Shake the tree and nuts fall out!

  WEEK 21 – Brick wall For this week I’ve not gone with “ brick wall ” but an ancestor whose surname is “ wall ”.   Ann “ Wall ” is the wife of my 4 th great grand uncle. Ann was born about 1820 in Yorkshire, exact location changes. She was the daughter of Thomas “ Wall ” and Ann Lister, there was at least 3 other siblings who are listed on the 1841 census. On 17 Sep 1839 in Addingham, York, England Ann married Moses Iveson. Their marriage didn’t last long as he died in January 1841. On the 1841 census she is back with her parents but listed as independent means. On the 1851 census she is again living with her mother and her 9 year old son (she must have been pregnant when her husband died.) She is listed as farmers daughter. On 18 May 1857 in Addingham, St Peter, Yorkshire, England she married Thomas Cowling. Sadly this marriage didn’t last long as she died in 1857. After her death her son went to live with his Uncle, and later married.

  WEEK 20 – Bearded There is only 2 “bearded” men in my tree that I am aware of. 1 I used under “bearded” last year – John Valentine Thompson my 3 rd great grandfather; and the other is my Uncle D but he is still alive and wont give permission to be written about as it is being published online. Therefore; I am going to go on a hunt of photos and see if I can find any others, as I’m sure there is more. Update : I searched over 70 pages of photos linked to my tree and to my shock I found 15 more “bearded” men. Their “beards” are as different as each of the people are. But I have decided to go with Reuben ford who is the father in law of the nephew of the wife of my 3 rd great grand uncle. Reuben was born in 1849 in Linton Cambridgeshire, to Charles Ford and Sarah Coote.   He had 3 older siblings and

  WEEK 19 – Bald I don’t have many “ Bald ” men (or ladies) in the tree that I have photos of, I found 3 in 72 pages of photos (there was another 70pages I could have gone through but I picked this gentleman - Jabez Jesse Barber, a distant relative – he was the father-in-law of the nephew of the wife of 3 rd great granduncle. Jabez was a “ bald ” man as you can see in the picture left. He was born in 1870 in Haverhill, Suffolk. He was the 3 rd child and 2 nd son of Isaac Barber and Sarah Webb. On the 1871 and 1881 census he is listed as son. In April 1889 he married Kate Poole in Risbridge, Suffolk. On the 1891, 1901 and 1911 census he is listed as a silk weaver. And in 1939 he is listed as silk weaver retired. He and Kate had 5 children, of which 2 died young. In 1915 Jabez signed up to the A

  WEEK 18 – Pets I personally have many " pets " - 5 cats and a dog, I did have a bearded dragon but he died last year.  I have many people (mainly ladies) in the tree who have names linked to animals or “ pets ” in some way. See below. Parrot’s are sometimes called Polly, I have 2 ladies called Poly. Some cow’s including 1 that was on a local farm down south are called Daisy, I have a few Daisy’s. I have some people with the surname Bird and Chicken. I have DOGgett as a surname, CATherine as a first name and FISHer as a surname. However, these don’t link to my “ Pets ”, so I started re-thinking. I have a Merlinda and my “ pet ” dog is Merlin, There is a surname of Hunter, this was my “ Pet ” lizards name but the one that tops it is my “ pet ” cat Phoebe! There are 20 ladies called Phoebe one of which was my 3 rd great grandmother. Before I start on Phoebe I need to explain about my “ pets ”. They are all named after wicca and witchcraft. My current “ pets ” are as follows:

  WEEK 17 – DNA I would love to do a “ DNA ” and find out more about my background but it wouldn’t be accurate linked to all my research sadly. This is because my “Dad” wasn’t my biological “Dad”, he was there from my conception at Harley street in London as I was an IVF baby. BUT he was my “Dad” regardless of what anyone or any “ DNA ” test says, he was the one who took me to places for dance and gymnastic competitions, he took me on holidays and spent his money on me, looked after and cared for me and brought me up etc. My sister is biologically his but she has refused to do a “ DNA ” test even though I have offered to pay for it. There is no other children and no other living relatives who are a direct descendant, so sadly it can’t be done. If I was to do a DNA test it would only be 50% acurate linked to my maternal line.

  WEEK 16 – Should be a movie This is a repeated theme from a previous year, so yet again is very hard to come up with someone who “ should be a movie”. If I am honest everyone who has been alive since cameras were invented should be made to leave a video recording linked to themselves and therefore everyone “ should be a movie ”.

  WEEK 15 – solitude This is such a powerful and meaningful quote. I have many ancestors who didn’t marry or have children for whatever reason. I’m sure some of the reasons was they wanted the “ solitary ” life as it can be so much easier. For me personally when I have had enough of everything I will go and sit at the harbour and think and enjoy the “ solitude ” of being alone and quite. It gives me a chance to re-charge.

