The four Lockey sisters in 1989. From left, Mum (Margaret Elizabeth Lockey/O'Grady/Brown), Aunty Gwen (Gwendoline Ann Lockey/Sloan/Abraham), Aunty Ada (Ada Dominica Lockey/Treloar) and Aunty Pat (Patricia Ann Lockey/Rumbold)
A photo taken of the little family before Granddad set sail for Western Australia. Granddad (Henry Lockey) Nanna (Margaret Helen Lockey nee Smith) and Mum (Margaret Elizabeth Lockey)
Granddad and Nanna outside their home in Scarborough about 1942. Granddad was a quartermaster in the Western Australian CMF
I can speak of help from across the veil when Granddad Lockey paid a visit, nursing a baby in his arms, to my Uncle Kevin in the middle of the night in 1993. Uncle Kevin and Aunty Ada lived in Mandurah, Western Australia. He did not visit with his daughter Ada, married to Uncle kevin, and he did not visit with me, the Mormon in the family, but chose instead my down-to-earth and don't-believe ex-butcher Uncle Kevin. What Granddad told him was that he was very happy except for the little baby boy. Next morning Aunty Ada rang me early to tell me what happened and then said 'Colleen, you're the Mormon and everything' which had the effect on me of some alarm. She then told me the story. Now Granddad and Nanna had been sealed for time and eternity at the Hamilton New Zealand Temple in 1990, and I had seen the two of them there, holding hands, so knew they had accepted the work done. But they had four daughters and no sons. Well, I supposed at the time of Aunty Ada's phone call he may have had one, but which country, for Granddad migrated out from Wakefield, Yorkshire England in 1923, and brought out Nanna and Mum (born 1920) in 1924. The story gets very interesting then for that night my cousin Nikki, daughter of Aunty Gwen (Aunty Ada's sister) rang me to tell me she was living in Wales with some guy. Well, after catching my breath I told her the story of Granddad and then asked if it was possible for her to visit St Cath's in London and search the records for a baby born between 1920 and 1923. She couldn't see much of a problem with that, they could catch the train. Meanwhile, back in Gosnells Western Australia where I lived, I started my own search at the Melville Family History Centre on the Perth, Western Australia cemetery records. And come up with zilch. I determined to start searching the country cemetery records after that, particularly up in the north of the State where Granddad had worked in the 1920s and 1930s. A couple of nights later before I got that far, Nikki rang, wildly exccited. The little lost boy had been found. Her boyfriend found the death notice first within half an hour of arriving at Saint Cath's House, and it was easy to find the birth after that. Certificates were organised for me back in Western Australia. Little William Thomas, named after Granddad's older brother who was killed in the Great War, was born on the 23rd August 1923 and died the next day, a premature baby suffering from malnutrition. By November, Granddad was steaming for Western Australia, determined to get his little family out of a starving England.
He came back from beyond the veil to tell Uncle Kevin what he wanted, his little boy, because he knew that everyone would believe that he visited with Uncle Kevinnearly 20 years after he had died. All my family members are not members of the Church, but they are, like myself, absolutely amazed at the find and have never doubted Uncle Kevin's story. It was with great pleasure, feeling very humble but delighted all the same, to be able to seal William Thomas to Granddad and Nanna in the Brisbane Temple. Mum and Aunty Gwen have also been sealed to them. Aunty Ada is still with us, but Uncle Kevin has gone. Great are the miracles of the Lord's Holy House and the Melchizedec Preisthood and blessed I am to be a member of the only true Churchon the face of the earth, the Lord's Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
And here is Ann Bradshaw's article that brought out that little miracle of a tale above.
Welcome to Our NEW Website…
March 11th, 2011 | Author: AnneBradshaw
Hello and welcome to TrueMiraclesWithGenealogy.com, a website to complement my book, True Miracles with Genealogy: Help from Beyond the Veil.
This website is for updated information about the book, and a place where readers can send further inspiring research stories for the enlightenment of us all. If you’d like to share an experience about a time when you realized you were being helped by ancestors while doing family history research, please register as a subscriber, then contact me to request authorization as a Contributor.
Be sure and reply to the email asking you to click on a confirmation link. Without that confirmation your subscription can’t go through. We guarantee your email address will not be shared.
Thank you for visiting today. I find genealogy fascinating and exciting, and hope True Miracles with Genealogy can help encourage us all to get involved and enjoy the fruits of our labors as we unite families in heaven and on earth, one link at a time.
For groups and associations in and around the Provo, Orem, Salem, Spanish Fork, American Fork and Alpine areas of Utah who are interested in learning how to write a family history, or learning how to self-publish a book such as True Miracles with Genealogy, please contact me for information about my speaking engagements.
Anne Bradshaw
KCSG Television interview
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