A Brief Lackey Family History

Sources of information for this narrative include stories told by Samuel Albert Lackey and his daughters Anna and Opal.

Additional information came from genealogy research commissioned by Helen Lackey. The information about the Texas census and the Lackey move to Texas was provided by Norman James Davis of Texas.

Henry Lackey and Mary Jenkins (daughter of George Jenkins) were married March 14, 1781 in Berkeley County, Virginia. They lived there for three years. It is unknown where they went after the three years, but in 1787, their son Greenberry was born in Illinois. About 1788, their son George was born in Georgia. Henry, Jr. was born in 1801 in Tennessee, and in 1807 William was born in Illinois.

Henry Sr. served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War for five years. His widow, in her application for a pension, stated his service was in Pennsylvania. Henry was 62 when he died in Tennessee. His widow Mary applied for pension at the age of 102.

Greenberry, Sr., who was born in Illinois, appears to have moved around quite a bit. This is evidenced by the birthplaces of some of his children. William and Martin were born in Illinois, Albert in Texas, Nathaniel Greenberry in Illinois and John in Missouri. Birthplaces for the other children are not known. Greenberry died in Texas in 1893 at the age of 106.

Greenberry's brother Henry, Jr and his wife Nancy led the major move to Texas in 1849. Their nine children, some in-laws, grandchildren, and Henry's mother Mary (who was 90) moved from Missouri to Grayson County, Texas.

The first Lackey to relocate to Texas was Henry's oldest son Joseph D. Lackey. He brought his wife Susan and their children to Texas in 1848 in order to select an appropriate site for the Lackeys to settle. They selected an area known as Whitemound. The name of this area referred to two conical hills that were of a whitish color. Click here to see historical marker located in Texas

The main Lackey clan arrived several months later in a procession of ox wagons and a number of slaves. Henry's youngest son Albert didn't want to leave Missouri because he had been told he couldn't have apples in Texas. There were enough Lackeys in this party of travelers to establish the core of a community. Before long, they were joined by other settlers and merchants. Soon there were blacksmith shops, general merchandise stores, drug stores and saloons. It is presently an assumption that Greenberry, Sr and his family were a part of this party of settlers.

In the 1850 Census of Grayson County, the following Lackeys are listed:

Issac Lackey and family (Issac was a brother of Henry)

Henry Lackey, Jr and family

The 1850 Census of Fannin County, Texas lists the following Lackeys:

George W. Lackey (son of Henry, Sr

James C. Lackey (son of George W., grandson of Henry, Sr.).

James Lackey

In about 1858, Greenberry, Sr. moved with his family to the vicinity of Grape Creek, where he joined his older sons, James and Martin Van Duren Lackey. The two sons had moved to this area (then known as Gillespie County) in 1856 or 1857. Greenberry was shown on the U.S. Census of 1880, his age at that time being 93. On the Census he stated he was born in Illinois and his parents were born in New York. His wife, Mary was 93 also, and she stated she was born in Illinois, with her parents being born in New York.

Greenberry, Jr. enlisted in the Pedernales Home Guard on September 7, 1861. The Company was organized for home protection, for defense against "Indians depredations." He served in the Confederate Army, joining Company F in the 18th Regiment of the Texas Cavalry on March 4, 1862. He was a POW from January 11, 1863 until April 10, 1863. Was taken to Camp Douglas, ILL, February 8, 1863, where he was paroled on April 2, 1863, and delivered to City Point, Virginia on April 10, 1863. He rejoined Company F, 18th Reg., Texas Cavalry, in May, 1863; On Sunday, September 20, 1863 (the second day of the Battle of Chickamauga - known as the bloodiest battle in American history) he was wounded and taken to a hospital at Griffin, Georgia.

Greenberry was in Griffin, Georgia in January-June, 1864. He and Isabelle Jackson married on March 25, 1864. Their first child Minnie America Lackey was born July 20, 1865 in Palmetto, Georgia. At that time, Palmetto was in Campbell County, which eventually became part of Fulton County in 1932. Palmetto is located about 32 miles southwest of Atlanta. Samuel Albert (Sobe), Missoura, Nathaniel, and J. Charles were also born in Palmetto, Georgia.

