LAWRENCE J. GUTTER 
 
 Collection of Chicogoono 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 AT CHICAGO 
 
 The University Library 
 
IN MEMORIAM 
 
 JOSEPH KlRKLAND 
 
 BORN JANUARY 7, 1830 
 DIED APRIL 29, 1894 
 
 Chicago Literary Club 
 1894 
 
THIS Memorial of our late fellow- 
 member, Joseph Kirkland, was read 
 at the meeting of the Club on Monday even- 
 ing, May 28, 1894, and ordered printed and 
 copies sent to the members of the Club. 
 
 Frederick W. Gookin, 
 
 Recording Secretary. 
 
JOSEPH KIRKLAND. 
 
 As one by one the members of this Club 
 pass from life, there is no more becoming 
 ceremony than that which commemorates the 
 loss we sustain in the departure from our 
 circle of a worthy member. 
 
 Joseph Kirkland is the latest loss we have 
 been called upon to mourn. He was born in 
 Geneva, New York, January 7th, 1830, of a 
 family distinguished on his father's side in 
 the history of the country and of his native 
 State, tracing descent from the pilgrims of 
 Plymouth and other notable ancestors. His 
 mother was a woman well known in the 
 literary annals of the century. His father 
 died in 1846, and it was from his mother 
 chiefly, as we learn from his own statements, 
 that he obtained his education. 
 
 In 1856 he removed to Chicago, which was 
 his home until he died, with the exception of 
 time spent in the army during the Rebellion 
 and at Danville, Illinois, while engaged in 
 coal mining operations in that neighborhood. 
 
His service in the army was from the date 
 of the call for three-months troops until the 
 retirement of General Fitz-John Porter, of 
 whose military family he was a member. He 
 served with credit in the West Virginia cam- 
 paign, the campaign of the Army of the 
 Potomac on the Peninsula, the campaigns of 
 the Second Bull Run and Antietam, as 
 Second Lieutenant of Infantry, Captain and 
 Major on staff duty as Aide to Generals 
 George B. McClellan and Fitz-John Porter. 
 
 His subsequent life was spent in coal min- 
 ing business until 1874, in the Revenue Ser- 
 vice of the United States until 1880, — when 
 at the age of fifty he was admitted to the 
 Bar of this State, graduating first in his class 
 at the Law School, and practicing as an 
 attorney until 1890. 
 
 Major Kirkland's reputation, however, 
 rests especially on his literary work. In 1885 
 he published his first novel, " Zury, the 
 Meanest Man in Spring County," and at once 
 took high rank as a novelist, which he justi- 
 fied by two later works, "The McVeys," 
 published in 1887, and " The Captain of Com- 
 pany K " in 1889. He contributed noteworthy 
 articles on '' The Poor of Chicago " to Scrib- 
 
ner's Magazine, on "Nicaragua" to Peter- 
 son's Magazine, and on "The Chicago Fire " 
 to the New England Magazine; and he is 
 also the author of two histories of Chicago, 
 one of which, together with a second volume 
 of the other, is yet unpublished; and for two 
 years he was the Literary Editor of the Chi- 
 cago Tribune. His contributions to this 
 Club have been many, and his appearance as 
 an essayist was always welcomed by a large 
 attendance. 
 
 His death was to his many friends sudden 
 and unlooked for. It is needless to attempt 
 to draw the character of our departed friend. 
 Few men are able to receive into the fold of 
 their sympathy so many persons coming from 
 such diverse positions in life. He had warm 
 friends amongst the highest and the lowest. 
 His heart was tender to the lowliest of God's 
 creatures. Cruelty to an animal, even when 
 under the name of scientific inquiry it was 
 attempted to be justified by the name of vivi- 
 section, was as abhorrent to him as cruelty to 
 a child or a woman is to most men. He 
 made it a matter of principle always to have 
 a genial word of greeting for everyone he 
 knew, from the poorest workingman to the 
 
 7 
 
most prominent citizen; and what to his 
 intimate friends appeared one of his most 
 charming traits and one eminently noticeable 
 on account of its general rarity, was his abso- 
 lute freedom from rancor. The sun never set 
 on his wrath. His greeting and, what was 
 more, his feeling, towards one on the morning 
 following some business dispute or difference, 
 trifling or otherwise, was as pleasant as 
 though no cloud had arisen. 
 
 We all knew and loved and respected him. 
 Indeed, it would be hard to find anyone who 
 was his enemy. His kindness of disposition 
 rendered it impossible for those who met him 
 to be other than his friends, and while kindly 
 and genial, sympathetic and a staunch friend, 
 his morality was above question and his 
 honor never sullied in word or deed. He was 
 a true gentleman, without fear and without 
 reproach. 
 
 David Swing, 
 William Eliot Furness, 
 Joseph L. Silsbee, 
 Alexander A. McCormick, 
 John G. Shortall, 
 
 Committee. 
 
PS 
 
 QhR£