enjamin Newkirk was a pioneer of Lawrence County and Jackson County, Indiana. He may have been in the area earlier, but he was certainly a resident of Carr Township, Jackson County by the 1820 Federal Census.

Benjamin was born in the area now Berkeley County, West Virginia on December 25, 1754. He was the scion of the family of Gerret Cornelissen van Nieuwkercke, born 1631 in Gelderland, Holland, who had immigrated to the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam in 1659. His grandfather Barent Newkirk had been a pioneer of the Virginia frontier, arriving there in the 1730's. His father Peter Newkirk was a Kentucky pioneer, coming to the Louisville area by 1782.

Being a pioneer could be a dangerous business. In 1790 Indians killed Benjamin's brother Tobias and his companion while they were fishing along Floyd's Fork in Jefferson County, Kentucky. (The perpetrators made good their escape across the Ohio.)

Benjamin was married in 1787 to a woman named Elizabeth, who did not long survive. On December 20, 1789 he married Mary Hawkins in Jefferson County, Kentucky. It is thought that Henry Newkirk of Jackson County, Indiana was a child of this marriage. His third marriage was to "Alcy" Sparks (born March 11, 1777) on November 3, 1801 in Jefferson County, Kentucky.

Alcy's name is generally interpreted as "Alice", but her daughter Permelia Newkirk Henderson named a daughter "Elsie Jane", which suggests that the name was really "Elsie".

Alcy is believed to be the daughter of James Sparks and, hence, the niece of Richard "Shantunte" Sparks, who was kidnapped by the Shawnee about 1763. Pukeshinwau, father of the great Tecumseh, adopted him, and Richard remained with his adopted family until the forced return of such white captives in 1775. His experience was widely publicized.

Benjamin's other known children-probably all with Alcy- were Jemima, who married William Henderson; Permelia, who married Robert Henderson; Moses Kirkendall, who married Eleanor Fountain; James Leonard, who married Elvira Critchelow; Benjamin Franklin, who married Euphemia White; Benjamin Richard, who married Lucinda Beezly; Isaac, who married Mary A. Critchelow, and Polly.

Benjamin died May 17, 1840. Alcy died May 10, 1857. Both are buried in Carr Township, Jackson County, Indiana. Their progeny spread over southern Indiana and, as befitting this truly pioneer inheritance, west to Missouri, Nebraska, and California.

Sources:

"Some Descendants of Gerret Cornelisse and Mattheus Van NieuKirk", Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, Special Number, March 1934.

Stanley Newkirk, newstan20@prodigy.net., who has compiled the work of several Newkirk genealogists besides himself.

"Tecumseh, a Life", John Sugden, Henry Holt & Co., New York, NY, 1998.

Submitted by Joseph M. Daniels