Background
He was the son of Andrew Kirkpatrick, and grandson of John Bubenheim Bayard. Kirkpatrick was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey on October 19, 1797.
United States representative lawyer politician
He was the son of Andrew Kirkpatrick, and grandson of John Bubenheim Bayard. Kirkpatrick was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey on October 19, 1797.
He graduated from Princeton College in 1815. He studied law in Washington, District of Columbia, was admitted to the bar in 1821 and commenced practice in New Brunswick.
He was master in court chancery in 1824, and surrogate of Middlesex County from 1831 to 1836. He was Mayor of New Brunswick, New Jersey from 1841 to 1842, and served as a trustee of Rutgers College from 1841 to 1859. Kirkpatrick was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth Congress, serving in office from March 4, 1843 to March 3, 1845, and was chairman of the Committee on Revisal and Unfinished Business.
He died in Saratoga Springs, New York on August 15, 1859.
When she died on March 6, 1871 at the age of 68, she named Rutgers College as her estate"s residuary legatee. Rutgers used the proceeds of this bequest to build Kirkpatrick Chapel in 1873.
Today, this chapel is located on the historic Queen"s Campus section of Rutgers"s College Avenue Campus.