“Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County,” published:  
Chicago;  The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892.

JOHN M. KIRBY  claims Dallas county, Texas, as the place of his nativity, 
the date of his birth being March 6, 1855.  On the 26th of February, 1876, he 
was united in marriage with Miss Rachel T. Coomer.  At the time of his 
marriage he owned a pony and cow, and had bought sixteen acres of land on 
which he had paid $20, being in debt for the rest.  He attended one crop, and 
his pony and cow both died.  Meeting with losses, but not discouraged by 
them, he went to work with renewed energy to get another start, and his 
efforts have been crowned with success.  He now has a fine farm of 235 
acres, well improved with good house, barn, etc.; has forty head of cattle and 
several horses and mules.

Of his parents, be it recorded that his father, Benjamin C. Kirby, was born in 
Wayne county, Kentucky; was by trade a stone mason and carpenter; when a 
young man moved to Missouri, where he was married to Miss Elizabeth 
McDonald.  In 1853 he moved from Greenville, Missouri, to Texas and first 
located in Lamar county.  After renting land there two years, he moved in 
the fall of 1854 to Dallas county, and settled in the northeastern part of the 
county, where he bought 191 acres of land and improved a farm.  The house 
he then built is standing today – two miles from where John M. lives – and, 
with the exception of a new roof, is just as his father left it when he died.  
Mr. Kirby died in 1862, at the age of forty-five years.  His wife is still living 
and is now aged sixty-one years.  She was married the second time, to 
Thomas Collins.  By Mr. Kirby she had two children, James F. and John M.

Mrs. John M. Kirby was born May 28, 1853.  To her parents, Lee and Nancy 
(Myers) Coomer, were born the following named children:  Margaret, wife 
of B.C. Kirby;  Martha;  John B;  Levina, wife of John W. Kirby;  Sarah, 
wife of Riley Little;  Rachel T., wife of John M. Kirby; and Lyman, William 
and Joseph – all living.  The father died in 1865, aged sixty-four years.

Mr. and Mrs. Kirby have had eight children, viz:  James F., William Lee, 
Byron, Parks Lulie, Joseph P., Bessie and Nancy E.  All are living except 
two.

Losing his father when he was seven years old, and having been reared in a 
new country, Mr. Kirby had only limited educational advantages, but he is in 
favor of schooling his children, and does all in his power to have good 
schools.  Mrs. Kirby is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Submitted by: L. Pingel