Lightfoot's Lineage

[trudiewannabe]

Apart from the music (of course ), I've been kind interested by Lightfoot's last name because by virtue of his last name, it appears as though he has some Native American heritage, but I have never actually found out any specific details about it.

I'm interested in knowing this! Can anyone enlighten me? Thank you!

[Auburn Annie]

quote:Originally posted by trudiewannabe:
Apart from the music (of course ), I've been kind interested by Lightfoot's last name because by virtue of his last name, it appears as though he has some Native American heritage, but I have never actually found out any specific details about it.

I'm interested in knowing this! Can anyone enlighten me? Thank you!

From the man himself (excerpt)

"Q: You're very environmentally conscious. So set the record straight.
A: I'm Scottish all the way. That's my ancestry. Someone told me that
every Indian in the United States thinks I'm half Chippewa, but I'm Scottish. Sometimes I wish I were Indian, but unfortunately I'm not (laughter)."

The whole article can be read here: http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%2...ain.net&rnum=2

[trudiewannabe]

Thanks Auburn Annie

I don't know why but somehow every singer I like tends to be from that area (e.g. Britain). It's always inadvertant but nonetheless...

speaking of Scottish, the first time I heard Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald it had a "Scottish jig" type of feel to it but I didn't know why...maybe there's a connection

He may be of Scottish descent but his dad is originally from Paris Ontario Canada... just down the road from me. A little known fact...

[Auburn Annie]

I think trudiewannabe wanted to know ethnic origin, not geographic; that's what I meant by Scottish (ancestry.)

[trudiewannabe]

Auburn Annie is right, I was talking about ethnicity!

But thank you Gord very much for the info

[brink]

Hey Annie, great article, I had never seen it before. Thanks
Gord, I thought Gord Sr. was from Orillia, so was it hes Mom that was from there? I guess since Sr. had a business there I thought his family was from there.

[johnfowles]

quote:Originally posted by Gord:
He may be of Scottish descent but his dad is originally from Paris Ontario Canada... just down the road from me. A little known fact...
well that's as may be but when he performed at London's Royal Albert Hall in May 1981
Gord clearly said that he had discovered that his grandfather came from Manchester. I took particular note of that because my sister had just moved up from London to Heaton Mersey a Manchester suburb quite near Stockport



------------------
My Gordon Lightfoot webring
starts at
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/lightfoot

quote:Originally posted by brink:
Hey Annie, great article, I had never seen it before. Thanks
Gord, I thought Gord Sr. was from Orillia, so was it hes Mom that was from there? I guess since Sr. had a business there I thought his family was from there.

Gord Lightfoot when he was talking to the five of us inside the backstage door at the Sanderson Centre a couple of years ago, was saying to all of us he has a special fondness for Brantford Ontario as his father hailed from Paris Ontario ( which is 10 min west of here) and that he had moved to Orillia and that is where he met Jessica.

[SilverHeels]

John,

I also knew of that Manchester link. Also, Gord senior, when I met him in Orillia, told me the family had originated in England. Maybe somr of them moved north via Manchester and Scotland?

[SilverHeels]

btw, I think John was talking about Gord L's ancestors, not his father, who did, indeed, come from Orillia.

[Brian 57]

Auburn Annie,

Thanks for posting that link. It was very educational. Kind of explains a lot in a little bit of space.

quote:Originally posted by SilverHeels:
btw, I think John was talking about Gord L's ancestors, not his father, who did, indeed, come from Orillia.



Well I stand by what GL told me himself, his dad was born in Paris Ontario and later moved to Orillia

[charlene]

In the research I've done on ANCESTRY.com - going back into Gordon Sr.'s lineage -

Gordon Senior - he was born in Brooke Twnshp.Lambton,Ont. on april 1,1910. (PARIS, Ontario is nowhere near Brooke,Twnshp.Lambton Ontario. It is in the County of BRANT,Ontario-almost 2 hours from BROOKE Twnshp,Lambton,Ontario) He died in orillia in march 1974.

his parents - father George was born in 1878 or 1879 in brooke twnshp.Lambton,Ont. and died there in 1902.

His mother EMMA Jane Schwartz (Swartz) was born in 1881 in Houghton Twnshp.,Norfolk,Ontario and died in 1913 in Alvinston, Brooke Twnshp.,Lambton,Ontario. they were married in 1902.

Going back further on his fathers side to Joseph Lightfoot (Gordon's gr.grandfather) - born in 1832 in yorkshire england and died in london,Middlesex,Ontario in 1916 (i think) -

he married elizabeth ann Inch (his 2nd marriage) in ottawa in 1871 She was born in 1846 in boyton parish, cornwall, england and died in brooke twnshp. lambton,ontario in 1907.

going back to gordon's gr.gr.grandfather - HENRY Lightfoot - he was born in 1800 in england and died in 1857 in middlesex county,ottawa, ontario.

