There are lots and lots of genealogists that descend from Richard Kirkland, born c 1670, died bef 1743 in Fairfax, Virginia. I have a huge amount of DNA matches to this line (Richard is my 8th great-grandfather), and I also have ongoing struggles with many people that add incorrect members to the line.
Most present-day Kirkland searchers are aware of two popular reference aids for this family: Kirkland Source Book of Records, Volumes I and II (referred to as KSBR). They were published in 1977 and 1988 respectively. These works are a compilation of Kirkland records accumulated by the compilers over many years and total over 1,000 pages. Unfortunately, unresolved problems have plagued researchers of the family for decades. Not too many people, however, seem to be aware of later research completed over several years by Dr. James R. Peacock. Dr. Peacock spent years traveling to the various state, county and local courthouses and archives to locate and review original documents, along with using the information provided in KSBR. Other family researchers aware of his efforts contacted him and also provided information (with sources). Dr. Peacock's focus was on the family of Henry County, Alabama. However, it highlights all Kirkland males of record in the three generations following Richard Kirkland who died in Fairfax, Virginia in 1743. Dr. Peacock attempted to identify and place the Henry County family through the eighth generation, starting with Richard above noted. He noted: "At this point, the size of the family exceeds this writer's talents. The five old men cited earlier had 53 children between them. These were married, or near marrying age, when they reached Henry County in the 1820-1830 era and they fast became vast in numbers..."
Dr. Peacock published his book privately in 2002. I purchased a copy, as did a large number of other family researchers. He also provided copies to numerous libraries. He has since died, and I don't believe his heirs are producing any more copies.
This is one of the first families I started researching when I became interested in genealogy in the mid-1980s. I have a large family tree (which I maintain at ancestry.com) that includes many of the descendants (not just my direct line) of Richard. I would ask people that are descendants of this family to please collaborate with me and/or refer to Dr. Peacock's book when adding family members. While there are many, many more profiles that need to be created for the many children and their spouses, we need to be sure to connect them to the proper families. The vast majority of trees shown on ancestry.com have incorrect information. Please don't base your research on unsourced trees, and please don't add profiles without a source other than an unsourced family tree. I hold this family near and dear to my heart, and I would like Wikitree to be the one site where you can go and find the correct information on this (and all other) families! Dr. Peacock noted that some of the information may be incorrect. Let's use his valuable resource and get this family right! He would be pleased to know that we are carrying on the torch . . .
