Shake the tree and nuts fall out!

  WEEK 50 - you wouldn’t believe it For many years I have unofficially been doing a one name study linked to the Lackey family of the UK. I now have 15 family trees that I am trying to link to my own lackey line. I have managed to link quite a few but still have the above 15. I never knew there was so many people with the Lackey name, and thought it was only a few in the UK. There has been 1 part I have wanted to link to my tree for nearly 10years but no matter what I did I couldn’t make a break through or link on it. This tree was the Whitehaven Lackey’s, the area I moved to over 10years ago and had no idea there was Lackey family here. Well “you wouldn’t believe it ” but I found a record that linked my 2 nd great uncle to the Lackey family of Whitehaven – he was the father of the head of the family here! I was so shocked and pleased at the same time. There is still 1 Lackey in Whitehaven I can’t link at the moment and that’s poor John buried in the local cemetery at the end ...

  WEEK 49 – Family recipe There is only 1 “ family recipe ” that has been passed down that I am aware of, it is a sausage casserole and was my 2 nd great grandmothers. It has been written about before so I’m not going to re-do it. Over the years things have been changed on the recipe and things removed or added, but back in the late 1800’s it would have been a lovely meal for the farmers and tin/iron workers of the family. My own children all like it and it is nice on a cold day.

  WEEK 48 – troublemaker There are a few that fit the title of “troublemaker” including myself. However, there is 1 ancestor that comes to mind his name was James Lackey, he was my great grand-uncle. James was born 11 OCT 1871 Quarrington Hill, Durham, he was married twice and had 1 child to each wife, he died 10 FEB 1932 in Leamside, Durham. At age 14 he was caught stealing Ladies tights and underwear in a shop, he was reprimanded for it but this didn’t stop him, the said underwear and tights he stole and got away with (can only guess a different day) he was caught selling outside the shop for a cheaper price than the shop was selling them for and was again arrested. I shouldn’t laugh but this is quite funny and I do think the guy could have been quite a character.

  WEEK 47 – this ancestor stayed at home My 2 nd Great Grandmother Sarah Ann Crockford “stayed at home”. She was an iron/tin workers wife and therefore looked after the house and children. Sarah was born 23 rd March 1867 in Denver, Norfolk, she married Walter William Bland in November 1888 and they had 12 children. She died 23 September 1953 in Essex. Sarah is not found on the 1881 census, on the 1891, 1901 and 1911 census there is no occupation but she had children, on the 1939 census she is listed as home duties. Her granddaughter Doreen, recalls her always being busy with sewing and mending, baking cakes and looking after the family.

  WEEK 46 – this ancestor went to market “This ancestor went to market ” has not been able to be completed as I cant find any who worked market stalls. I’m sure most of my ancestors actually used them for shopping etc.

  WEEK 45 – war and peace Many of my ancestors went to ”war” but not so many kept the “peace”. Two ancestors who did keep the “peace” were Reverend David Stewart Kerr Coulter and Reverend William Lackey. Reverend D.S.K Coulter was the brother-in-law of my 2 nd great uncle and was ordained at Dromore West, Ireland on 17 th May 1876 and resigned 15 th January 1878. Rev David was the son of John and Jane, he was born 1853 co.Down, Ireland. He married Mry Patterson Cambell and they had 2 confirmed children. Rev. David died October 1932, Co.Down. Reverend William Lackey was my 4 th cousin 1x removed, he was born 1903 in Oldham, Lancashire, he was the son of Charles and Alice. He married Florence Crossman and they had 4 children. He worked at both Ellington Thorpe in Cambridgeshire and Nova Scotia Canada. rev William Lackey River St John,  Nova Scotia, Canada

  WEEK 44 – spirits For the theme of “spirits” I did consider those linked to witchcraft but only 2 people come to mind and I’ve already written about them, so I went with an ancestor who sold “spirits” linked to the local pub. John Mizon was the father-in-law of my 2 nd cousin 5x removed, so a distant relative. He was the son of Joseph and Sarah, born October 1801 in Haverhill. He married Hannah Wallis in November 1822 in Haverhill and they had 9 children. He died in February 1894. On the 1841 census it looks like his occupation was Land, but I can’t be sure of this. By 1851 he and his family were living at the White Hart Inn in Haverhill, he is listed as post office messenger and beer seller, and the same in 1861. In 1871 he is a gardener and in 1881 he is a cotton weaver aged 79years. I have confirmed that he was a seller of “spirits” via the CAMRA website where it lists all of the landlords of the pub. After the Mizons left the pub it later moved to the hands of the Bi...

