William Kirk

William Kirk. , William Kirk was born in Scotland. He became a bandsman in the British Army, served in India, and later was stationed at Aberdeen and Edinburgh Castle. He married Margaret Ann Beatten, on his 21st birthday in 1872. William left the Army and came to Cleveland with Margaret in 1873 or 1874., He eventually took over the Oriental Cornet Band, changing its name to the Knights of Pythias Band and made the men keep their feet off the chairs and stop chewing and smoking tobacco while they were playing. The name of the band was later changed to Kirk's Military and Concert Band., Kirk's band became "the finest in this section of the country, giving park concerts, playing for dances, and adding musical ceremony to the four or five race tracks around the county at that time." Kirk's band led the procession over the Superior Viaduct when it was completed in 1878 and was the last band to cross it when it was torn down. The band played at the opening of Euclid Beach Park on June 30, 1895, and at the opening of the Detroit-Superior High Level Bridge in 1914. His 40-man band played at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, in 1901., William and Margaret had five children. After Margaret's death in 1915, William Married Isabella Finley, 36 years his junior. The emblem found on William's headstone indicates that he was a Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine. The official emblem of the Mystic Shrine is the crescent.