My Genealogy Hound

THEOPHILUS R. VAN KIRK, physician, McKeesport, was born in Elizabeth township, Allegheny county, July 11, 1840, a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Hutchinson) Van Kirk. His grandfather, Joseph Van Kirk, a native of New Jersey, and a son of William Van Kirk of Holland-Dutch descent, had seven sons and two daughters. Fifteen members of the Van Kirk family participated in the revolutionary war. The widow of William Van Kirk married a Mr. Canann, and settled in Elizabeth township in 1783, with her children. Joseph Van Kirk was a surveyor by occupation, and lived and died in Elizabeth township. He was the father of eight children, of whom Joseph, Jr., father of our subject, was the fourth child and second son. He was a farmer, and now resides in Elizabeth township, in his eighty-seventh year. He had eight children who grew to maturity: Joel K. (a physician of Elizabeth), Ann (Mrs. B. H. Newlin), Isaac, Mary J. (Mrs. Samuel Beazell), Theophilus R., Bennett H. (a physician of West Newton), William K. ( a physician of McKeesport) and Hannah(Mrs. Jonas Ray, deceased). Theophilus R. was reared in this and Westmoreland counties, and began the study of medicine in 1860, in the office of his brother, J. K. Van Kirk, of Elizabeth. April 19, 1861, he enlisted in the 12th P. V., and was honorably discharged after three months’ service. In the fall of 1863 he entered Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, from which he graduated in the spring of 1864. September 1, same year, he joined the 209th regiment P. V., as assistant surgeon, and served until June 1, 1865, and was honorably discharged. He located in McKeesport in 1867, where he has since resided, in the active practice of his profession. He married in October, 1871, Virginia, daughter of William and Mary A. (Shields) Whigham, of McKeesport, and by her had three children: Corinne, Herbert S. and Virginia. Dr. Van Kirk, with one exception, is the oldest established physician in McKeesport. He is a member of the Allegheny County Medical society, Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania and American Medical association. In politics he is a republican.