Kirkland R. "Kirk" Baxter
1829-1893
The Life Of Kirk Baxter
Kirkland "Kirk" R. Baxter (1829–1893) was a nineteenth-century educator, evangelist, and church leader whose work helped shape congregations across the American South, particularly in Missouri and Texas. Through decades of preaching, teaching, and church planting, Baxter played an influential role in the expansion of the Disciples Movement in the post–Civil War era.
Kirkland R. Baxter was born on February 26, 1829, in Manhattan, New York, the son of Henry and Mary Baxter. During his childhood his family moved several times, living in Baltimore, Washington City, and eventually Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he grew to adulthood. Baxter pursued higher education under the tutelage of Alexander Campbell at Bethany College in Virginia, one of the leading institutions associated with the Restoration Movement, enrolling in 1848 and graduating in 1851.
After completing his studies, Baxter moved south to Wilkinson County, Mississippi, where he taught school for two years. During this time he began preaching, and what began as local ministry soon developed into a lifelong vocation. In the years before the Civil War, Baxter and his brother William Baxter (author of a biography of Restoration preacher, Walter Scott) were both known as educators and advocates of what they described as primitive Christianity among congregations in southern Mississippi. By 1865, the Baxter family was living near Woodville, Mississippi, where Kirk continued both teaching and preaching.
Following the Civil War, Baxter's ministry increasingly centered in the growing communities of the American frontier. In 1867 he moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he served as preacher for the local Christian church for four years (1867–1871) while also teaching in a high school for part of that period. Contemporary reports spoke highly of his influence. One article in The Apostolic Times (January 20, 1870) noted that he was entering his third year preaching for a large and intelligent congregation of more than two hundred members in Springfield, where the church enjoyed significant growth and influence. Baxter became closely associated with the development of churches throughout southwest Missouri and was also one of the prime movers in the establishment of Ash Grove College, an educational institution serving the region.
During the 1870s, Baxter's ministry expanded into Texas, particularly in Dallas. While preaching there he became involved in a controversy that reflected broader debates within the Restoration Movement. In 1876–1877, disagreement arose over the introduction of instrumental music (an organ) in worship. When the instrument was introduced, Baxter and a number of members who favored its use withdrew from the existing congregation and began meeting in the Old Fields Opera House, organizing the Commerce Street Christian Church in 1877 with about thirty-six members. The division proved significant and long-lasting in the religious history of Dallas.
One of the most dramatic events of Baxter's life occurred in June 1878 while he was traveling with the well-known evangelist Knowles Shaw, often called "The Singing Evangelist." As their train approached McKinney, Texas, it derailed and plunged down an embankment. Baxter survived the accident, though he was injured, but Shaw was killed in the wreck. Baxter later recounted the tragedy in detail, describing how Shaw had been speaking passionately about his evangelistic work only moments before the train left the tracks.
After several years in Texas, Baxter returned to Missouri in July 1879 and again made Greene County and the Springfield area his home. He preached among congregations throughout the region and at various times served churches such as the congregation at Antioch. His press for the instrument in worship further divided brethren in southwest Missouri.
Census records indicate that in 1880 he was living in Campbell Township, Greene County, Missouri. In addition to his ministry, he owned and worked a farm, maintaining what contemporaries described as a pleasant home in the countryside.
On June 12, 1856, Baxter married Amarintha Frances "Ama" Jackson of Clinton, Louisiana. Their marriage lasted nearly four decades and was blessed with a large family. Over the course of fifteen years they had eight surviving children: Charles Whitney Baxter (1857–1914); Mary A. Baxter (1858–1944); William H. Baxter (1861–1879); Frances "Fannie" Cornelia "Nena" Baxter (1863–1943); Rosa Jackson Baxter (1866–1931); George Henderson Baxter (1867–1934); Kirk Eugene Baxter (1869–1955); Walter Wood Baxter (1872–1901)
Through both family life and ministry, Baxter remained deeply connected to the communities he served. After decades of preaching, teaching, and church work across several states, Kirkland "Kirk" R. Baxter died on September 19, 1893, in Missouri at the age of sixty-four. He was buried in Hazelwood Cemetery in Springfield, Missouri.
Remembered as an energetic preacher, educator, and organizer, Baxter left a lasting mark on congregations in Mississippi, Missouri, and Texas. His life reflected both the missionary zeal and the internal controversies of the nineteenth-century Restoration Movement, as well as the challenges of building churches in the rapidly expanding American frontier.
-Scott Harp, 03.06.2026
Media Presence
Fayetteville Weekly Democrat, Fayetteville, Arkansas
Wednesday, October, 12,
1870 p.1
Springfield Leader and Press, Springfield, Missouri
Friday, May 28, 1886, p.2.