  WEEK 43 – Dig a little deeper For the theme of “ dig a little deeper ” I am using 2 people – my Nan Doreen Cecilia Bland and her 1 st husband Reginald Charles Henry Booker. Doreen was born 6th October 1929 in Outwell, Wisbech, she was the daughter of Amy Rose Bland, and beleived to be Arthur Thompson (but he is not named on her birth certificate). Reginald was born Charles on 13 december1925 in Lambeth, London.  A hint came up on my online tree asking if it matched the named person, well I was shocked to see the name did match my Nan, especially as it was a marriage record for 1947, and not one I was aware of nor was the named man. I started to “ dig a little deeper ” and came up with nothing linked to the named man, no birth, no parents, no address, nothing! I even asked a cousin to see if they could find anything and again all searches returned nothing. So; I ordered the marriage certificate. The marriage certificate arrived and the name is definitely my Nan, so I add...

  WEEK 42 – friends For the theme of “friends” I have decided to write about my ancestor Cathie who over the years has become a good “friend” to me. Cathie is still living so I am not adding much about her in terms of dates etc. A few months back we were talking and we worked out that we have been “friends” for nearly 20years. Our “friendship” has formed from an initial message along the lines of “we are researching the same people Robert Lackey and Mary Jane Jackson, please can you tell me how you are related to them?” We have shared many messages and certificates and helped each other with problems and research. We have sent Christmas and birthday cards and random gifts, we talk about things in our lives and not just the family tree. In all of the years of being “friends” we have never met though, as I live in the UK and Cathie lives in USA, we have both said we would love to be able to meet up at some point. We have many times sent an email to the other at about the sam...

  WEEK 41 – travel Many of my ancestors “travelled” to USA or Australia either to live or work. Many people “travel” by ship or boat, therefore I am going to link this to the Shipp family. John Shipp was the ”maternal grandfather of husband of sister-in-law of granduncle” so not a close relative of mine. He was born January 1877 in Haverhill, Cambridgeshire to William and Phoebe. He married Alice Argent and they had 3 children. He died in Nov 1947 in Essex. In 1891 he is listed as a labourer, in 1901 he was a brickyard labourer, in 1911 he had changed his occupation from labourer to horseman on the farm. This is where I lose track of him and cant find on the 1939 census. My Mum was actually friends with a lady whose surname was “shipp” I have no-idea if she was related to our ancestotrs or not, but I would guess quite possibly.

  WEEK 40 – Longevity “Longevity ” is a long life. There are a few people who come to mind linked to this, but none are close relatives, or who have not been written about. There is Dora Louise Haylock, she was my great aunt on my Mums side, she died in 2002 aged 98years. Mellie Johnson, who was the “wife of maternal grandfather of wife of 2nd cousin” who lived to 105years old and died in 2020. And lastly is Walter Morely who was the “father-in-law of grand uncle” who lived to 101years.

  WEEK 39 – Surprise For the theme of “surprise” I have linked to my maternal grandmother Doreen Cecilia Bland and great grandmother Amy Rose Bland. Both have been written about but they fit this category very well. Many years ago I bought the death certificate for my great Grandmother Amy Rose. It stated on it “toxemia of pregnancy”. I asked my nan Doreen, if she knew that her mum was pregnant when she died, she told me I was lying and her Mum most definitely was NOT pregnant. I took the death cert to my Nans and showed her it. She was very shocked and “surprised” to see I was telling the truth and it did actually state that. We don’t think it was her husbands baby as he was well into his 70s.

