Kirkpatricks on the Lam(b)

April Fools. Sorry if you believed we were moving on before you had a chance to spend your next vacation visiting us here in paradise. Rest assured, guano covered islands are not in our future...

You may remember when we wrote several months ago that we had come across a Lake Kirkpatrick near to where we live here in Queenstown. We didn't know much about how it got its name but one thing we were pretty sure of was that we were not the first Kirkpatricks to live in the area.

Well, now we know a little bit more about the Kirkpatricks who proceeded us here in Queenstown. We learned from our new neighbors that the area we're living in was first settled by the Kirkpatricks back in the mid-1800s. They used the land to raise sheep and named it Closeburn Station after a village and castle back in Scotland that that was associated with the Kirkpatrick clan. The Kirkpatricks lived in a house next to Lake Kirkpatrick that no longer stands. Evidently the Kirkpatricks sold the station over a century ago.

Last week some relatives of the Closeburn Kirkpatricks made an unannounced visit to our house. They were on vacation down from Auckland to see the Warbirds Over Wanaka International Airshow and decided to drive around the land that used to be owned by their long lost ancestors. The wife, who has no Kirkpatrick blood, is an avid genealogist and just had to see the area. They were shocked to see the name "Kirkpatrick" on one of the mailboxes so of course they had to meet what had to be some distant relatives. They got their second shock, and a bit of disappointment I'm sure, when they heard our American accents. Nevertheless, we invited them in for coffee and tea.

We learned from them that Closeburn Station was settled by the brothers Kirkpatrick back in the 1850s. We also learned why they immigrated to New Zealand - one of the brothers was on the run after killing someone back home in Scotland. I imagine he was pretty safe from Scotland Yard down here! Then, of course, came the question from our new friends about the reason for our family's migration to New Zealand.

We still don't know if we're related to these New Zealand Kirkpatricks. But if we are, we learned from our new friends/relatives? that we would also be related to the most famous New Zealand Kirkpatrick - Ian Kirkpatrick.

Vermin count update:
Mice: 5
Rats: 0
Possum: 2