The Twice A Week Sun, Greenville, Illinois
Friday, June 16, 1882 p. 1.
Reporting The Need For The Baxters To Move To Texas - December 1875
The Dallas Daily Herald, Dallas, Texas
Sunday, December 19,
1875, p. 4.
Report Of Kirk Baxter's Work In A Texas State Meeting
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The Dallas Daily Herald, Dallas, Texas
Thursday, July 13, 1876, p.1.
Train Wreck Involving Knowles Shaw & Kirk Baxter
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WRECKED.
The North Bound Passenger Train on the Houston and Texas Central Railroad Wrecked Near McKinney Yesterday Morning.
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Elder Knowles Shaw, a Well-Known Evangelist, Killed Outright, and Twenty-Seven Persons More or Less Seriously Wounded.
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The Passenger and Sleeper Thrown Down An Embankment Forty Feet High — A Broken Rail The Cause — List of the Wounded — Full Particulars Of The Accident.
A disastrous accident to the north-bound passenger train on the Houston and Texas Central railroad occurred about two miles south of McKinney, at a quarter past nine o'clock yesterday morning, which was attended with death and destruction.
The train consisted of engine, baggage and mail car, two passenger coaches and a sleeper, and was running at usual speed. Arriving at the point designated, which was on an embankment about forty feet high, and near Wilson's creek, a broken rail precipitated the rear coach and the sleeper down the embankment and completely wrecked that part of the train. All the other parts ran over the break in the road and were not materially damaged.
THE FIRST NEWS
received of the accident was a telegram to Captain C. M. Wheat from Elder Kirk Baxter, pastor of the Christian church here, bringing the startling intelligence that Elder Knowles Shaw, who was in company with him aboard the train, was killed outright, and requesting him to come up at once.
A number of telegrams were sent and received during the morning, yet the answers received were rather vague and contradictory. Throughout the day there was great anxiety felt in this city, as a majority of the passengers had friends here who were desirous of knowing the fate of the passengers after the first news of the accident had been confirmed.
THE VERY LATEST
and fullest account both by telegraph and from reporters detailed to go to the scene of the accident, is to the effect that there were in all twenty-seven persons more or less wounded, and one killed. Of the wounded the following names are those who were at McKinney, at the American House, late yesterday evening, the others having gone north on the train which went on to its destination an hour or so after the accident. Those whose names do not appear in the list of wounded received slight bruises only.
WOUNDED
Rev. George W. Henry, of Denison, severely about the head.
Mrs. Aggie, wife of G. W. Henry, severely about the head.
Miss Katie Henry, slightly.
G. W. Henry, Jr., slightly.
Miss Carry Spooner, of Denison, about the head, slightly.
Miss Augusta Stidman, deaf mute from asylum at Austin, slightly.
Rev. J. T. Miller, of Ennis, severely.
Albert Billings, sleeping car porter, slightly.
Elder Kirk Baxter, of Dallas, about the head and chest, dangerously.
George Mountcastle, postmaster at Allen, dangerously.
S. C. Anderson, employee of R. V. Tompkins, Dallas, slightly.
Conductor Lasher, rib broken and some slight bruises.
Reverend W. L. Mallory, Sherman, slightly.
Some one, name unknown, from Mineola, slightly.
KILLED
No one was killed but Elder Knowles Shaw, of Mississippi. Mr. Shaw arrived here on the fourth day of May last under an engagement of the Commerce Street Christian Church to conduct a revival, which was continued thirty-three days and nights, during which time he delivered sixty-six discourses. The result of his efforts was one hundred and eleven additional members to the church.
From a prominent member of the Christian church of this city it is learned that Mr. Shaw was born in the state of Ohio in 1834, and at an early age moved to Indiana. Shortly after, his father died and left him at the head of the family. At the age of seventeen years he joined the Christian church, shortly after which he began preaching, and if he had lived until the first day of next January he would have been preaching twenty-one years. The past fifteen years of his life has been spent as an evangelist, and in supporting and helping various churches. At the age of twenty-three years he married Miss Finley, of Virginia, and continued to reside in Indiana up to a short time ago, when he moved to Columbus, Mississippi. He leaves a wife and two children, a young lady about nineteen years old and a youth about sixteen years old. He was very successful as a revivalist and had attained some notoriety in the northern and western states for his success in this line and for his compilation of Sunday school songs. He is the author of five Sunday school song books, his last work being the "Morning Star," of which three editions of five thousand each have been published within the last three months.
