From Proud Heritage, Vol. 1 by DCPA, not currently in print
James Alexander Kirk (1830-1903) found his way to Texas and arrived in Hill County only a few months after the Daniel McCullough family did. He went down the Mississippi River from Kentucky to New Orleans; from there he rode horseback to Hill County. Other members of his family went to Missouri and Kansas but he had a purpose in choosing Texas because in 1857 he married Eleanor Jane Jones (1840-1919), the eldest daughter of Fereby McCullough and John Henry Jones.
A hand written note dated July 28, 1911 and signed by Eleanor J. Kirk establishes several facts about the family. “My father John Henry Jones moved from Mount Sterling, Montgomery County, Kentucky to Texas in the fall of 1855 landing in Hill County on the night before Christmas and lived two years there. I married James A. Kirk also from Kentucky in the fall of 1857. We were married in Hill County, Texas. I lived in Rockwall and Kaufman Counties both a few years and the rest of my life has been in Dallas County.” Signed by Eleanor J. Kirk.
Records show that James A. Kirk bought lot: in the Perry Taylor edition, Lancaster, Dallas County, November 22, 1866. According to the above note James A. and Eleanor Kirk lived in Rockwall County before moving to Dallas County. The deed for this land in Lancaster was filed January 21, 1867.
Eleanor Jane Jones Kirk and Emil McCullough Strother were first cousins and the same age. They were devoted to each other their entire lives. Eleanor is known to have said that she and Emily “walked all the way to Texas” because it was their responsibility to keep the stock from straying. They were 15 years old.
There were many ministers in the McCullough descendants. The eldest son of Eleanor and James A. Kirk was T. M. (Thomas Monroe) Kirk. He joined the North Texas Conference of the Methodist Church in 1894 and served many churches in the North Texas area until he retired, after which they lived in Dallas. He and his wife Ella Dodson Kirk have children still living in Dallas: Claire Kirk Cooke; Gladys Kirk Lloyd, and her son Charles Lloyd and his two children, a son and a daughter.
By Jimmie D. McSween, Dallas and Mabel E. Maxcy, Denton
