Shake the tree and nuts fall out!

An article written by Amy Lackey and published in the Family Tree Forum online magazine in December 2007 My mum was the step-daughter in the family from the age of 7 and wasn’t liked very much by the rest of the family. I remember her saying to me a few years ago that she hated Christmas time when she was a child because it meant she wouldn’t get a lot. Quotation she hated Christmas time when she was a child because it meant she wouldn’t get a lot. Quotation She told me, “I didn’t like Christmas when I was young because I would get a packet of beads, a book and a piece of fruit and Bob and Jane* (step-siblings) would get lots of things – clothes, cars, trains and track, dolls and pram etc, whilst my presents fitted on the arm of the chair”. It was because of how she was treated as a child at this ‘happy time of year’ that she made sure myself and my sister didn’t miss out on things and we always had lot of presents, even though money was tight. One year we both got Barbie ...

An article written by Amy Lackey and published in FAMILY TREE FORUM ONLINE MAGAZINE May 2008. On my Dad’s side of the family there were definitely four generations of boot and shoemakers, and one of my great grandfather’s grandchildren knew the boot and shoe-making trade, although he didn't take it on as a career, as he was a leather merchant until the 1940's.  My great grandfather, Gardiner Lackey, was born in July 1881. I'm guessing that when he wasn’t at school he watched his father and older brothers at work and picked up the trade, as on the 1901 census he is listed as a boot-maker at his father's yard. Sadly, he didn’t keep it up as a career, as when he married and had children he was working as an overseer at the local coal mine. However, interestingly, one of Gardiner's sons, my great Uncle Cecil, did take up the trade and was the village cobbler in West Rainton, Durham, right up until the late 1950's/early 1960's. Gardiner's father, ...

It's a pretty vague theme, to be sure. You could write about an ancestor who is from someplace far away from where you live.  What ancestor migrated a long distance in his or her lifetime? Maybe you found an ancestor far from where you expected? How about a discovery in a distant library or archive? From AJC So week 5s theme is so far away this has so many options. The person furthest from me in the tree, the people who moved to another county, getting all the answers to family tree problems and brick walls, Rob Roy MacGregor and the link to the family. I have decided to do the person furthest away from as they are “so far away”,  344 years to be precise! (Well it’s 344 years between my birth and their approx birth year). I will state that this link is not 100% verified and is from links of my early research the people that are nearer to me and on census and have more church records and certificates are correct. The person that is “so far away” from me is my 9 th Gre...

I originally started looking into the family tree back in 1995 when I was 13 years old and it was part of a badge for guides or st john ambulance. The tree was drawn/written on paper and had only a few people in it. I still have this tree in the boxes of family tree stuff. I was told by many living relatives that I was not allowed to do the family tree due to things I would find out and they would upset others. Well I didn't listen and I went ahead and did it. 1 of my uncles told me and my mum loads of things linked to the family that were covered up (very well I may add). This means that I have information BUT I can't prove it due to the cover ups. 1 cover up I was able to prove was via information on a death certificate - I had been called a liar when I said about what I knew - £9 and a death certificate later I showed I was right, however, I was still told the information was fake! Another issue was that linked to my Mum's Dad, family member's said that she was...

From AJC This may not be everyone’s take on the them but it’s mine. As I’ve already stated I now live in Cumbria, more precisely the very west coast of Cumbria (well 1mile from the coast but close enough). This is what ignited my thoughts for the theme of “closer to home”. Before I go into things linked to the theme, I need to add some history – the Lackey family originally came from Scotland and were under the name of MacGregor, however due to bad behaviour they were banished from Scotland and sent to Ireland where they lost the MacGregor name and became Lackey’s (it means slave). After my line of the family left Ireland they moved to Durham, and from here they met and married families from Yorkshire and moved further afield. I live in Whitehaven, and on a (very) clear day you can see parts of Ireland from the Whitehaven Harbour, I haven’t yet seen it but it is said you can via the telescopes up on the cliffs and in the museum. I believe it is about 80miles in a direct lin...

Is there a trait or an occupation that seems to have been in your family tree for generations? Is there a line in your genealogy that's been in a particular place for a long, long time? Maybe you have Long as a surname. Be creative! From AJC This topic has taken a bit of thinking of what to write about. My first thought was do I have anyone named “Long” in the tree that I could use (1 lady who is distant relative so not much use or info), I then thought about how “long” it has taken me to do research and such BUT that doesn’t fit with the long line theme, so thinking cap back on and I thought about the longest line of the family tree going back to whoever, but the little voice in my head says “wont most people use this?” I then thought about the Lackey family occupation as boot & shoemakers as a long line, but it wasn’t really that long, so I decide to look at photos for inspiration and that’s when it hit me – My parents wedding photo’s loads of them had a “ Long Line ” ...

What is a favorite family photo of yours? If you're thinking, "Oh, but I don't have any old family photos," remember that you are a part of your family history! It doesn't have to be a photo of a great-great-great-grandfather. What about a favorite photo of someone in a more recent generation, like your parents, siblings, or even yourself. Why is it a favorite photo? What is the story behind it? From AJC This is quite a hard call for week 2. I have so many photographs of family/ancestors, their houses, gravestones, weddings, doing silly things, places of work etc so I wouldn’t like to have to choose just 1 photo. So, I am sort of going to cheat on this, the “ Favourite Photograph ” I have chosen is a photo of loads of photos (taken many years ago) that were sent to me by my Dad’s cousin Morley Lackey. Photo of photos sent to me by my Dad’s cousin Morley Lackey. All of the photos in the photo are copies of the original photos that my Dad’s cousin h...