Tracing our ancestors.

Part of my family is of course the same as Glendann's.
On my mother's side we don't know anything from before they came to American other than they came from Germany. My great-grandmother's maiden name was Van-Meter. She married into the Hoxsey family. Hopefully I'll find out more some day!

 

I told about my ancester that I am pretty sure I am derived fron. John Hugh Kirkpatrick. The other way of thinking is that we are derived from Alexander Kirkpatrick. He is the one that had relatives marry into the royal family during the reign of Edward the 1st. John Hugh wnet to North Carolina as an adult after the Revolutionary War. He was also a War hero. At the time, western North Carolia was what is now eastern Tennessee. He is buried at a little out of the way cemetary in Eastern Tenn. But I was able to track his children into Kentucky and then into Ohio. I also was able to track my great grandfathers service during the Civil War. There was always the story that he had brought back an old mantel clock from the war that he had taken from a plantation. My next older brother has the clock as he is named for my Great Grandfather. Jame joined the Union Army as a private and was assigned to the Quartermaster Corps. He would be behind the Union lines, visiting farms and plantations getting cows, chickes and horses for the Army. So that would put him in the position to get the clock. He spent 4 years in the Army and was one of a few to be in the War and survive it. When he was discharged he was a Leutentant. He died in 1913. I have a copy of his pension card where he drew his $3 an month pension. After his death, my Great Grandmother drew his pension until her death. As I said my brother has the clock. It has all wooden gears and still works. But loses about 50 minutes out of an hour.

 

I will look for you on Antiques Road Show next time it is in your neck of the woods.

 

Even if the clock were mine, I wouldn't get rid of it. It would go to my son. I don't know what my brother is planning on doing with it. He is 67 and health wise about the same shape as me. Not good and not real bad. I would imagine it would go to his son.

 

Twenty years ago (before I worked full time) I did a lot of research on my family. A cousin had done major research on my mother's side so I concentrated on my dad's family. Most of them were originally from Scotland and Ireland arriving in the states through Canada. I have never solved the mystery I found in a newspaper article that stated that my great grandfather had shot another man. I tried court records but found nothing. From what I read, I think the other man may have been trespassing and my great grandfather shot him, fortunately not a fatal wound.

 

So many interesting tales in the past, I often wonder what the 'missing' ones would be. My grandfather kept a book that had a detailed family tree in it, he had spent years gradually adding to it - I expect one of my uncles must have it now. It traced back to Scotland and Ireland and England for the most part, though I found it interesting that there were so many mercenaries, priests/nuns (without their own descendants of course) and merchants in it. Seems you either went into the church, sailed over the seas or became a soldier-for-hire. My grandmother's side were descended from a pair of Dutch shoemaking brothers who came out west when land was being offered in Oregon to settlers - farmers, musicians and (again) priest/nuns.

At about the time of Robin Hood's fabled romp through Sherwood, my ancestors would have been those thugs you see hired by the Sherriff to kill him... Oh well!

My mom's side is all Polish, and we were only able to trace back to when they left Poland to flee the Czar because he was burning all the villages. They weren't quite as interesting, just farmin' folk without so many odd tales as the other.

I know my mother-in-law has taken up tracing her Irish/English heritage as a hobby, she spends quite a lot of time on it now - I'll have to ask her how many 'horse theives' she's uncovered so far. She especially likes trying to find royalty or some other upper crust person in there, I wonder how many of those as well.

Shoot, go back far enough and we're all related anyway.

 

I remember my Dad telling the story of him and one of his brothers traveling through the US looking for other Kirkpatricks and trying to determine if they were relatives or not. They traveled through Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansaw trying to find them. He had pictures of them posing next to their Model T Ford in different places. He would have been in his early 20's and this would have been in 1926 or there abouts. Needless to say, the roads left a lot to be desired. He said one night they stopped at a park and after they ate they went to sleep on top of picnic tables. When they woke up the next morning, they were covered with 4 inches of snow! I come from a hardy family!