Springfield-Greene
County LibraryEarly and Recent History and Genealogical Records
of Many of the Representative Citizens
KIRK BAXTER. Kirk Baxter will long be remembered by the people of Springfield as a minister in the Christian church, and as a teacher, a man who was imbued with the deepest and most helpful altruistic spirit, and he gave his best years to the furthering of the movements calculated to uplift and make the world better. Pure, constant and noble was the spiritual flame that illumined the mortal tenement of the subject of this memoir, and to the superficial observer can come but small appreciation of his intrinsic spirituality, his faith having been fortified by the deepest study, and the Christian verities were with him the matters of most concern among the changes and chances of this mortal life. No man with his intellectual vigor and the love of truth which marked him could live long without inevitably being brought to investigate the great moral laws governing life, in fact, he was a strong man in every respect and was successful in all he undertook.
Mr. Baxter was born in New York City, in the year 1836. His parents were natives of England, where they grew up and were married, finally emigrating to America, and both died in New York City, when their son, Kirk, who was the youngest of three children, was small, his two brothers being William and George Baxter. They are all now deceased.
Kirk Baxter received his education in his native city, through the assistance of his oldest brother, William Baxter, but while still a boy, the three brothers went to the Southland, locating in Louisiana, where our subject continued his education in a college, and there entered the ministry of the Gospel, and for many years preached at various places in the South. He went to Mississippi after leaving Louisiana, and later located in Arkansas, where he remained a short time, and, in 1868, moved with his family to Springfield, Missouri, and became minister of the local Christian church, holding this charge for many years, during which he was one of the most popular ministers in this city. He also taught school, private classes, here for sometime, and as both preacher and educator his work was high-grade. He was a man of learning, of advanced ideas, was well versed in the Bible and was a forceful and entertaining speaker.
Mr. Baxter was married in Louisiana to Emma F. Jackson, a native of that state, and a daughter of Jarrett E. Jackson and wife, and she grew to womanhood and was educated in her native locality, and she proved to be an excellent helpmate to her gifted husband. They became the parents of eight children, namely: Charles W., who died January 30, 1914; Mary lives in the state of Washington; Lena lives in Oklahoma; William H. died in 1879; Rosa lives in the state of Washington; George H., born February 5, 1867, received his education in the Springfield schools and the old Ash Grove College, and on December 27, 1898, he married Elizabeth Ramsey; he lives in Springfield, travels for a large St. Louis shoe house, and fraternally he belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Royal Arcanum. Curt, the seventh child in order of birth, is living in Montana; Walter W., the youngest of the family, was born February 3, 1872, in Springfield, and here grew to manhood and was educated; on December 28, 1899 he married Sarah Ramsey, which union was without issue; he was for some time general manager of the Springfield office of R. G. Dunn & Co.; his death occurred in January, 1901.
Politically Kirk Baxter was a Democrat. For a period of twenty-five years he was prominent in the upbuilding of Springfield, especially along civic and moral lines, and during that period few men did more for the educational development of Greene county. He started the first Girls' Seminary in Springfield, and was the founder of the Ash Grove College. He was a man of whom it may be said, "truly his works do follow him." He was summoned to his eternal rest in 1895.
[989-991]
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | Y
Table of Contents | Keyword Search | Greene County History Home | Local History Home