Introduction

Biography

William was the son of school teach­er Tho­mas Kirk­pat­rick and Eli­za­beth Sto­rey. He mar­ried Su­san­na J. Doak in 1861, and had three child­ren with her, in­clud­ing George T. Kirk­pat­rick and May Kirk­pat­rick.

After Su­san­na’s death, he mar­ried Sar­ah Lank­ford Kel­logg Bourne in 1893.

After Sar­ah died in 1917, he mar­ried Liz­zie Swe­ney, wi­dow of John Swe­ney.

William grew up in a mu­sic­al at­mo­sphere, and in 1854, went to Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia, to stu­dy mu­sic and learn a trade. He spent ov­er three years as a car­pen­ter, but was more in­ter­est­ed in mu­sic than me­chan­ics, spend­ing his lei­sure time in its stu­dy. His am­bi­tion at the time was to be­come a vio­lin­ist.

In 1855, Kirk­pat­rick joined the Whar­ton Street Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Church in Phi­la­del­phia, and from then on de­vot­ed him­self most­ly to sac­red mu­sic, giv­ing his ser­vic­es to the choir and Sun­day school.

As there were few church or­gans in that day, his vio­lin and cel­lo were in con­stant de­mand for choir re­hear­sals, sing­ing so­cie­ties, and church pro­grams.

In 1861, at the start of the Am­eri­can ci­vil war, Kirk­pat­rick en­list­ed in the ar­my as a Fife Ma­jor. He was dis­charged the next year, ap­par­ent­ly be­cause of the act of Cong­ress end­ing re­gi­ment­al bands.

Kirkpatrick stu­died vo­cal mu­sic un­der Pro­fess­or T. Bi­shop, then a lead­ing ora­to­rio and bal­lad sing­er. He be­came a mem­ber of the Har­mon­ia and Han­del and Haydn Sac­red Mu­sic So­cie­ties, where he heard the great sing­ers of the day and be­came fa­mil­iar with the prin­ci­pal cho­ral works of the great comp­os­ers.

Works

In his ear­ly years, Kirk­pat­rick wrote a num­ber of un­pub­lished hymn tunes and an­thems.

His first pub­lished com­po­si­tion was When the Spark of Life Is Wan­ing, which ap­peared around 1858 in the Mu­sic­al Pio­neer in New York.

He went on to pub­lish about 50 hymn col­lect­ions.

