He was born to John Thomas and Sarah Kirby (née Payne) on November 16, 1860, in Tyler County, and brought up on the family's homestead which is now Camp Ta-Ku-La.

[4] First taught to read and write by his mother, his formal education later on was limited to rural schools and one semester at Southwestern University, Georgetown, where he studied law.

[6] Upon the railroad's completion, Kirby sold it to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway which extended its line to the new lumber processing site at Silsbee, the town named after the investor.

Several years later, legal problems arose because Kirby overestimated the value of the lumber, and the partners failed to clearly define ownership of certain land areas.

On one hand he was known to provide Christmas dinners, bibles, toys, other gifts, and funds for college educations for children and of mill towns.

Following the organization of the Brotherhood of Timber Workers in 1910 Kirby stated that "In the view of the owners such efforts, if successful, will be absolutely destructive of the industry.

On 27 July 1910, it was decided that Kirby would close 11 mills in the vicinity of DeRidder, Louisiana, locking out approximately 3,000 employees beginning 7 August.

One of the principal issues Kirby and the SLOA took with the BTW was its integration of Black, Mexican, and, Italian workers as well as white.

Kirby attempted to stoke racial tension, writing to a Black school teacher "The promoters of that Brotherhood have no concern about our colored citizenship except insofar as they can use the negroes for their personal advantage."

It was called off by the union in the summer of 1913, after the IWW shifted its focus away from East Texas and Western Louisiana to the Pacific Northwest.

[5][16][3] Among this organization's principal goals were to prevent the reelection of Franklin D. Roosevelt by harnessing the Southern white vote through stoking anti-Black racism and attacking CIO unions.

[2] They received substantial funding from several members of the Du Pont family, as well as Continental Can Company and Standard Oil.