Richard Kirby was born in 1748 in Virginia. He married Sarah Jane Small, from Scotland. Served in the Virginia militia, and pledged an oath of allegiance to the Revolutionary Cause in Henry County, Virginia. Living with wife and ten children in North Carolina in 1790. Lived in Blount County, Tennessee by 1800 when he served on a jury. Owned 191 acres near Little River in Blount County. Wife Sarah stated in pension application that he was buried in the Kirby Cemetery on the Kirby farm. She received a pension in 1818 and died in 1826. Marker dedicated by Mary Blount Chapter NSDAR on May 23, 2004.
The Kirby Family Cemetery is located near the Maryville Water Treatment Plant, Wheeler Road, Louisville, Tennessee, near the Little River on the original family plantation. The property is now owned by the City of Maryville.