Background
Kirkland, Joseph was born on January 7, 1830 in Geneva, New York, United States. Son of William and Caroline M. (Stansbury) Kirkland.
Businessman lawyer officer writer
Kirkland, Joseph was born on January 7, 1830 in Geneva, New York, United States. Son of William and Caroline M. (Stansbury) Kirkland.
Received a common-school education
At the outbreak of the civil war Jospeh Kirkland entered the volunteer service and attained the rank of major. He returned to central Illinois in 1865, studied law and was admitted to the bar. He engaged in coal-mining for a short time in Indiana and Illinois, and while thus engaged he studied the social conditions of the miners, which subject he used in several of his books. He subsequently removed to Chicago and devoted himself to literary work. He was literary editor of the Chicago Tribune, 1889-91. He was a member of several literary societies in Chicago and New York, and was the first president of the Twentieth Century club.
Zury: The Meanest Mann in Spring County
The McVeys
The Captain of Company K
The Story of Chicago
The Chicago Massacre of 1812
Married Theodosia Burr Wilkinson, 1863, 4 children.