Shake the tree and nuts fall out!

  Week 44 (Nov. 1-7): Voting This weeks story isn’t linked to an ancestor of mine, BUT I’m pretty certain there is going to be a link I just haven’t found it yet. I really hope that there is a family link. Norah Kathleen Lackey was born 26 th July 1890 in Stoke Dameral, UK to Daniel and Katherine. She was the youngest child of 13. Her father was a military man and the family travelled around. This leads me to think she would have had a decent upbringing and life. It is believed she died in the mid 1960’s but myself and others haven’t found a death record. The photo above shows her in 1929 in Paris, it was a postcard that she had sent to her niece. Norah found herself involved with Suffragette Movement linked to “voting” for women and was arrested many times for causing trouble linked to the protests she joined. There are many newspaper articles linked to her, (and not just UK papers but around the world), and what she did – throwing missles, breaking windows, causing disturbance,...

  Week 43 (Oct. 25-31): Shock This story has a total twist that “shocked” me when I actually made the discovery and put years of uncertainty to rest. My paternal Grandfather was William Lackey(1), he was born in Durham and had a big link to the church. He moved from Durham to the Cambridgeshire/Lincolnshire areas where he married Hilda Wood and had my Dad. I had come across records for a William Lackey(2) linked to a church in part of Cambridgeshire but the birth date and area didn’t match up nor did his wife. So, it was left to one side. My Dad even suggested that his father William (1) had had an affair or a even a second wife (illegal in the UK) and was continuing with his church life away from the home. Over the years I have tried to prove my Dads theory and not had much luck. That was until the summer of 2021, when I came across a new record that linked William Lackey(2) to Nova Scotia, Canada. I started to investigate this more and with some help on forums managed to t...

  Week 42 (Oct. 18-24): Sports For this weeks theme of “sports ” I am going to use the husband of my 1 st cousin 1x removed. To some people he is a well-known “ sports ” person, but to others maybe not so much. Patrick Partridge was a football referee and was the “referee who gave football’s first professional foul, and was one of the first high-profile officials of the games TV age”. Patrick was born 30 th June 1933 in Billingham, Stockton-on-tees. He was the son of Patrick and Catherine. In 1953 he started his career as a referee aged only 20years, for Durham FC. During his time of National Service he signed up as an Army Referee. His “ sports ” career spanned many years and he received an award for 50years membership of the Referees' Association. He married his wife Margaret in 1961 and by 1973 they were living on Margaret’s fathers farm and were running it. As well as running the farm and being a football referee, Patrick also took part in other “ sports ” namely golf...

  Week 41 (Oct. 11-17): Changes This is going to be a general post and not about 1 person. Each and every one of us has been through some “changes” in our life. Our ancestors would have been no exception to this, and in some ways may have dealt with more “changes” than us alive today. The image left is taken off the internet and lists what “change” means. It covers many different things and can be used in many different ways. Linked to my family and ancestors one of the biggest “changes” has been linked to religion. By this I don’t mean that they have “changed” religion (although some did) but in terms of religious beliefs. My 2x Great Grandparents (Robert Lackey and Mary Jane Jackson) were Irish and moved to England in 1870. They were very religious people. All of the family were married in a church, went to church regularly, the men were servers and church bearers, they all helped with church events like garden fates (ladies included), the children were linked to Sunday sc...

  Week 40 (Oct. 4-10): Preservation I have no known records of any ancestors that could be linked to “preservation”. No-one that I know of “preserved ” food or anything like that (oh how I wish to have a link to the Amish people! There would be so much to write on them.) Therefore, the best that I can come up with is once again linked to myself. I am the only person now living who has any interest in the family history and those who went before us. Therefore, my ramblings on my blog and all documents and photos that I have are my way of “ preserving ” my family history for anyone in the future to come across and hopefully continue working on. I have tried numerous times to get any of my boys interested but had no luck. The youngest has shown abit more interest than the older 2 but not much. I have boxes of items from more recent people/ancestors that I am “preserving” and keeping safe. I have army record books, medals, photos, certificates (some originals), newspaper cuttings...

