Kirkpatrick, Snyder S., lawyer and member of Congress, was born in Franklin county, Ill., Feb. 21, 1848. His great grandparents came from the north of Ireland to North Carolina, and there his grandfather, Edward Kirkpatrick, was born, but removed to Tennessee, where he married, and where his son, John F., was born. Edward Kirkpatrick removed with his family to Illinois in 1818, and secured a quarter section of farm land. In Illinois, John F. Kirkpatrick married Hester Dial, whose parents had also emigrated from Tennessee. Snyder was one of the children of this union, and until the Civil war broke out he lived as the average Illinois farm boy, attending the district school in winters, and working on the farm during the summers. He was too young to enlist at the opening of the war, but in June, 1864, he joined the One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Illinois infantry and served until mustered out in the fall of that year. In 1865 he engaged with his brothers in the mercantile business, but even at that time his cherished ambition was to become a lawyer. In 1867 he entered the law department of the University of Michigan. The following year he returned to Illinois and was admitted to the bar by the supreme court. In the fall of 1873 he located in Fredonia, Kan., and opened a law office. Mr. Kirkpatrick became a prominent figure in local politics and in 1879 was elected attorney of Wilson county. Subsequently he served in the state senate, from the 11th district, and in 1894 was elected to Congress as a Republican from the 3d district. Two years later he was renominated for Congress by acclamation, but was defeated by the Fusion candidate. Again in 1898 he was nominated by the Republicans and defeated by a small majority. He died at Fredonia, Kan., April 5, 1899.