Charles W. Kirk was born in Union County, Indiana, April 6, 1836, the son of Israel and Sarah (Test) Kirk. His father died in 1841, and Charles moved in 1848 to Richmond, Indiana, where he attended Friends Boarding School (now Earlham College) in 1851-1852. In 1858, he was married in Clinton County, Ohio, to Rachel Hollingsworth. She was born in Clinton County, February 22, 1840, the daughter of Asaph and Anna (Wickersham) Hollingsworth. They had four children, only one of whom survived infancy. After their marriage, Charles W. Kirk attended Miami Medical College in Cincinnati. He practiced in Darlington, and Kokomo, Indiana, until 1878. While living in Kokomo, he was recorded a Friends minister. In 1878, the Kirks accepted the positions of superintendent and matron in the Wyandotte Government School in what is now northeastern Oklahoma. Charles and Rachel Kirk served at Wyandotte until 1884. In 1885, Charles Kirk was appointed superintendent of Quaker missionary work in the Indian Territory under the associated Executive Committee of Friends on Indian Affairs. He and Rachel also had charge of the Friends school and church at Shawneetown. He served as superintendent until his death, Sept. 12, 1893. Rachel Kirk succeeded him as superintendent for one year, and continued to work in the Shawnee mission until 1915. She then moved to Selma, Ohio, to live with her daughter Ethel Calvert. She died on a visit to Shawnee, January 13, 1918.

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