Mr. Shaw, at the time of the accident, was sitting in the passenger coach talking with Rev. Mr. Mallory, to whom he was introduced a short time before by Elder Baxter. Mr. Mallory says Mr. Shaw saved his (Mallory's) life by grabbing him and pushing him away from the position in which he fell himself. Mr. Shaw's right arm was broken in two or three places; there is a severe cut on top of his head, one on the forehead slightly, and his neck broken.
Elder Baxter, when he came to the car, looked for Mr. Shaw and found him entangled in the wreck and partly covered with water. It took fifteen minutes to extricate his body by cutting around it with an axe. His body was taken care of by friends at McKinney, where it was washed and dressed and laid out in a handsome coffin. It was brought to this city last evening where it was taken to Willett & Smith's and embalmed. It will be kept here awaiting orders from his family as to its disposition.
He kept a register of the number of those converted under his ministrations, which in round numbers is over eleven thousand.
Night before last he preached his farewell sermon to the congregation of the Commerce Street Christian Church of this city, and when killed was on his way to McKinney to hold a protracted meeting. The news of his death was a severe blow to his many friends in this city, as he was held in high esteem by all who knew him.
THE TRAIN
at the time of the accident was on a curve and about three hundred yards south of the bridge over the creek. The passenger coach turned over twice and is now bottom upwards in a ditch and a complete wreck. The sleeper turned over twice and is lying on one side. Most of the passengers were in the coach.
There were no other trains up the road with the exception of the one o'clock freight train until the 8:30 p.m. north-bound passenger. At a suggestion kindly offered by Mr. John W. Delaney of the Texas and Pacific road, Dr. Hughes telegraphed Colonel G. A. Quinlin, superintendent of the Central road, for passage on the one o'clock north-bound freight, and he soon received the following favorable answer:
Corsicana, June 6, 1878.
Conductor, No. 5:
You will pass Dr. Hughes and party free from Dallas to McKinney. Make them as comfortable as you can.
G. A. Quinlin, Superintendent.
By the time the train arrived
A LARGE CROWN
had assembled at the Union depot, some to take the train and others through curiosity. A party of thirty odd boarded the cars, among them the following physicians who went to care for the wounded: Drs. Hughes, Leak, Graham, Johnson and Allen, all of this city, who upon arriving at McKinney did effective service in alleviating the suffering of the wounded.
A Herald reporter called at the residence of
ELDER KIRK BAXTER
on Commerce street near the Christian church after he returned last night to ascertain what injuries he had sustained. He was lying on a bed with his family and a number of visitors around him who had called to learn of his condition. He was perfectly at himself and conversed with apparent ease, stating that the physicians were of the opinion that he had received internal injuries and that he was of the same opinion as he felt very sore in his chest. There was a large swollen place on his forehead which must have been the blow that stunned him, yet he had felt no pain from it. These, with the exception of a slight bruise on his left hand, were all the visible injuries that he received. He appeared to be so much concerned over the death of his deceased brother that he seemed to forget his own condition.
The wreck will not prevent the running of trains on regular time, as the broken place in the track has been repaired and the debris of the wreck cleared away.
The Dallas Daily Herald, Dallas, Texas, Saturday, June 8, 1878, p.1.
Obituary Of Kirk Baxter
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ELD. KIRK BAXTER DEAD.
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The Peaceful End of a Pioneer Minister.
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A Man Widely Known Throughout Southwest Missouri.
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His Life Work Was One of Usefulness. Arrangements for the Funeral Services.
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Eld. Kirk Baxter, whose name is familiar to almost every one who has long been a resident of Springfield or southwest Missouri, died at his home on east Elm street in this city yesterday morning at five minutes to 4 o'clock.
Mr. Baxter has been in precarious health for about four years with a lung trouble which the physicians pronounced consumption. For three years he has been unable to engage in the ministry, in which sacred calling the greater part of his life was spent.
Mr. Baxter was a native of the city of New York, born February 26, 1829. His parents moved to Washington, D. C., and lived there for a short time during his boyhood days and then moved to Pittsburg, Pa., where Eld. Baxter grew to manhood.
He entered Bethany College in Virginia in 1848 and graduated from that celebrated institution in 1851. He then engaged in ministerial work in Wilkinson county, Mississippi, until 1867, when he came to Springfield, and had charge of the Christian church here for four years, after which he was engaged as travelling evangelist for the counties of southwest Missouri, making Springfield his home.
From 1875 until 1880 he was absent from this city preaching at Huntsville, Mo., and at Dallas, Tex. He then returned to this county and resumed his work. He owned a farm upon which he lived most pleasantly for years, but has recently been living in this city.
