Last night (March 02,2011) I was able to talk to my biological Uncle Bob.
My biological Uncle Bob
(click on image to enlarge)
I am still reeling from just the honor to be able to talk to blood relatives. Being adopted that is a pinnacle moment in personal history. He told me about my mother Linda Kirk, about her paternal clan "The Tangle Clan" and Maternal Clan "Many Goats Clan" tentatively my father's clan "San Felipe Clan" . I must have asked a hundred questions to which Uncle Bob was way too polite to answer. Many had to do with my mother, my research, I openned up research notes and just went down the line of thirty plus people with the surname KIRK, some related by blood some with the same last name with other relations through marriages, etc.
I also found out that my adopted mom, Gwena Morrill's account wasn't too far off. I felt bad reading her statement that my little brother Christopher was dead. Bob & everyone else thought I was the one who was dead.
My Uncle Bob was in Junior High School in Ganado when my mom was in a car accident in Albuquerque New Mexico. They received a call from the hospital in Albuquerque stating she had been in an auto accident and was in critical condition. There was no transportation or money to get to Albuquerque, New Mexico from Ganado, Arizona so no one went. She died there and her body was transported back to Ganado Arizona where she is now buried.
Just writing that last paragraph makes my heart ache. No one may have been there at the hospital by my mom Linda Kirk's side when she was in pain and died. What a travesty.
Meanwhile, I'm assuming Christopher and I were in Albuquerque and this may be when I was placed in the Saint Anthony's Orphanage in Albuquerque.
My adopted mother had St Anthony's information on a scrap of paper that has survived these 40 plus years. Somehow Christopher and I ended back up in Arizona. My little brother Christopher ended up somewhere with "relatives" at some point and this is what my adopted mom Gwena Morrill wrote (and what I read to Uncle Bob):
" We were told you had a younger brother named Christopher that lived with John Kirk and his wife. I don't recall her name. Their son (I can't think of his name, but he was maybe 5 to 8 years older than you) told me about Christopher. I was taking him home from seminary in the seminary van. I had you and Virginia with me. You would have been 3 or 4. I was thinking he was 10, but can't remember for sure. He asked me if you were Leland Kirk. I said yes. He then told me your little brother Christopher had lived with them. He said something like this. "One night when he went to bed, he was fine. The next morning he was dead so we moved."-Gwena Morrill Fri, Feb 11, 2011 at 3:16 PM
My little brother Christopher, may he rest in peace knowing he is not forgotten, is deceased.
Somehow the messages got mixed up on the Kirk side of the family because they thought I was deceased/dead. Thankfully I am with the living.
Around that time according to my mom, Gwena Morrill:
"Welfare told us you'd been living with your grandparents in the sheep camp. We later learned it was your mother's grandparents. It kind of seems like their name was Pacheco, but our friend said Andy(?) said your name was Kirk.it was there that you were in a fire. Your (great) grandfather was blind. Your (great) grandmother went out with the sheep. They lived in a hogan with an open fire pit. You walked into the fire and was burned. That was our understanding of why you were in the hospital for 2 months before being placed with us."-Gwena Morrill Fri, Feb 11, 2011 at 3:16 PM
Uncle Bob cannot recall a sheep camp so that was puzzling to him. They didn't know where Christopher and I were for a while & I (Leland Pacheco Kirk) was presumed dead at some point.
After being in a fire, according to my health records obtained during research, I went to the Keams Canyon Arizona PHS INDIAN HOSPITAL on June 16,1969 with foot burns, a broken arm (dislocated "Ankylosis" right elbow that was never reset correctly), and of course severe malnutrition. I was transfered from there after one month (I think that's what "RTC 1Mo." means) to the Gallup New Mexico Indian Hospital "Gallup 802" on July 19,1969. I stayed there until I was placed into a foster home on September 19,1969.
That foster family is Stanley and Gwena Morrill. I went back for a check up in Gallup one last time on October 21, 1969. I also have hospital records that date until May 28, 1970.
My sister Virginia Bitsui and I (Leland Pacheco Kirk) were adopted on July 15,1971.
REMEMBER I was adopted without:
- a Certificate of Navajo Blood,
- a Birth Certificate,
- a Census Number,
no trace to the Navajo Nation except a Final Judgement of Adoption issued in the Trial Court of the Navajo Tribe; Judicial District of Chinle Arizona.
- Judge Joe G Bennalley was the Judge, Trial Court of the Navajo Tribe
- Pearl Baautista was the Clerk, Courts of the Navajo Tribe who signed my final adoption papers without notifiying the Kirk family in any way.
My mother, Gwena Morrill did apply for a Birth Certificate and that application still sits in a file where Alisia Millford of the Window Rock Navajo Office of Vital Records verified that document still sits after 40 years, never answered or followed up by any member of the Navajo Nation Tribal Court system.
July 16, 1971 Virginia, me and my baby brother Shaun who'd been adopted in Phoenix moved with the Morrills to Burford Ontario Canada. I think we stopped over at my new Uncle and Aunt Tony & Viola Monk's in Chicago on the way...could be wrong on that one.
We talked all about my growing up. About what little details of Linda Kirk and Kirk family history and relatives.
It was an amazing conversation. I hope EVERY READER is able to experience the candid conversation with a blood relative of all the research, how long they've looked for you and how long you've looked for them. I hope my story finds some media attention through my blog and facebook page so others can find the resources and ways to research based on my story. I thank each and everyone who reads these blog/note entries because the more exposure comes of Native Americans Affected by THE REAL ID ACT of 2005, the more people can be helped.
There were others who I had written to throughout the years:
- Catholic Pator/Rev Blane Grein, OFM Chinle Arizona---no reply or response
- Rev Flann O'Neil OFM, Ganado Arizona---no reply or response
- Rev Gilbert Schneider OFM Fort Defiance AZ ---no reply
STILL I NEVER GAVE UP... YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO GIVE UP, it is YOUR HISTORY and YOUR PEOPLE!
I'm fortunate. My Uncle Bob has agreed to help me obtain what documents I need, even agreeing to go to Window Rock the Navajo Nation Capitol to assist and ask why these documents were not given.
I thank him in advance for this. I also gained an aunt Aunt Ruth, who will most likely read this blog and note! I am blessed to know the both of them after 42 years.
Thank you again.
Leland Pacheco Morrill born Leland Pacheco Kirk
My mom's paternal clan "The Tangle Clan" and My mom's Maternal Clan "Many Goats Clan" tentatively my father's clan "San Felipe Clan"
(I HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO SAY THAT RIGHT) Sorry no offense intended. I'm just doing a quick re-entry into the Navajo Customs.
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