J.M. Kirkpatrick Dodge City Attorney and Abstrator

My great grandfather J.M. Kirkpatrick moved to Dodge City sometime around 1878 . His brother had proceeded him and owned the furniture store and mortuary there. J.M. became a prominent attorney and was well respected even serving as County Attorney for a time. 

He was the abstractor for all of the sales of property in the area and was said to be able to recall by memory all the transactions that took place in town over the many years he was in business. 

He and his brother Edward were there during the Dodge City Wars and told of knowing Wyatt Earp and the other gunfighters well. Their recollections were that those men were of the most vile sorts and they ran the gambling an prostitution in town also. J.M. was supposedly a Phoenix Lodge member and Wyatt Earp was said to play cards with them at the Lodge as  member also. 

He bought the abstract business from a man named Swineheart who moved to Creede Colorado and we met his great grandson and became friends before we had found that information out. Funny how that came about.