  Week 39 (Sept. 27-Oct. 3): Steps I thought this theme of “steps ” would be quite easy as I was sure I had an ancestor with it as their surname, however, when I went into my tree no-ne came up. I did have many males with the name of “Stephen” (so step) but not what I wanted to do. Many of my ancestors were married more than once and had children from all marriages, so there were lots of “step” siblings/children. The new partners took them on as their own. The “step” children have at times caused many problems for me. This is because the new parent is listed on records as parent, their names have changed (probably not legally) to the new parents name and all sorts. So I have had to work through records and make sure that they all have the correct parents listed.

  Week 38 (Sept. 20-26): Fun and Games I don’t have much in the way of family history or photographs linked to “fun and games” that my ancestors took part in, so this has taken some work. My grand uncle James Gardiner Lackey was born 4 th April 1910 in Houghton-le-spring, Durham. He was the 4 th child but 3 rd son of Gardiner and Margaret.  He died 1 st August 1986 in Woking Surrey. During his life he took part in many different activities and jobs. It is believed he was linked to the coal mines at a young age (but no documents to confirm this).  He went on to become a local government clerk and civil servant. He was also involved with church for most of his life - St Mary's West Rainton for most of his younger life and he was also the Parochial secretary for many years. He moved from Durham to Middlesex/Surrey where he met and married Eva Morley in 1949 and they had 2 children. Prior to him moving his hobbies and “fun and games” including dancing and playing ...

  Week 37 (Sept. 13-19): On the Farm This weeks topic of “ on the farm ” had so many possibilities as many of my ancestors were farmers, agricultural labourers etc. But I have decided to go with the husband of my Grand aunt (and also their children). Frank Carr Heddle was born 15 th July 1908 in Houghton-le-spring, Durahm. He was the 7 th of 8 children born to Thomas and Isabella. In 1935 he married my Grand aunt Olive Lackey in Houghton-le-spring. On the 1939 census he is listed as horseman “ on the farm ” worker. The image to left shows Frank (at the back) and his son-in-law Patrick Partridge calfing “ on the farm ”. I believe he was a farmer all of his life, I know my Dad (Peter Lackey) visited the family farm on many occasions as a child and I have photos of him and Frank’s children (Margaret and Stuart) on the hay cart. The images below are from a google search and are linked to the farm and the family being dairy farmers. After Frank died in 1962, his son Stuart took over...

  Week 36 (Sept. 6-12): Working My Great Grandfather Arthur Wood was a hard-“ working ” man, information linked to this I have included in this story. Arthur was born 14 September 1885 in Bradford, he was the first born child of his parents Charles and Sarah.  The earliest record link to him being hard “ working ” was the 1901 census. On it he is listed as engine & machine worker apprentice (age 15years). His father Charles is a mill mechanic, so I wonder if he was at the mill as well. When Arthur married Mary in 1907 his marriage cert only says Engineer and his father is again listed as mechanic. Move forward 3years to 1910 when his daughter was born he is listed as engineer turner (taken from daughters birth cert). A year later on the 1911 census there is a total change of job and hes listed as coalman stawker (see image below left). In 1914 Arthur has again had a change in career and is listed as a mechanic turner on his sons birth cert. I don’t have his other 2 sons ...

  Week 35 (Aug. 30-Sept. 5): School For the theme of “ school” I am using my Dad Peter William Lackey, even though he has been used previously. The reason for this I will explain. In my possession I have this photo (left) of my Dad in “ school” uniform. This has become a big problem. He attended 3 “ schools” (that we know of) during his life and had an apprenticeship in late teens. The photo says on the back P.W.Lackey “ school” , no year or anything. I have made contact with groups linked to the 3 “ schools” he attended – Dogsthorpe Infant and junior “ school” , Lincoln Road Boys “ school” and Deeping St James “ school” , all 3 have said that the photo is not of their uniforms. I would guess that my Dad is about 12 in the photo so would have been at boys “ school” and would have been about 1952/53. Sadly, I have no idea of where to look or how to locate where this uniform belongs to. I’m pretty sure he is too young to already be at his apprenticeship and as it was linke...