Son of a school teach­er and mu­si­cian, Kirk­pat­rick grew up in a mu­sic­al at­mo­sphere. In 1854, he went to Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia, to stu­dy mu­sic and learn a trade; he spent over three years as a car­pen­ter. But he was more in­ter­est­ed in mu­sic than me­chan­ics, de­vot­ing all his lei­sure time to its stu­dy. His am­bi­tion at the time was to be­come a vi­o­lin­ist.

In 1855, Kirk­pat­rick joined the Whar­ton Street Meth­od­ist Epis­co­pal Church in Phil­a­del­phia, and from then on de­vot­ed him­self most­ly to sac­red mu­sic, giv­ing his serv­ices to the choir and Sun­day school. As there were few church or­gans in that day, his vi­o­lin and cel­lo were in con­stant de­mand for choir re­hears­als, sing­ing so­ci­e­ties, and church pro­grams. Dur­ing this time he wrote a num­ber of un­pub­lished hymn tunes and an­thems.

Kirkpatrick stu­died vo­cal mu­sic un­der Pro­fess­or T. Bi­shop, then a lead­ing ora­tor­io and bal­lad sing­er. He be­came a mem­ber of the Har­mon­ia and Han­del and Hay­dn Sac­red Mu­sic So­ci­e­ties, where he heard the great­est sing­ers of the day and be­came fa­mil­iar with the prin­ci­pal chor­al works of the great com­pos­ers. Kirk­pat­rick’s first pub­lished com­po­si­tion was When the Spark of Life Is Wan­ing, which ap­peared around 1858 in the Mu­sic­al Pi­o­neer in New York. He went on to pub­lish about 50 hymn col­lect­ions, inc­lud­ing:

• The Wells of Sal­va­tion: Songs for the Sab­bath School, with John Swe­ney (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1881)
• The Roy­al Fount­ain, with John Swe­ney (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1882)
• The Ark of Praise, with John Swe­ney (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1882)
• Melodious Son­nets, with John Swe­ney (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1885)
• Songs of Joy and Glad­ness, with John Swe­ney et al. (Bos­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts: Mc­Don­ald, Gill & Com­pa­ny, 1885)
• Precious Hymns: For Times of Re­fresh­ing and Re­viv­al, with Thom­as Har­ris­on & John Swe­ney (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1885)
• On Joy­ful Wing, with John Swe­ney (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1886)
• Songs of Re­deem­ing Love No. 2, with C. C. Mc­Cabe, Tull­i­us O’Kane & John Swe­ney (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1887)
• Showers of Bless­ing, with John Swe­ney (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1888)
• Redemption Songs, with L. W. Mun­hall & John Swe­ney (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1889)
• The Joy­ful Sound, with John Swe­ney (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1889)
• Cheerful Songs, with John Swe­ney & Le­an­der Pick­ett (Lou­is­ville, Ken­tucky: Pick­ett Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, 1891)
• Sunlit Songs, with John Swe­ney & Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1890)
• Radiant Songs, with John Swe­ney & Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1891)
• Praise in Song, with Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1893)
• Songs of Love and Praise, No. 2, with John Swe­ney & Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1895)
• Songs of Love and Praise, No. 3, with John Swe­ney & Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1896)
• Songs of Sov­er­eign Grace, with Lin­coln Hall & Win­field Weed­en (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Hall-Mack Com­pa­ny, 1897)
• The Young Peo­ple’s Hymn­al, with W. D. Kirk­land & James At­kins (Nash­ville, Ten­nes­see: Pub­lish­ing House of the Meth­od­ist Epis­co­pal Church, South, 1898)
• The Bow of Promise, with George El­der­kin, C. C. Mc­Cabe, John Sweney & F. A. Har­din (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: R. R. Mc­Cabe & Com­pa­ny, 1898)
• Sunday-School Prais­es (Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio: Jen­nings & Pye, 1900)
• Gospel Prais­es, No. 2, with Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Hall-Mack Com­pa­ny, 1900)
• Hymns of Grace & Glo­ry, with Jo­shua Gill & Hen­ry Gil­mour (Cleve­land, Ohio: Evan­gel­i­cal Pub­lish­ing House, 1901)
• Songs of the Living Way, with Hen­ry Gil­mour & E. L. Hyde (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Pep­per Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, 1901)
• Grateful Praise, with Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Hall-Mack Com­pa­ny, 1902)
• Songs of Christ­ian Ser­vice, with Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Hall-Mack Com­pa­ny, 1903)
• Light and Life Songs, with Tho­ro Har­ris & Will­iam Olm­stead (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: S. K. J. Ches­bro, 1904)
• Glorious Praise, with How­ard Doane (Lou­is­ville, Ken­tucky: The Bap­tist Book Con­cern, 1904)
• The Trib­ute of Song, with Hen­ry Gil­mour et al.(Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Hall-Mack Com­pa­ny, 1904)
• The Re­deem­er’s Praise, with George El­der­kin (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: George D. El­der­kin Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, 1906)
• Jubilant Voic­es, with How­ard Doane et al. (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Hope Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, 1907)
• The King’s Prais­es, with Hen­ry Gil­mour et al. (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: The Praise Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, 1907)
• The Young Peo­ple’s Hymn­al No. 2, with James At­kins (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1907)
• The Old Sto­ry in Song Num­ber Two, with Hen­ry Gil­mour et al. (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: The Praise Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, 1908)
• The Gos­pel in Song, with Mil­ton S. Rees & Hen­ry Gil­mour (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: The Praise Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, 1908)
• Joy and Praise, with James Fill­more (Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio: Fill­more Mu­sic House, cir­ca 1908)
• Songs of Praise and Pow­er, with Hen­ry Gil­mour et al. (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: The Christ­ian Wit­ness Com­pa­ny, 1909)
• Best of All, with Bev­er­ly Car­ra­dine & C. J. Fow­ler (Christ­ian Wit­ness Com­pa­ny, 1910)
• The King’s Prais­es Num­ber 2, Hen­ry Gil­mour et al. (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: The Praise Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, 1910)
• Spirit of Praise, with Charles Case & Jacob Hall (Day­ton, Vir­gin­ia: The Rue­bush-Kieff­er Com­pa­ny, 1911)
• The King’s Prais­es Num­ber Three, Hen­ry Gil­mour et al. (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: The Praise Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, 1912)
• Revival Mel­o­dies, 1921
• Waves of Glo­ry No. 2, 1921