Family tradition says that Greenberry, Jr. was unhappy in Georgia and wanted to return to Texas. He eventually left his family in Georgia to prepare a home for them in Texas. His youngest children, Joseph C. and Addie were born there. It is little wonder that Greenberry wanted to return to Texas. The post-war situation in Georgia was not pleasant. Federal troops occupied Georgia for 10 years after the end of the Civil War. Union and renegade Confederate soldiers plundered the land, took livestock and grain that was desperately needed to feed the residents of the state, and violated the human rights of Georgian citizens. As years went by, food was rationed, crops failed, banks failed, and farmers had to borrow seed from the general store and pray for enough crops to pay for the seed and material. The railroads had also been destroyed, making it difficult to get crops to the market. The owners of the general stores gained excessive power by loaning seed to the farmers, and soon began dictating what crops the farmers would plant. The crop of choice became cotton, as it was more profitable for the store owners.

Sobe Lackey told of picking cotton in the fields with his brothers and sisters when he was a young boy. He was about 10 years old when his family made the trip to Texas, and told his children he remembered crossing the Mississippi in a steam ship. He also told his children of his experience as a teenage boy, spending months on the range.

Greenberry settled his family in Blanco County, Texas, where he had a 160-acre farm located on the waters of the Pedernales River. In the 1860 Blanco County tax assessment roll, his property was valued at $100. The family lived near a fort, in what was known as the Rocky Community. When there were Indian uprisings, they would all go to the fort for protection. Isabelle was a teacher and taught children and adults in a log cabin schoolhouse built by neighbors and friends. She taught Greenberry to read and write, as well. Greenberry also ran a freight line. They drove oxen wagons between Stonewall Texas farms and the railroad line in Austin. Charlie Lackey, his son, rode shotgun. He would lie down in the wagon with a gun if he and Greenberry saw strangers approaching.

Greenberry and Isabelle Lackey met an untimely death on August 24, 1885 when his brother Albert shot and killed them and four others. Their youngest child Addie was only three years old when they lost their lives at the age of 41. Minnie, their oldest daughter was 20. She became the legal guardian of her brothers and sisters.

Sobe, who was 17 at the time of his parents' deaths, took care of his brothers and sisters and ran the 160 acre ranch after his parents were killed. He had given his youngest sister Addie to the care of neighbors, who he felt could care for her better than he. One day, he found that the neighbors had packed up and moved, and taken Addie with them. Grief-stricken, Sobe rode his horse for days until he caught up with them and took his sister back. He fiercely worked to keep his family together. When his sister Minnie died several years after her marriage (presumably in child birth), Sobe and his wife Lorena took care of her small son, Nathaniel.

Sobe was a man of great wisdom, and he was a very devout man. He said that a man should love his wife as Christ loved his church and that he should not make her submit to him. He was very good to Lorena.

To say that Sobe and Lorena had difficult times is to make a massive understatement. While living in Oklahoma, they lost three children during the influenza outbreak of 1918 (within 72 hours). They had already lost two children within two weeks of their birth while still living in Cook County, Texas. They lost two more children in Oklahoma, prior to 1918. Sobe also came very close to losing his life. He was very ill and almost unconscious when he saw Christ reaching out to him. At that moment, he began to recover.

To add even more pain and grief to their tragic lives, their home burned down. It was then that they decided to move to California. Sobe's brothers Charley and Nathaniel had already moved to Upland, California, and convinced Sobe to join them. It was in 1919 that Sobe and Lorena moved to Upland with their remaining children, Anna, Hazel, Travis and Opal, who was two years old.

Sobe worked for General Electric until he retired, and lived in a small house on Laurel Street in Upland. After retiring from General Electric, he worked in a bakery owned by his son Travis (Ted).

His daughter Anna studied nursing at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, where she worked as a surgical nurse after completing her studies. She later worked at San Antonio Community Hospital in Upland. His youngest daughter Opal attended Chaffey High School, then Chaffey Jr. College. She was accomplished at art and wanted to pursue those studies, but quit school to work in her brother Ted's bakery. After her marriage to John Smithson, she alternated between being a housewife and working with him, either on his milk routes or in his cabinet shop. Sobe's daughter Hazel died as a result of an auto accident in 1933. Opal is the only child of Sobe's and Lorena's still living. She is 81.

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