He was married June 12, 1856, to Miss A. F. Jackson of Clinton, La. The union was blessed with nine children, seven of whom, Charles W., Mary A., Cornelia, Rosa J., George H., Kirk E. and Walter W., are living. Two of them, Kirk E. and Walter W., are married. The home of the latter is at Carthage. All of the children were at the bedside of their father at the time of his death.
The funeral services will take place at the South street Christian church this afternoon at 3 o'clock. Interment at Hazelwood cemetery.
The Springfield Democrat, Springfield, Missouri, Wednesday, September 20, 1893, p.5.
Dallas Report Of Kirk Baxter's Death
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A GOOD MAN GONE.
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Elder Kirk Baxter Passes Away in His Sixty-fourth Year.
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The Funeral Will Take Place at South Street Christian Church Tomorrow at 3 p. m.
Kirk Baxter, well known in Springfield since 1867, has passed from temporal things to eternal rest, age 64. His parents were English and had recently arrived in this country when the subject of this sketch was born in New York City, February 28, 1829. The family removed to Washington, D. C., where his mother died before he was old enough to appreciate her tender care.
In 1848, while living in Pittsburg, Pa., young Kirk was baptized by Samuel Pinkerton and in the fall of the same year he entered Bethany College from which he graduated in 1851.
After teaching school near Port Gibson, Miss., for two years he began to preach, though he did not abandon the school room, continuing both until 1867 when he devoted himself exclusively to the pulpit. During the war he has a record of having never missed an appointment and he was the only preacher in a circuit of 100 miles.
In June, 1856, Elder Baxter married Miss Anna Jackson, of Clinton, La., and she has been a sympathetic and devoted wife throughout until his death this morning.
In 1867 he became pastor of the Christian church in this city where he served acceptably for four years. He then entered the evangelical field, spending four years in Southwest Missouri and Northern Arkansas. He moved to Huntsville, Mo., in 1875, but left for Texas soon after on account of his wife's health. In Dallas he organized the Commerce Street (now the Central) Church, of which he became the pastor. While there he was in a railroad wreck in which he sustained a nervous shock from which he never fully recovered.
He came to Springfield to recuperate, going upon a farm, but again entered the religious field, working in Ash Grove, but his health was so much wrecked that he had to abandon his cherished plans and return to Springfield, where, surrounded by his faithful and loving family and friends, through long sickness, he entered in at the pearly gates.
He was known as "Honest Kirk Baxter" even in college, and that title remained by him throughout his energetic and exemplary life.
He leaves a large family and his sons and daughters fill honorable and useful stations in life—a rich legacy to the world for whose good he labored.
The funeral will take place from South Street Christian Church tomorrow (Wednesday) at 3 p. m., and the remains will be laid to rest in Hazelwood Cemetery.
-Springfield Leader and Press, Springfield, Missouri, Tuesday, September 19, 1893, p.4.
Directions To Grave
Kirk Baxter is buried in the Hazelwood Cemetery in Springfield, Missouri. Located south of I-44 on 65. The best way to access the cemetery is from the E. Sunset St. Entrance (off Business 65.) Travel to the rear of the cemetery on the Hazelwood Center Dr. The GPS location below will take you to the exact location of the grave.
GPS Location
37°10'21.5"N 93°15'54.5"W
or D.d. 37.172638,-93.265137
Hazelwood Cemetery
Walter W. Baxter
Husband Of
Sarah Ramsey Baxter
1872- January 22, 1901
Charles W. Baxter - Died January 30, 1914
Willie H. Baxter - Died May 9, 1882
Nena Baxter Pollard - Died October 2, 1943
Kirk E. Baxter - November 19, 1869 - May 2, 1955
Caroline Eva His Wife - October 21, 1872 - July 27, 1950
Rosa Jackson Baxter - April, 1866 - Died March 2, 1921
Mary Baxter - August 23, 1859 - Died April 23, 1944
Walter W. Baxter - 1872 - Died January 22, 1901
In Memory Of
Our Dead Boy
Willie H. Baxter
Who Died May 9, 1882
In His 22 Year
(Kirkland R) Kirk Baxter
Died September 18, 1893
(Amarintha Jackson) Ama Baxter
August 4, 1836 - Died May 3, 1897
Photos Taken 05.05. 2025
Webpage Produced on 03.06.2026
Courtesy Of Scott Harp
www.TheRestorationMovement.com
Special Recognition: This webpage was made possible due to a gospel meeting your webeditor was involved with in Lebanon, Missouri the first week of May, 2025. Daily travel was possible to go and locate graves of gospel preachers of yesteryear. One such grave was that of Kirk Baxter.