• Blanchard, pp. 53-4
• Hall, pp. 155-60
• Hustad, p. 269
• Reynolds, p. 332
• Sanville, pp. 38, 88

1. Wilt Thou Be Made Whole?

1. All over the World
2. Alone with God
3. Anaheim
4. Annetta
5. Are You Com­ing to the Feast?
6. At the Mer­cy Seat
7. Beautiful Hills of Rest
8. Beautiful Robes
9. Beautiful Sab­bath
10. Bells of Eter­ni­ty, The
11. Beneath His Shel­ter­ing Wings
12. Blessed Be the Name
13. Blessèd Old Sto­ry of Love
14. Blessing in Pray­er, A
15. Buda
16. Buried with Christ
17. By Grace I Will
18. Calling for You
19. Calvary’s Stream Is Flow­ing
20. City Be­yond, The
21. Close to Thy Cross, O Christ
22. Come, for All Things Are Rea­dy
23. Come, Lord, and Let Thy Pow’r
24. Comforter Has Come, The
25. Cozumel
26. Cradle Song
27. Crispus
28. Darmstadt
29. Dear Je­sus, Canst Thou Help Me?
30. Dear to the Heart of the Shep­herd
31. Deeper Yet
32. Every Word I Be­lieve
33. Famous Ea­gle
34. Farmington
35. Father All Ho­ly
36. Friesen
37. Gathering Out of Tears
38. Give Me Thy Heart
39. Glory in My Soul
40. Glory to God, Hal­le­lu­jah
41. Go, Stu­dy the Bi­ble
42. God So Loved the World
43. Golden Bells, The
44. Greenwell
45. Hallelujah! Amen!
46. Happy Crown­ing Day, The
47. Hear and An­swer Pray­er
48. He Came to Save Me
49. He Died for Thee
50. He Hid­eth My Soul
51. He Is All in All to Me
52. Healing at the Fount­ain
53. Healing Touch, The
54. He’ll Come and Tar­ry Not
55. His Blood
56. His Grace Abound­eth More
57. Home at Last
58. I’ll Bear It, Lord, for Thee
59. In Beth­a­ny
60. In the Book Which Thou Art Keep­ing
61. In the Twink­ling of an Eye
62. Indianapolis
63. Jacksonville
64. Jesus Comes
65. Jesus On­ly
66. Jesus Un­der­stands!
67. Just a Lit­tle Sun­shine
68. Kansas Ci­ty
69. Keep in the Line
70. Keep Me Ev­er Close to Thee
71. Kirkpatrick
72. Lake Mead
73. Landås
74. Lead Me to Cal­va­ry
75. Let the Light Stream In
76. Like an Ar­my We Are March­ing
77. Like as a Fa­ther
78. Lilliard
79. Listen to the Bless­èd Invita­tion
80. Lo! the Gold­en Fields Are Smil­ing
81. Lord, I’m Com­ing Home
82. Made Whole
83. Maui
84. Meet in the Morn­ing
85. Meet Me There
86. Mercy Is Bound­less and Free
87. Minnewaska
88. Moline
89. Music and Love
90. My Heart’s Dear Home
91. No King but Christ
92. O to Abide in Je­sus
93. O to Be Like Thee!
94. Oh, for a Heart Whit­er Than Snow
95. On the Cross of Cal­va­ry
96. Only His Love
97. Open Bi­ble for the World, An
98. Orlando
99. Praise Je­ho­vah
100. Praise Ye the Lord
101. Raleigh
102. Redeemed
103. River of Life, The
104. Salva­tion
105. Sands
106. Saved to the Ut­ter­most
107. Saxony
108. Sing, My Soul!
109. Sing un­to God
110. Singing I Go
111. Sometime
112. Speeding On­ward
113. Stepping in the Light
114. Still Out of Christ
115. Take the Life-Boat
116. Tell It Over Again
117. Ten Thou­sand Thanks to Je­sus
118. Thy Ho­ly Spir­it, Lord, Alone
119. ’Tis Burn­ing in My Soul
120. ’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Je­sus
121. Triumphs of Faith, The
122. True Shep­herd, The
123. Turn a New Leaf for Me
124. ’Twill All Be Right at Last
125. Under the Blood
126. Very Friend I Need, The
127. Very Same Je­sus, The
128. Wait, and Mur­mur Not
129. Washed in the Blood of My Re­deem­er
130. Watch and Pray
131. Watchman, Blow the Gos­pel Trum­pet
132. We Have an An­chor
133. We Walk by Faith
134. Welcome for Me
135. What Will It Mat­ter?
136. When Love Shines In
137. When the Bride­groom Comes
138. Wingate
139. You May Have the Joy-Bells