• Our Praise in Song, with John Swe­ney & Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John Hood, 1878)
• The Qui­ver of Sac­red Song, with John Swe­ney (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1880)
• The Wells of Sal­va­tion, with John Swe­ney (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1881)
• The Roy­al Fount­ain No. 3, with John Swe­ney (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1882)
• The Ark of Praise, with John Swe­ney (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1882)
• Our Sab­bath Home Praise Book, with John Swe­ney (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1884)
• The Roy­al Fount­ain No. 4, with John Swe­ney (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1884)
• Melodious Son­nets, with John Swe­ney (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1885)
• Precious Hymns, with Thomas Har­ris­on & John Swe­ney (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1885)
• Songs of Joy and Glad­ness, with Jo­shua Gill, Will­iam Mc­Don­ald & John Swe­ney (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Mc­Don­ald & Gill, 1885)
• On Joy­ful Wing, with John Swe­ney (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1886)
• Songs of Re­deem­ing Love No. 2, with Charles Mc­Cabe, Tul­li­us O’Kane & John Swe­ney (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1887)
• Glad Hal­le­lu­jahs, with John Swe­ney (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Thomas T. Tas­ker, 1887)
• Infant Prais­es, with John Swe­ney (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1887)
• Showers of Bless­ing, with John Swe­ney (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1888)
• Redemption Songs, with Le­an­der Mun­hall, John Swe­ney & John Lowe (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1889)
• The Joy­ful Sound, with John Swe­ney (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1889)
• Cheerful Songs, with John Swe­ney & Le­an­der Pick­ett (Lou­is­ville, Ken­tuc­ky: Pick­ett Publ­ish­ing, 1891)
• Sunlit Songs, with John Swe­ney & Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1890)
• Songs of Joy and Glad­ness No. 2, with John Swe­ney et al. (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Mc­Don­ald, Gill, 1890)
• Radiant Songs, with John Swe­ney & Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1891)
• Praise in Song, with Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1893)
• Songs of Love and Praise, No. 2, with John Swe­ney & Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1895)
• Songs of Love and Praise, No. 3, with John Swe­ney & Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1896)
• Songs of So­ver­eign Grace, with Lin­coln Hall & Win­field Weed­en (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Hall-Mack, 1897)
• Pentecostal Prais­es, with Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Hall-Mack, 1898)
• The Young Peo­ple’s Hym­nal, with W. D. Kirk­land & James At­kins (Nash­ville, Ten­ne­ssee: Pub­lish­ing House of the Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Church, South, 1898)
• The Bow of Pro­mise, with George El­der­kin, Charles McCabe, John Swe­ney & F. A. Har­din (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: R. R. Mc­Cabe, 1898)
• Sunday-School Prais­es (Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio: Jen­nings & Pye, 1900)
• Gospel Prais­es No. 2, with Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Hall-Mack, 1900)
• Songs of the Cen­tu­ry, with John Swe­ney & George El­der­kin (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: George D. El­der­kin, 1900)
• Hymns of Grace & Glo­ry, with Jo­shua Gill & Hen­ry Gil­mour (Cleve­land, Ohio: Ev­an­ge­li­cal Pub­lish­ing House, 1901)
• Songs of the Liv­ing Way, with Hen­ry Gil­mour & Ed­win L. Hyde (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Pep­per Pub­lish­ing, 1901)
• Triumphant Prais­es, with Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Hall-Mack, 1901)
• Grateful Praise, with Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Hall-Mack, 1902)
• Songs of Praise and Sal­va­tion, with Hen­ry Gil­mour, George Mc­Laugh­lin & Charles J. Fowl­er (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois & Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Chris­tian Wit­ness Com­pa­ny, 1902)
• Songs of Chris­tian Ser­vice, with Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Hall-Mack, 1903)
• Devotional Songs, with How­ard Doane & Hu­bert Main (New York: Big­low & Main, 1903)
• Light and Life Songs, with Tho­ro Ha­rris & Will­iam Olm­stead (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: S. K. J. Ches­bro, 1904)
• Glorious Praise, with How­ard Doane (Lou­is­ville, Ken­tuc­ky: Bap­tist Book Con­cern, 1904)
• The Trib­ute of Song, with Hen­ry Gil­mour et al. (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Hall-Mack, 1904)
• The Old Sto­ry in Song, with Hen­ry Gil­mour & Ar­thur S. Ma­gann (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Praise Pub­lish­ing, 1906)
• The Re­deem­er’s Praise, with George El­der­kin (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: George D. El­der­kin, 1906)
• Jubilant Voic­es, with How­ard Doane et al. (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Hope Pub­lish­ing, 1907)
• The King’s Prais­es, with Hen­ry Gil­mour et al. (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Praise Pub­lish­ing, 1907)
• The Young Peo­ple’s Hym­nal No. 2, with James At­kins (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1907)
• The Old Sto­ry in Song Num­ber Two, with Hen­ry Gil­mour et al. (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Praise Pub­lish­ing, 1908)
• The Go­spel in Song, with Mi­lton S. Rees & Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Praise Pub­lish­ing, 1908)
• Joy and Praise, with James Fill­more (Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio: Fill­more Mu­sic, 1908)
• Songs of Praise and Pow­er, with Hen­ry Gil­mour et al. (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Chris­tian Wit­ness Com­pa­ny, 1909)
• Best of All, with Be­ver­ly Car­ra­dine & Charles J. Fowl­er (Christi­an Wit­ness Com­pa­ny, 1910)
• The King’s Prais­es Num­ber 2, Hen­ry Gil­mour et al. (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Praise Pub­lish­ing, 1910)
• Spirit of Praise, with Charles Case & Ja­cob Hall (Day­ton, Vir­gin­ia: Rue­bush-Kief­fer, 1911)
• The King’s Prais­es Num­ber 3, Hen­ry Gil­mour et al. (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Praise Pub­lish­ing, 1912)
• Revival Me­lo­dies, 1921
• Waves of Glo­ry No. 2, 1921