Born in High Point, NC on April 16, 1903, the son of Oscar A. Kirkman, Sr. and Lulu Blanche Hammer Kirkman, he won bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Virginia, studied law, and spent a year at England’s Oxford University.

After three years on UVA’s faculty, Oscar became CEO of the High Point, Thomasville and Denton Railroad, was mayor of High Point and a Democratic member of the state House of Representatives from 1949 to 1952. He moved up to the state senate in 1953.

Oscar served in both World Wars, had many business interests, was married to Katherine Morgan Kirkman of Salisbury, NC, and had two sons and two daughters. He was listed in Who’s Who in America.

Otis C. Kirkman (1878-1943) was a vocational education pioneer whose career is memorialized by Kirkman Vocational High School in Chattanooga, TN.

Born in Liberty, NC on April 28, 1878, the son of Oliver and Julia Dixon Kirkman, he was graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1905 and joined the staff of Chattanooga High School in 1922. Otis’s lifelong dream of establishing a vocational curriculum came true in 1928 when he was named principal of Chattanooga Vocational High School, one of the first such training schools in the United States.

Otis is the first Kirkman to have the family name attached to a large facility. He died on July 13, 1943, tragically three weeks after his electrical engineer son, Otis C. Kirkman, Jr., was killed in a car accident. He left a wife and two daughters.

Nationally known during the 20^th century was Boone Kirkman of Seattle, WA who in the 1960s and ‘70s was a highly ranked contender for boxing’s heavyweight championship of the world. A hard hitter, Boone won a string of matches in the mid-1960s, became boxing’s Great White Hope, and was on the cover of many magazines.

One of the family’s most eminent educators was Dr. Hadley Kirkman, (1901-1997) a much honored professor of anatomy at Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA.

Born in Richmond, IN on March 19, 1901, he was the son of Madison Lee and Leila Kirkman and a Stanford faculty member for an astounding 61 years. Dr. Kirkman authored 100 scientific papers on cytology, endocrinology, histology and oncology. He is also remembered for being a "campus father" to more than 100 Stanford students who lived in his home.

Dr. Kirkman secured his bachelor’s degree in zoology from Iowa State University, his masters from the University of Chicago, and his MD from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City.

He was a member of the American Association of Anatomists, the New York Academy of Science, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Marshall Monroe Kirkman (1842-1921) was a nationally known railroad executive, author of historical novels, and is the only Kirkman listed in the Dictionary of American Biography, the compendium of the nation’s best and brightest.

Born in Morgan County, IL, the son of Thomas and Catherine Sweet Kirkman and a grandson of George Kirkman, Jr., Marshall had a typically American rise to prominence. Though he had a rudimentary education, Marshall became one of the best-known American railroaders of the late 19^th century.

At age 14, Marshall became a messenger for the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, was repeatedly promoted, and eventually became a CNW vice president. He gained nationwide fame as an expert in railroad operation, management and financing by writing scores of railroad books, articles and encyclopedia segments. In an astonishing late-life career change, Marshall wrote six novels, including five volumes that detailed the meteoric rise of Alexander the Great, the Macedonian military genius who conquered the ancient world.

Marshall also is commemorated by Kirkman, Iowa, a town 40 miles northwest of Des Moines, the state capitol. Currently, the town has 92 people, four dogs, 13 cats and a high school football team called the Kirkman Wildcats.

Walter Ness Kirkman was a well-known Maryland political figure involved in the state’s financial and public health administration for more than 40 years. Born August 14, 1885 in Catonsville, MD (a Baltimore suburb), he was the son of James Wilson and Mary Lucretia Kirkman and a descendant of one of Maryland’s early Kirkman settlers.

Walter was graduated from Baltimore City College in 1904, appointed a state purchasing agent in 1911 and promoted to State Budget Officer in the late 1920s. He managed Maryland’s money matters into the early 1950s, then directed the state’s Medical and Chirurgical Faculty.

Walter also headed the National Association of Purchasing Agents, chaired the National Commission on Government Purchasing, and was a member of the American Public Health Association, Maryland Development Commission and Maryland Historical Society.

Wilbur Daniel Kirkman (1885-1958) was a journalist, editorial writer, newspaper library director and a major contributor to this section of the Kirkman Family History.

Born in Union, OR on Jan. 31, 1885, he was the son of John C. and Jennie Cook Kirkman. Raised in Spokane, WA, Wilbur graduated from the University of Washington and had a 41-year career in journalism. He established the Dickinson, ND Post; was a reporter for the Duluth, MN News-Tribune; an editorial writer for the St. Louis Globe Democrat, and spent 34 years with the Spokane Spokesman-Review.