for California
Lorena Lackey
Taken in Oklahoma in 1917.
From left to right back row:
Clarence, Travis, Anne
front row:
Susie, Hazel, Charlie
Clarence, Susie and Charlie were taken by influenza in 1918
Samuel and Lorena Lackey
This is a photograph of Samuel Albert Sobiesky Lackey and Lorena Woolsey Lackey. It is thought to have been taken on their first wedding anniversary. The studio location was in Gainesville, Texas.
Samuel's parents were Nathaniel Greenberry Lackey and Isabel Adelide Jackson. Isabel's parents were said to be peach farmers in Georgia. Greenberry met Isabel when he was a patient in an army hospital in Georgia, recovering from wounds of the Civil War. He was a Confederate soldier.
Samuel was born February 20, 1867, in Palmetto, Georgia. His mother, who was said to be a teacher, gave him the name of Sobiesky because that was the name of a Polish poet whose work she admired. She called him Sobie, and he was known as Sobe to his family for his entire lifetime. Sobe was the second child, first son. His older sister was Minnie America Lackey, born July 20, 1865.
Other brothers and sisters were: Missoura Lackey, born August 21, 1868 in Palmetto, Georgia; Nathaniel Leonedus Lackey, born September 24, 1871 in Palmetto, Georgia; J. Charles England Lackey, born July 1, 1873 in Palmetto, Georgia; Joseph C. Lackey, born August 30, 1876 in Texas; Pauline Lackey, born November 23, 1877 in Texas; and Addie Lackey, born December 5, 1882 in Texas.
When Sobe was about ten years old, Greenberry moved his family to Texas, the land from which he had come. In 1885, both Greenberry and Isabel were shot and killed, along with four other family members. My grandfather, who was 18, kept his brothers and sisters together, and ran the farm until they were old enough to go out on their own.
Sobe married Lorena Woolsey. Her parents were Jonathan Roadman Woolsey and Sarah E. Howell. Jonathan was born in Alabama and died December 19, 1900 in Cooke County, Texas. Sarah was born April 6, 1843 in Alabama, and died June 19, 1908 in Pontotoc, Oklahoma. Lorena had a twin sister, Annah, who married Sobe's brother Nathaniel, and died in childbirth. Other children were: Jonathan, Pearl and Paulina. Lorena Woolsey was born February 16, 1874 in Gainsville, Texas and died August 3, 1947 in Upland, California.
Sobe and Lorena eventually moved their family to Coweta, Oklahoma. In 1918, while in Oklahoma, three of their children died of the flu within 48 hours. After losing their three children, and after their barn burned down, my grandparents moved to California.
We've lost touch with my grandfather and grandmother's families. If their names or photograph are familiar, please email me.
Gravestone of Nathaniel Greenberry Lackey and Isabel Adeline Jackson Lackey where they were buried at Sandy Cemetery outside of Blanco, Texas.
More Lackey Family Photos
More Photos of Sobe Lackey's Children
Brief Lackey Narrative