Gord's Pedigree
 

Gord once wrote of ‘A Tree Too Weak To Stand’, but on this, his 69th birthday, perhaps we can examine the Lightfoot ‘Family Tree’ which seems well rooted and continuing to flourish.
Have a look at Gord’s personal pedigree and see if any of you have identical surnames in you own foliage. Perhaps, through some distant relationship, you can finagle lifetime front row seats to enjoy your relative’s performance.
(any corrections or additions are welcome) -research courtesy of my better half, Cathy A

Yuri

Re: Gord's Pedigree
 

Nope, no luck. However, in tracing backwards, I did discover that Mason inexplicably changed to Meason. Heavy drinkers no doubt.

Re: Gord's Pedigree
 

I was born and raised in Lambton County, Ontario.
I know Gord has a relative (cousin or uncle) just outside of Alvinston Ontario that has Lightfoot Transport. I'm not sure if that business is still going or not. I've been a long time gone from Ontario.

Re: Gord's Pedigree
 

Lightfoot Transport is still around... I've seen the trucks a few times in my travels down the 401 or QEW..

Nope nobody in his tree I'm related too.

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Hey Brannah:

I live in Lambton County (between Sarnia & Petrolia), about 25 km from Alvinston, where I believe Gord's father lived. There are a lot of Lightfoots around here; I think there are several cousins living here now. They come to mind when I hear about the uncles and the cousins in Brave Mountaineers.
What part of Lambton County do you hail from?

Brian

Re: Gord's Pedigree
 

Interesting post Yuri!! Doesn't look like I'm related to Gord at all, but I think my dentist might be :biggrin:

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We have a Dr. Peter D. Lightfoot here in Moncton, and in the 80's his office was on Gordon street. Always found that interesting. :rolleyes: :)

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there was a heavy duty Bishop Lightfoot here in the UK - someplace up north. I found a book written by him years ago and gave it to Gord. Another time while in Cornwall, I found a tombstone for a Lightfoot. Surprised me for sure - tucked away in a tiny Cornish hamlet. These Lightfoots are everywhere! ;)

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Yeah, no such luck for me. Though i must say that it might have been nice to be able to claim to be a part of such a tree. Actually, the only famous people that I can claim to be related to we're a couple of famous ne'er do wells, one of whom was a pirate & the other was an American outlaw.:):):)

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I was born in Sarnia, grew up just outside of Oil Springs on 80 Hwy. :o)

Re: Gord's Pedigree
 

I know I'm coming to this party kinda late (really late, I guess!) but it was interesting seeing Gord's pedigree. Even more interesting was seeing that his great-great grandparents came from England, but he says his bloodlines are actually Scottish.

If my recollection of recent genealogical readings is right, the Lightfoot surname is seen on both sides of the English and Scottish border. Haven't seen anything, though, that definitively shows which side of the border the name actually originated from. I'm of Scots ancestry myself and even my own family name is seen on both sides. This seems to be a relatively common pattern with many Anglo-Saxon family names.

In a reply to this thread, Brannah says he was born in Sarnia but raised in Oil Springs. I was born and raised in Sarnia too and on my mother's side have a pile of ancestors who came from the Dawn Township/Oil Springs/Petrolia area. As most students of Gord's origins know, Oil Springs isn't too far from Alvinston.

I have an uncle on my mother's side who is a bit of a rabid Lightfoot fan; he once suggested to me that his family was related to the Lightfoots in some way. A quick review of my mother's genealogy showed not a shred of evidence to support the claim, at least from a familial perspective.

However, family lore holds that the Lightfoots and my mother's family had some sort of a run-in way, way back. Again, I've seen no hard evidence of this. But considering that the Lightfoots started out as farmers in Lambton County and so did my ancestors, it's probably more likely than not they may have at least known of each other. The farming community in Lambton County isn't exactly huge, y'know. :)

Whenever I listen to Brave Mountaineers, I'm always reminded of the farms and the countryside in the Oil Springs/Petrolia area. For some reason, I'm also reminded of wet country lanes on rainy fall afternoons whenever I hear Looking at the Rain.

I would hazard a guess that the imagery in many Lightfoot songs was as informed by the countryside in Lambton County as it was by his early life in Orillia.

'Lightfoot Trucking' is a name that has surfaced in this thread. I once saw one of their trucks tooling around in London, Ontario. I also know one of Gord's uncles owns (or once owned) that business.

Indeed, I've long wondered if 'the trucker known as Bill' in 'Long Thin Dawn' was none other than Gord's uncle!

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No relationship with Oh, Linda's family.

Interesting, I noticed, that the men married women not just younger than them, but 2, 4, 7, 12 and 14 years younger. And the farther back you go the bigger the age gap. I wonder how common that was then?

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I note that Gordon Sr.'s mother, Emma Jane Schwartz died @32 when he was 3 1/2 or so.
It seems Gordon Jr. didn't have paternal grandparents. There are no dates of death for his maternal grandparents.
My maternal grandparents age difference was 14 years...it was common I think..my grandparents in law were the same ages as mine and had the same age difference too..each set had 5 kids too! lol

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Funny when you revive an old thread like this which I never seen before. It is very interesting. For several years, in the beginning of Gords career around his 2nd album, I had thought he was a Canadian Indian, due mainly to the Lightfoot name which I just figured was of Indian origin. Years later I think I read he was of Scottish ancestory, like Elvis, so I figured the best singers must come from Scotland. Now I find out he is English. Gez... 45 years of being wrong, and now a ruined dream. Both, have always been my favorites anyway.

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I'm sure somehwere down the line there's some Scot in him...maybe not a LIGHTFOOT but someone married to a Lightfoot. He has said he has Scottish heritage so it just may be further back than this tree notes. No Native Canadian tho...
http://www.houseofnames.com/lightfoot-family-crest