Over the July 4th weekend, one of the activities I did during my vacation was attend part of the 2nd Annual Kilpatrick Family Reunion in Ft. Barnwell, NC. My paternal grandmother, Cora, was the daughter of William Lawhorn and Pearlie Mae “Julie” Kilpatrick. So, the reunion is for Pearlie’s family.
When I was much younger, we used to go to the Kilpatrick reunions. In fact, I have a few pictures of me as a very young baby at some of them.
Then, the reunions stopped, but they were started back up again two years ago. I was not able to attend the 1st one, but I was glad to be able to at least go to one event of this 2nd reunion.
The earliest back we are able to go is to Silas and Mimi (Gooding) Kilpatrick. Silas and Mimi were born around the 1830s and had at least 12 children that we know of: Mary, Caroline, Edward, Susan, Ann, Patsey, Alexander, Abner, Nancy, Lucy, Ada, and Handy. Their son Edward is my direct ancestor – he is my 3rd great-grandfather.
Not only did I get to go, but I was asked to share some information about the family history research I’ve been doing on the Kilpatrick Family! So, I put together a short presentation and spoke about how I became interested in genealogy, some of the discoveries I’ve made, and shared my website where I have been documenting the family tree.
While preparing for the presentation, I made a new discovery too! I was able to find the marriage certificate for my direct ancestor Edward Kilpatrick and his wife Violetta. From census records, I knew they were married around 1880, but the marriage record find reveals they were married November 29, 1882. Fabulous!
The couple were married in neighboring Lenoir County with L.J. Jackson, Lewis Grady, and Adam Singleton were witnesses. I also learned from the record that Edward’s father, Silas, was still alive. I don’t have a death date for Silas, but knowing that information could potentially help focus searches for his death information in the future. The fact that Violetta’s parents (Stephen & Susan Donald) are still living may also help me with them as well.
It was also great to have the opportunity to see family members I had not seen in awhile, and to meet family members I’ve not met before. I created a Facebook group to help keep the family connected as we do have another reunion planned in 2017. Many thanks to the Kilpatrick Family Reunion committee for allowing me to share some of this with family and I look forward to seeing you all again next time!