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THOMAS E. KIRBY
Vol. 3, p. 1109-1110

In Oklahoma City not to know "Tom" Kirby is practically to designate
oneself a stranger within the gates of the capital city, where his
circle of friends is coincident with that of his acquaintances, where
he has served since 1910 as clerk of the District court, and where he
is one of the representative younger members of the bar of Oklahoma

Born at Bolivar, Polk County, Missouri, on the 29th of February,
1881, Thomas Emerson Kirby is a son of George T. and Nannie (EMERSON)
Kirby, the former a native of Illinois and the latter of Missouri.
The original American progenitors of the Kirby family immigrated from
Ireland and settled in Virginia in the colonial era of our national
history, and in the historic Old Dominion State was born and reared
the paternal grandfather of Thomas E. Kirby. This sturdy and
ambitious Virginian removed with his parents from his native
commonwealth to Illinois about the year 1820 and they became pioneer
settlers in Sangamon County, where he was a youthful friend of
Abraham Lincoln and witnessed the historic wrestling match between
Lincoln and Jackie Armstrong. George T. Kirby was long numbered among
the substantial farmers and honored citizens of Illinois, and for a
number of years was identified with the same basic line of enterprise
in Missouri. The father of his wife was Judge Burr H. Emerson, who
removed from Tennessee to Missouri and who served in the latter state
on the bench of the Circuit Court for the long period of twenty-four
years.

To the public schools of Missouri Thomas E. Kirby is indebted for
his early educational discipline and his higher academic training was
obtained in Illinois College, at Jacksonville, Illinois, in which old
and representative institution he was graduated as a member of the
class of 1902, and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of
Arts. In preparation for the profession of his choice he entered the
law department of Drake University, at Des Moines, Iowa, in which he
was graduated in 1905, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. For the
ensuing five years Mr. Kirby was engaged in the practice of his
profession at Ottumwa, Iowa, and at the expiration of this period, in
1910, he came to Oklahoma City, where he successfully continued in
the work of his profession two years. He was then appointed clerk of
the District Court, to fill a vacancy, and after serving the
remaining year of the unexpired term he was, in 1912, regularly
elected to this office, as candidate on the democratic ticket.
Through reelection in 1914 he continues his efficient and valued
services in this position and in his home city he commands inviolable
vantage-ground in popular confidence and esteem. His is a nature of
utmost buoyancy and optimism, he is tolerant and kindly in his
judgment of others, always ready to say a kind word or do a kind
deed, exemplifies in his personality both culture and refined ideals,
so that popularity comes to him as a natural prerogative.

Mr. Kirby accords staunch allegiance to the democratic party, both
he and his wife hold membership in the First Methodist Episcopal
Church of Oklahoma City, and in the time-honored Masonic fraternity
he has received the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted
Scottish Rite, in the Consistory at McAlester, this state. In the
York Rite he is affiliated with the lodge, chapter and commandery in
Oklahoma City, where he also holds membership in the Knights of
Pythias.

At Piper city, Illinois, on the 11th of June 1913, was solemnized
the marriage of Mr. Kirby to Miss Ethel READ, daughter of Arby D. and
Mary Elizabeth (LONG) Read, and they are popular figures in the
representative social activities of Oklahoma's metropolis and capital
city.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Marti Graham, 14 October 1998.