Jabez Bradbury Kirkpatrick, Shipwright: 52 Ancestors #66

Jabez Bradbury Kirkpatrick was born 10 May 1800¹ in Warren, Lincoln County (now Knox County), Maine, the eldest of nine children of John Kirkpatrick 2nd and Nancy Starrett. Jabez was named after his great-great-uncle, Col. Jabez Bradbury, once commander of the garrison at the fort that had protected the settlement on the St. George River during the French and Indian Wars.²

On 13 November 1825, he married Abigail Faulkner, daughter of Edward and Margaret (Morrison) Faulkner of Nova Scotia.³ Their 59-year marriage must have been an unusually long one for that era to prompt Cyrus Eaton to note in his Annals of Warren that in 1875,

The fiftieth anniversary or golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Jabez Kirkpatrick was celebrated on the evening of Nov. 13th, by a gathering at their house and presentation of gifts.⁴

Jabez and Abigail had five children:

1. Silas (1827-1909), m. Sarah C. Sukeforth (my great-grandparents)
2. Jane Elisa (1829-1909), m. William H. Montgomery
3. Samuel L. (1831-1873), no known marriage
4. Martha A. (1834-1834)
5. Harriet F. (1835-?), m. (1) John Anderson, (2) Thomas P. King

1850 U.S. census, Warren, Lincoln Co., Maine, Jabez Kirk household

When their youngest was 14, a new baby joined the family. Elizabeth (Montgomery) Oliver, the sister-in-law of Abigail's sister Olive – and a close neighbor on the road to Andrews Point – died when her daughter Georgianna was only 5 days old, and the Kirkpatricks adopted the newborn.

By 1850 Jabez, like some of relatives, had dropped the "-patrick" from his surname and was henceforth known as Jabez B. Kirk.⁵ Unlike the others, who had petitioned the legislature for a legal name change, his family's change was informal.

Jabez was a shipwright⁶ and carpenter.⁷ Among the ships he built was the brig E. W. Denton, in 1851.⁸ (There were certainly many more, but in most cases the builders are identified only by surnames, e.g., Burgess & Kirk, Creighton & Kirk, so I'm not sure if this was Jabez or another member of the family.)

At various times Jabez served as a town selectman (1834-41) and assessor (1832-34, 1837-38),⁹ and in July 1838, he was charged by the town of Warren with taking a census for the purpose of distributing Federal funds refunded to the states. The population was 2,143.¹⁰

Jabez died at the age of 83 on 26 February 1884 in Warren, and was buried in Newcomb Cemetery.¹¹

Jabez B. Kirk gravestone, Newcomb Cemetery, Warren, Maine

My descent from Jabez Bradbury Kirkpatrick (my great-great-grandfather):

• Jabez Bradbury Kirk(patrick) and Abigail Faulkner
• Silas Kirk and Sarah Sukeforth
• Chester F. Kirk and Mary Milliken Hodsdon (my paternal grandparents)

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SOURCES

1. Cyrus Eaton, Annals of the Town of Warren, in Knox County, Maine, Second Edition (Hallowell, Maine: Masters & Livermore, 1877), p. 567.
2. Ibid., pp. 58, 115. 
3. Ibid., p. 567.
4. Ibid., p. 480.
5. 1850 U.S. census, Lincoln County, Maine, Warren, p. 3 (penned upper left), p. 167 (stamped), dwelling 17, family 18, Jabez Kirk household; digital images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 10 Dec 2010).
6. Ibid.
7. 1860 U.S. census, Knox County, Maine, Warren, p. 317 (penned), dwelling 304, family 319, Jabez Kirk household; digital images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 6 Mar 2012).
8. Eaton, p. 677.
9. Ibid., pp. 659, 661.
10. Ibid., p. 341.
11. Newcomb Cemetery (Warren, Knox County, Maine), Jabez B. Kirk gravestone, read and photographed by the author, 14 Aug 2012.