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Keith Kilpatrick holds his book, Kilpatrick: A Family of Colonial North Carolina, outside the potato house on his family’s property. Photo by Samantha Sinclair
Turtletown, Tenn. - Keith Kilpatrick never thought of himself as writer, but he is one today.
He recently published Kilpatrick: A Family of Colonial North Carolina, a history of his family and the result of research he started in 2010. Previous research could not pinpoint the oldest ancestor in America.
“My goal is to tie the family together,” Kilpatrick said.
Quite a few Kilpatrick family members live in Cherokee County, as well as Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson and Transylvania counties in western North Carolina. Others have spread farther, but most live in the South, he said.
He introduces his research by sharing the Scottish origin and history of the name “Kilpatrick.” He then explains the work he did to determine the oldest ancestor, and provides the history on why the family possibly came to America.
The book traces the family’s movements as they settled in various locations, providing some history of Cherokee County as a result. It does this by presenting the history of each lineage.
Kilpatrick believes people should know where they came from, and the book is not just a history of his family, but can provide insight to the history of Scots-Irish across the area. He wanted to share that history through the pages.
“I just felt a responsibility to document all of it,” he said.
His interest sparked while taking a genealogy class taught by Larry Van Horn in 2009. Van Horn also writes a genealogy column for the Cherokee Scout.
For the book, Kilpatrick collected research performed by a core group of five family members about 40 years ago, then expanded on it, doing more research and taking photos. He and his wife, Carolyn, took several trips across the state line taking photos of family members in Murphy, visiting sites, and gathering research.
He started working with a publisher in 2018, and the result was 400-page hardcover book full of 450 images, illustrations and maps. He most enjoyed piecing together information gathered from various sources.
“It’s kind of like putting a puzzle together,” Kilpatrick said. “I love fitting the puzzle together.”
The most interesting thing was seeing the naming patterns in his family and being able to trace back generations by following the pattern. For example, the first son would be named after the father’s father, the second son would be named after the mother’s father and the third son would be named after the father’s paternal grandfather.
For details on purchasing a book, email Kilpatrick at khkilpatrick@etcmail.com or call him at 423-496-7246.
Samantha Sinclair is the Scouting Around columnist for the Cherokee Scout. You can reach her by phone, 837-5122, Ext. 24; or email, scoutingaround@cherokee-scout.com.