  WEEK 14 – Begins with a vowel This could be such an interesting story to write as a totally different theme. I have so many ancestors whose name “begins with a vowel”. My point is listed here – A – 1256 people, mainly Ann/Annie, Abigail, Alice or Arthur, Albert and Alfred. E – 1512 people, mainly Eliza/Elizabeth, Edward and Edwin I – 157 people mainly Isabelle/Isabella or Ida O – 42 people, mainly Olive or Oliver U – 9 people, of Ursula and Una   I thought I would go with one of the U people as more unusual and not many to pick from, however, most of them have very little information linked to them and are before census records, so there’s not much point as nothing to write about. I then thought about one of the Isabella’s who married into my direct paternal lineage but again not there’s

  WEEK 13 – Light a candle I don’t have any ancestors who were candle or light makers that I am aware of. There are a few who were miners and could have used lanterns. However, linked to “ light a candle ” I think it has to be a general post. Over the years when I have visited places that my ancestors died or were linked to and I have “ lit a candle ” for them. Some of those are: Peterborough Hospital chapel – Peter Lackey (my Dad) Thorpe Hall Peterborough – Barbara May Haylock (my Mum) Durham Cathedral – Cecil Lackey (great uncle) sang there West Rainton Church – Robert Lackey, Mary Jane Jackson (2x great grandparents) and their family were members of this church and buried in church yard Ely Cathedral – Reginald Haylock (Grandad) and Susan Preston Roberts (Great aunt) attended services there Deeping St James Church – William Liddle Lackey (Grandad) sang in choir there Bradford Cathedral – many of the Wood family were baptised and married there Paston All Saints, Pet

  WEEK 12 – Membership For “ membership ” I am going to have a general moan! Nearly every family history website (Ireland especially) you have to have “ membership ” to it in order to gain record access. This is very costly. Some of them don’t seem to show all records all of the time and often “ memberships ” seem to be wasted! I love hunting for my family and ancestors and finding out about them and their lives, but I wish there was a cheaper way to do it.

  WEEK 11 – Lucky Linked to “ lucky ” I have gone with the “ luck ” of the Irish”. My 2x great grandparents (and further back) on my Dad’s paternal side were Irish. For as long as I can remember I have known those who we got our name from – Robert Lackey and Mary Jane Jackson. I knew the names of both fathers from their marriage cert, so I knew my 3 rd great grandfathers but not their wives. Mary had a possibility of 5 mothers! (see below). As I’m writing this it is St Patricks Day. And this week has been very “ lucky ” for me. A lovely gentleman who is linked to the Irish Jackson’s in my family has finally made a break though and got “ lucky ” with parish records and has kindly shared them with me. As of yesterday 16 th March 2023, I now know my 3 rd great grandparents linked to 2 nd great grandmother. As above, prior to today I only had Mary’s father’s name from her marriage certificate. I had 5 possible wives of different names, as they all had a marriage to a Thomas and a

  WEEK 10 – Translation I am having to pass on week 10 as none of my ancestors spoke a foreign language, or wrote in one and left anything to be “ translated ”. The majority lived in England and Ireland, and any that did move went to Australia or USA.

  WEEK 9 – Gone too soon The most obvious to use on “ gone too soon ” would be my parents, but I have written about them more than once. Likewise; there is all of the babies that died and are “ gone too soon ” but again, they have been written about. Sadly this theme has no story as I can’t think of anything linked to it.

  WEEK 8 – I can identify. This topic really got to me as I couldn’t make any sense of anything to add to “ I can identify ” and a person. So I left it for a few weeks, in the hope of something and still nothing. This wasn’t looking good. However, I have come back to this on week 11 and i nstead of going with 1 person in my tree I am going to write about certificates! (Very random I know). From the purchase of certificates and finding others online “ I can identify ” many members of family and say yes they are mine. On my paternal line I have certificates back to 2x great grandparents at present. On my maternal line have some this far back and a few into 3 rd great grandparents but not all. I also have various others for other people. I have my children’s birth certificates, mine and my sisters birth certificates. (I also have mine and my sisters marriage and divorce records). I have my parents birth, marriage and death certificates. On my paternal line I have birth, marriage and

  WEEK 7 - Outcast This is a bit of a strange story, but in my head it makes perfect sense so please bear with me. It isn’t about me but links to me and not because the person is related. I have recently added the husband to a cousin on my tree, nothing unusual there I hear you say. Well, this poor mans name had me asking lots of questions, the 1 st and most important being WHY would you name your child that? The reason for this question is when I was at school in the 1990s his name was actually used as an insult to others. And I’m 99% certain if a child was called by it today they would be “ outcast ” from other people. i So ,what is the wonderful name of this man and an insult from the 1990s? Nimrod! As per the mage left it is biblical and means “we shall rise up, we shall rebel”. And from internet searches

  WEEK 6 – Social Media “ Social Media ” today rules most people’s lives in relation to things like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, email, messenger and more. I for one am very guilty of this. However, if you go back even just 25-30years most of this wasn’t around and I’m pretty sure that many of my ancestors would be shocked at these platforms and what is on them. Don’t get me wrong my ancestors were far from innocent people but most were of a well-to-do family upbringing and as my Nan used to say “don’t go airing your dirty washing in public” and this is exactly what happens on modern day “ social media ”.  I have made use of “ social media ” platforms linked to family history and I have added “random cousins” I’ve made contact with, and I’ve also used it linked to information gathering on “local” groups linked to where my ancestors lived. So it can be quite useful to help. Stepping aside from modern “social media” platforms lets go back to the past. “ Social media ” for many people wa

  WEEK 5 – OOPS! There are so many people and instances that fit under “ OOPS!” linked to the family tree. This could be a very easy theme to write about, but with so many options it could be quite hard. I think I need to just add a general post linked to the 52 ancetors as where I have gone back through my blog there are lots of “ oops ” moments linked to it! I have used the same ancestors for many stories and not a different one (“ OOPS !”) I have also written almost the same story for a couple of ancestors (“ OOPS! ”) Therefore I need to be more careful and check the list of names. HOWEVER, the biggest “ OOPS! ” has happened today (Feb 3 rd ). In the process of changing settings on the blog site as it wasn’t working properly, I have managed to remove myself as admin on it. I don’t know if this means that the blog is going to vanish into the either or still be there without an admin. I have set up another blog under the same name (with a 2) at the end and I’m now sat copying t