My Dad-John Lackey

Daddy was born March 25, 1869, in Franklin County, Virginia (as close as we can come). His parents are: John Lackey and Sarah Life. This we took out of his family Bible. Some of the older kids say Daddy had the middle name of "Dewey". I could never prove that. He died on April 29, 1954; just three weeks before my second living daughter was born. He is burried in Clintonville, Greenbrier County, West Virginia.

He never talked much about his family. Hated them all. He used to tell us, "See this hand? My mother's was twice as big." He had a sister named Ruth or Ruthie as he would call her. She used to do things and blame it on him. His mother would spank him for it (or so he told us).

We were in Daddy's second family. He had older children than us. Our mom was his second wife. His first wife was Oateller Elizabeth Gillispie. They had six children: Charles Edward Lackey, born: April 29, 1894; Anna Lee Lackey, born: May 6, 1896; John Dewey Lackey, born: November 24, 1899; Bessie E. Lackey, born June 21 (I don't know the year, I think it is 1901); Thomas Harry Lackey, born: May 21 (again, I don't know the year but think it is 1903); and General R. Lackey, born March 1, 1905. General died in 1921 at the age of 16.

I grew up knowing the other kids, though they were all gone from home when I was born. Annie, Dewey, Bessie, and Harry were all a part of our lives. Edward left home and I never saw him again. Harry never married and never had children. When I was pregnant with my last child he begged me to name it Harry if it was a boy. I hated that name, but my only living son ended up with the name of Gregory Harry Williams. Harry often came to our house and ate Sunday dinner with us. Annie died when I was twenty-two years old. She was a real sweetheart and I loved to visit her. I was able to visit with Bessie and her family and learned a lot about cooking from her.

Daddy raised his first family in Virginia in their early years. Daddy worked in a coal mine there. When he moved to West Virginia he continued to work in the coal mines until he turned seventy (70) years old. The mine owners made him retire because they were afraid he would get hurt. He always said he knew more about setting posts than any of the young men working there. General was killed in the mine in an accident. He wasn't even working there. He came to the coal mines with Daddy and Dewey to help carry out tools. Daddy said that General told them the slate above them was cracking. They looked up and couldn't seen where and told him so. General was standing between them and the large piece of slate fell on him missing them. Daddy said that if he hadn't been so scared he could never have lifted the slate off of General, it was that big. Daddy always blamed himself for General's death.

It was really hard to find any trace of the family in Virginia. One day my daughter was looking through the geneology archives and found them in Virginia. Daddy had changed all their names when he moved to West Virginia.

With Cora Mae, Daddy had eight children: Nellie Gray Lackey, born: August 8, 1921; Mollie Frances Lackey, born: August 14, 1923; Walter Lackey, born: January 5, 1925; James Marshal Lackey, born June 6, 1927; Elizabeth Christine Lackey, born: April 1, 1930; Nettie Mae Lackey, born: November 5, 1932; Franklin Deleano Lackey, born: May 13, 1934; and Isaac Green Lackey, born: December 22, 1935. Issac died in July of 1936. Daddy lost both of his youngest sons.

I do have good memories of my dad. He loved to sing and play the fiddle and the banjo. When President Wilson was running for the Presidency I can remember him singing:

Mary went up the Maple swamp
Wilkie went up the ditches
Mary pulled up her petticoat
Wilkie pulled down his britches

Another song he made up about a man he didn't like that lived in the coal camp was:

Old Joe Clark is dead!
Last words he said is,
"Give me some homebrew and cornbread".

Ok, there is just no other way to say this. Daddy had two children by my mother's sister, Aunt Liddie. Her name is Liddia Ford. Grandma used to have her come visit and Daddy had his way with her. What the circumstances were, I do not know. I just know it resulted in two innocent children being born and they have paid the price for his sins. Margaret Agusta Ford born, March 2, 1926, and Bonnie Fae, born July 1930; I am three months older than Bonnie. Daddy always knew the girls were his, he just didn't take responsibility for them. When Margaret was little she stayed with us a lot. When she got older, Daddy would not let her come to the house. I remember when she was about 13 she came to visit and Daddy told her to leave. He told her, "You come one step closer across that creek and I will stomp the Hell out of you."

Daddy was good to us when we were little, but wanted nothing to do with us when we got to be teenagers. He expected us to marry and leave home so he wouldn't have to feel responsible for us.