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I'm Homeward Bound,
A Kirkpatrick Home Page

 
 
 

 

 
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 My Story

  Hi!  My name is Susan Lindgren-Vargas.  "Well. . ." you may say..., "Doesn't sound like the name of any Melungeons that I know!"  And you'd almost be correct, except for a few minor details.  I've known all my life there was something different about my mother's maternal roots.  You see, her folks just look(ed) different.  Many years ago while I was young and still at home I asked my mother if her mother was black, she yelled at me and read me the riot act.  Had I asked a stupid question?  I think not.  I was an observant child and not much escaped my ever roaming eye.  I was a stickler for detail even as a small child.  I would see women who reminded me of my mother, mainly of mediterranean or Italian descent who had the same shade of skin as did my maternal grandmother, my mother and her sisters; and I couldn't make any sense of it all until I began seeing the word Melungeon in documents on the WWW.  The very word "Melungeon" caught my eye and the curious meaning of it captured my spirit until I could not sleep at night because it haunted me.

 
  Now that I have received some insight into the Melungeon people I think I am ready to go outward and try to find out if these are the people of my mother's family.  You see, mother always told me that her people were called "Black Irish" when a description of them was necessary.  I suppose there were lots of questions when the subject of her skin color and facial characteristics came up.  My mother was born in an obscure village, Lost Creek, MO, which was near Chaonia.  Chaonia was abandoned because of a WPA project called the Wappapello Lake which put it under water six months out of the year.
 

  Mother's  maiden name was KIRKPATRICK and most people (including) some paternal family members told her they were Irish, and especially "Black Irish".  Over the years as I have done much genealogical research on her lines I have discovered there isn't an Irishman among them.  The Kirkpatrick family she is descended from were from Scotland, and  her maternal parentage was descended from the CLARY family.  Many people have said the Clary's are Irish too.  But the large Eureopean clan of Clarys came from France and not Ireland.  Desiree Clary (a Frenchwoman) married Count Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, who later became the King of Sweden (all the current Swedish Royalty are descended from them)  - she was engaged to Napolean Bonaparte before she married the Count.  Of course there is the proverbial native American grandmother story in my mother's family as well, and many of the legends frequently associated with the Melungeon people are shared in her family.  So this is only the beginning for me.  I have included photos in this home page, as well as some links to other pages regarding the Melungeons.  If anyone has any information about my mother's people I would appreciate any contact and/or explanation.  You can view my genealogy at:

The Gathering Place

My Main Genealogy Page

From the Family Album

Click on the thumbnail pictures and see the full-sized photographs

Four Sisters
Left are my maternal aunts:  Top left, Dixie Jane, top right, Iva Joe, bottom left, Clara Etta, bottom right Eva Sue Kirkpatrick.  (From a snapshot taken in 1947.)
 

Maternal Grandparents
Right are my maternal grandparents (deceased), Mabel Ann Clary Kirkpatrick and James A. Kirkpatrick, Sr. (From a snapshot taken in the 1950's.)
 

Iris Clary Novitts
Left, Iris Clary Novitts (deceased) my maternal great aunt (sister to my maternal grandmother - above.)  From a snapshot taken in the 1940's.
 

Ann Kirkpatrick Lindgren    Right, my beautiful mother (deceased), Ann Kirkpatrick Lindgren.  (From a snapshot taken in 1942.)  Mother is holding my older brother Walter in her arms.  She had eight living children, he was the eldest, I am the second child.
 

Here is the Beginnings of the Long Awaited Pictures of the Men in our Family

James A. Kirkpatrick, Jr - AKA Left, my handsome maternal Uncle, James A. Kirkpatrick, Jr., (known as, "Junior", now deceased) who married Aunt Estelle and together they had (count em') nine children, eight sons and finally a daughter.

Eugene Clary Kirkpatrick Oh my, another good lookin' young man, my second paternal Uncle, Eugene Clary Kirkpatrick who was a casualty of World War II in Achen, Germany at the tender age of seventeen.

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