Born near London, Ohio, at age seven Kirkpatrick moved to Iowa in 1849 with his parents, who settled on a farm in Highland Township, Wapello County.

During the Civil War, Kirkpatrick entered the Union Army as a private in the Second Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and was promoted to first lieutenant.

From 1887 to 1913, he served as an agent of the Internal Revenue Service, primarily in North Carolina and adjoining states.

[3] In his first few years as a revenue agent, he was "rendered blind" by a gunshot, as stated in a special bill passed by the U.S. Congress in 1890 to increase his Civil War pension.

[1] In 1912, the congressman for Iowa's 6th congressional district, Republican Nathan E. Kendall, declined to run for re-election.

This time he won the Democratic nomination, but lost in the general election to incumbent Republican C. William Ramseyer.