Research

Lewis Mortimer Spencer sitting next to his grandson John E. Kirkpatrick

Elmer E. Kirkpatrick (Jr.) holding Mary E. Kirkpatrick and Lewis Spencer Kirkpatrick.

Photograph of a painting of Lewis Mortimer Spencer by an unknown artist at an indeterminate age of L.M. Spencer.

Photograph of Lewis Spencer Kirkpatrick wearing his cadet uniform from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Spencer attended there between 1920 and 1924 graduating on June 12.

Back of picture has written, “Spencer on burrow. Dad in straw hat.” Picture shows Lewis Spencer Kirkpatrick on a burrow and near the mane of the animal is Dr. E. E. [Elmer] Kirkpatrick.”

Photograph shows Lewis Mortimer Spencer, father of Helene Claudia Spencer Kirkpatrick. He is wearing what appears to be a graduation gown and possibly a motor board hat, though the top of his attire is cut off. The grandfather of lived to see his grandsons graduate from high school and his first grandson Spencer graduate from West Point, so it is possible he is wearing their robes.

Photograph of Roy Spencer and Mary Elizabeth Kirkpatrick, on left, children of Lewis Spencer and Elizabeth “Bess” (Cacy) Kirkpatrick, with cousin, John Bole Kirkpatrick, son of Claude and Elizabeth (Bole) Kirkpatrick and Jamie (Fraser) Kirkpatrick, first wife of Roy.

Family portrait shows Helene Claudia (Spencer) Kirkpatrick with her sons, Lewis Spencer, (left) and John Elson, who is being held by his mother, while Elmer Ellsworth, Jr. stands next to her.

Roy and Mary are children of Lewis Spencer and Elizabeth “Bess” Cacy Kirkpatrick. The photograph was most likely taken at Fort Mills, Corregidor, Philippine Islands, where Spencer was assigned to the Coast Artillery Corps, Regular Army. Bess and the children lived with him there from 1939 until February 28, 1941, when the three of them returned to the United States.

Note on the reverse of the photograph, written by John E. Kirkpatrick, reads – Fort Drum, P. I. , Capt. Claude S. Kirkpatrick, Jose Francisco, Commodore, Philippine Navy, USNA ’31, and Capt. H. V. Bird, USN from Oklahoma CityA memorial plaque was commemorated in Lewis Spencer Kirkpatrick’s name at Fort Drum, Philippine Islands. Claude, Kirkpatrick’s youngest brother, attended the ceremony, along with the above-mentioned military officers and a few Philippine soldiers. It is believed that Claude possibly read a brief memorial speech at the time.

John and Eleanor Blake Kirkpatrick standing with an unidentified man near the “Battery Hearn” located on Corregidor, Philippine Islands. John’s oldest brother, Lewis Spencer Kirkpatrick had been commander of nearby Fort Drum before its surrender. The other man in the picture may be Commodore Jose Francisco, a Philippine Island military officer who accompanied John and Eleanor on this trip.

John and Eleanor Blake Kirkpatrick, possibly within the Malinta Tunnel on Corregidor, Philippine Islands. John’s older brother, Lewis Spencer Kirkpatrick, may have been in the hospital in this tunnel before he died of pneumonia on April 27, 1943. He was commander of Fort Drum during 1942 and 1943 before its surrender. According Eleanor in a recount, “We are not sure about that but we placed a rose, there in that hospital, which John had taken to place on Fort Drum.”

John E. Kirkpatrick toured area of Fort Drum and Corregidor among the Philippine Islands. The trip also included Commodore Jose Francisco. This picture was with a group of photographs from a trip that Admiral Kirkpatrick and Eleanor Blake Kirkpatrick took to that area where Lewis Spencer Kirkpatrick, John’s oldest brother was in command during World War II.

Lewis Spencer Kirkpatrick is on the left, sitting down and holding a hat. Spencer wrote around photograph “I’m with Maj. Mendenhall, Frank Futtom and Major Elonaotte’s (illegible) an old Spanish Fort, San Lorenzo, at the mouth of the Chagres (Fort over 400 years old)” The fort is several hundred feet up on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic.” Spencer was stationed in Panama from around 1926-1928.

Picture shows Roy S. Kirkpatrick and Mary E. Kirkpatrick, the children of Lewis Spencer and Elizabeth Cacy Kirkpatrick. This other photograph lists Roy as four years old and Mary as one and a half.