery/Graveyard near Loves Crossing on the Broad River, SC, U.S.A.. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Thomas married Margaret (Peggy) CAMPBELL. Margaret (daughter of William CAMPBELL and Sarah GRAY) was born in Btn 1748 - 1752; died in Virginia?. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Dawn's note: I am not 100% convinced this was "our" James' father.

New info from this site:
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=kirkpatrickjan08&id=I2

--- begin quote ---
THE MIGRATION OF THE KIRKPATRICK BROTHERS, ALEXANDER AND ANDREW

The Kirkpatricks are of ancient lineage. Our chief concern in these pages is to register the descendants of the Kirkpatricks who emigrated from Scotland to New Jersey and settled in the year 1736 near Baskingridge, in Somerset County; and in so doing it is convenient to head the list with Alexander Kirkpatrick of County Dumfries, Scotland; he being the last ancestor of theirs in the male line who lived and died in the Old World. This Alexander was a son of George Kirkpatrick and a great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Sir Roger Kirkpatrick, Lord of Closeburn.

Sir Roger's wife was Lady Margaret de Somerville who traced her descent from Alfred the Great, King of England. See Chapter VII.

1. ALEXANDER KIRKPATRICK, SR., son of George Kirkpatrick, is said to have had nine children. See Chapter VII. We are here concerned only with his two sons:

+701. i. Alexander Kirkpatrick, emigrator from Watties Neach, Scotland, in 1725; he died June 3, 1758. See Chapter VI.

+2. ii. Andrew Kirkpatrick, emigrator from Watties Neach, Scotland, in 1725; see Chapters II-V.
--- end quote ---

The author does not list his sources here, but the original book may have.

William married Sarah GRAY. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]