James Kirker (1793–1852) was an Irish born, American pirate, soldier, mercenary, merchant, fur trader and scalp hunter. He came to New York at the age of 16 and soon joined a privateer ship hunting for British merchant ships in the war of 1812.
James was born in Killead in Co. Antrim to an Ulster Scots family, but left the British Isles for New York, USA at the age of 16 to avoid conscription to the navy. In an ironic twist, he became a "legal" American pirate scalp-hunter to raid British ships off the American east coast. He was pirate for a year, but returned to New York (Ferry Street) in 1813 and married Catherine Donigan. Catherine lived in 174 Henry Street, and James abandoned his family in 1817 when some of his cousins arrived in New York and they travelled to St. Louis, Missouri, James not returning to NY.
In St. Louis, James worked in the McKnight and Brady store in the business district. In 1821 he has his own grocery business near the Piggot ferry on the river.
James joined the William Henry Ashley fur trapping expedition. He did this for many years, but got into trouble with the Mexicans. He then had several jobs, and eventually became an apache-hunter. Comanches displaced Apaches, so the Apaches raided the Pueblo and Spanish, and Kirker made a life driving these Apache back. In 1839, Kirker was raided by Apache, but Kirker chased and killed many Apache. James, known to the Mexicans as Santiago, contracted with Governor Irigoyen de la O, of Chihuahua, to raise a group of men for the expressed purpose of hunting Chiricahua and Chihene natives. He often hunted in the mountains and along the rivers of northern Mexico, southeastern Arizona, and southwestern New Mexico. He took orders from no one. The natives resented Kirker because prior to his relationship with Mexican officials, he had been an illicit trader with the Indians, dealing in guns, gunpowder, liquor, and sometimes even travelled with native raiders.[1]
James's son was James B. Kirker, who was brought up as a Roman Catholic by his mother. He was an engineer and was in the "Fighting 69th".