  WEEK 38 – Adversity “Adversity” is to face difficult situations or persistent misfortune. In some ways I would say that this applies to nearly all of my ancestors as they were hard working farmers and didn’t have much money. Therefore it is not easy to pick out 1 person. I am not aware of any farm loses or bankruptcy but there again most worked for someone else and didn’t own their own farms.

  WEEK 37 – Prosperity “Prosperity” is to grow and succeed. This is quite a hard topic to link to family members as most of my ancestors have been quite poor. There have been quite a few wills that I have found over the years but none with great value or state lots of things to be distributed. But in some ways to need a will could like to being slightly prosperous. Both of the following Wills are linked to my direct paternal line. Lady 1 Margaret Ann Lackey was my great grandmother, she left over £1500 to her husband, she never had a paid job but was a housewife. The 2 nd lady Martha Julia was my 1 st cousin 2x removed and she left the sum of £477 to her cousin James Gardiner Lackey, she was a servant, a teacher and on later photos listed as governess.

  WEEK 36 – Tradesman Many of my ancestors didn’t fit into the category of “tradesmen ” as a lot were farmers and ag labs so were not classed as “tradesmen”. The Lackey men were boot & shoemakers and some of these were in the local trade directories as “tradesmen” but many of those have been written about in the past. The below image is linked to my 2 nd Great Grandfather Robert Lackey and shows him listed as boot & shoemaker in 1902 kelly’s directory.

  WEEK 35 – Disaster For this weeks theme of “Disaster” I think I need to write about my own “ disaster” linked to the tree. Earlier in the year I had managed to duplicate a person, instead of merging them together I removed them from the tree, this in turn was the main person and therefore left me with lots of people not connected to my tree. This was a big “disaster” and it seemed easier to re-start the tree. In re-starting my tree I have found other people who were no longer linked to the tree (or maybe weren’t to start with) so the “disaster” has actually helped tidy things up.

week 34 - newest discovery  My “ newest discovery ” is many more “Bigmore” relations. I have known for many years that the Bigmore family is huge and I had found people of this name in London but they didn’t fit in with my linage. (Or so I thought). I had a birth come up for an “unknown child” to my tree. I looked into it and searched the GRO etc and the mothers maiden name matched, it fitted a gap between siblings etc. So I added it and got more hints for the mans family and from him I have now added about 45 more “Bigmores” to my tree all in the London area. This “ newest discovery ” has been worthwhile looking into.

 week 33 strength I have previously written about strong people in my tree so I don’t want to re-do that. But I do have some distant relatives with the “strong” surname, so I am going to use those. William Strong was born in 1799 in Somerset, he is the maternal grandfather of wife of brother-in-law of 2nd cousin 3x removed (I said distant!) He had 2 wives and 4 children. Not much else is known on William as there were quite a few by this name in the same area. I do have other “strong” relatives who have married into the family.

 week 32 reunion I have never been to a family “ reunion ” and nor do I think I ever will go to one. Sadly, it doesn’t seem to be something that my family have done. Many of my relatives don’t speak to each other or have lost contact over the years. The closest I have come to a “ reunion " is making contact with my Dad’s cousins after he had died and I found an old address book and informed them of his passing. The only thing that could come close to a “ reunion ” is family funerals as this is the only time that you seem to meet up with people, and then you don’t see them again until the next one.

 week 31 - flew the coop “ flew the coop ” is usually a saying linked to children leaving home, but as most did this its not an easy thing to write about. However, birds live in coops and I have a few families that have bird names so I am going to write about some of them. The Sparrow family are distant relations, the furthest person I have linked to me is George Sparrow born 1813, Holborn, London. He is the father-in-law of my 1 st cousin 5x removed. I don’t have much info on him except his wife and daughters names. The Starling family are linked on my maternal line, but again are distant relations. The furthest person of this name I have linked is Stephen Starling born 1706 in wood ditton Cambridgeshire, he was married to my 1st cousin 9x removed Elizabeth Haylock. The Robins family are again distant relations, the furthest person is Benjamin Robins born 1832 in Sussex. He is the father-in-law of my 2 nd cousin 4x removed. He was an Ag.Lab all of his life. With regards ...