He married Jane Calvert who was born in england. they married in 1825 and she died in 1877 in middlesex county, ontario.

No mention of Scotland in anything... Perhaps EMMA Schwartz has lineage going back to Scotland.

On Gordon's mum's side - Jesse Trill (born 1914 in Orillia, died in Orillia in 1998) going back to Gord's grandfather John TRILL, born in 1871 in Bradford, West Gwillimbury Twnshp.Simcoe County,Ontario. He married Ethel Kate WOODS who was born in 1878 in Orillia in 1908.

on Jesse's fathers side Walter John TRILL was born in England in 1834 and died in Orillia in 1905. He was married to Sarah Wilkes who was born in 1841 in England. I imagine she also died in Orillia. No further lineage available.

On Jesse's maternal side it goes back to John WOODS born in 1848 in England who married Mary Ann Vick who was born in 1853. She was from Rochester NY. Her parents were George Vick and Eliza Emily Bailey-no further info available.

Going back further there was no mention of John Woods parents Thomas and Selah's birthdates or places - most likely England.

Mary Ann Vick's parents George and Eliza Emily Bailey have no notations of their birthdates or locations either.

So going back to at least 1800 there is no mention of Scotland.

[jj]

yeah, that's right… the Trill family lineage was at our last tribute show, fun

[johnfowles]

on a whim I googled "gordon lightfoot scotland" and found a relevant wordpress web page at
http://onecanhappen.wordpress.com/20...-personal-dec/
whose headline says
May 26, 2010
Gleanings from Gordon Lightfoot’s 43-minute interview. Gordon is Scottish — ‘Braveheart’!!
the interview is the one from a few years back by Jian Ghomeshi

at 37:20 Gord says "I know I'm Scottish"
Char that's yet another question to ask him during your next phone chat
write it down now on your tentative list

[paskatefan]

I am shocked that there was a relative with the last name "Schwartz" (my married last name)!

I knew about the Manchester, England connection because Gordon did an interview on a local (progressive rock) radio station in the early 1980's with one of the DJ's who hosted a weekly folk-oriented segment for the station. He did the interview in the studio on the daytime before an evening concert @ our Academy of Music. He told a story about someone in the music business being crestfallen when meeting him, saying something like, "I thought you were an Indian!" Many of my friends who are nowhere nearly as familiar with his music as we are have constantly asked us if he is an Indian.

I was fascinated that one of the teachers in the school where I taught had the last name of "Lightfoot." Of course, I had to ask him if he was related to Gordon. He's much younger than I am, and had no idea of who Gordon is, so I had to gently "educate" him about that, mentioning several of his best known songs. He told me that lots of people have asked him about whether or not he's related to him.

[charlene]

Is Manchester in any of the places I listed? Yorkshire? London, middlesex? Boyton Parish,Cornwall? those are on the LIGHTFOOT side..
On the TRILL (Jesse's side) her paternal grandfather (TRILL) is from england but no specific location is noted.
his wife (WILKES) is from England as well but no specific location.
her paternal grandmother (VICK) is from Rochester NY.
Her paternal grandfather (WOODS) is from England but no specific location.
the WOODS/VICK lineage one generation further back has no location at all...
The LIGHTFOOT side goes back to Gordon's gr.gr.grandparents in Middlesex COunty, England.
No Scotland or Manchester in any list I have..

[johnfowles]

Originally Posted by charlene

Is Manchester in any of the places I listed? Yorkshire? London, middlesex? Boyton Parish,Cornwall? those are on the LIGHTFOOT side

Originally Posted by charlene

the basic answer to your question Char is that in fact Manchester is extremely close to Yorkshire. so if Gord was snooping around Manchester in 1981 he may well have information connecting his Yorkie forebears with Manchester
As I have previously seriously suggested you should add a suitable question to your tentative list that you would be putting to Gord in his next telephone call!
You could tell him that my sister lives on the Southern edge of Manchester so if there is any local enquiry he can think of I am sure that she would be happy to try then he can follow up when he is in Manchester himself in just over a year

　
I was pleased to find that image because I was unaware (or had forgotten) that the 1974 county boundary rationalisation had created the new county of Merseyside that it seems is a pseudo county comprising mainly Liverpool
More rewarding is finding out where the Lightfoot surname came from.
For example from:-
http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Lightfoot

"This unusual surname is an interesting example of that sizeable group of early European surnames that were gradually created from the habitual use of nicknames. These nicknames were given with reference to variety of characteristics, such as physical attributes or peculiarities, mental and moral characteristics, or habits of dress and occupation. The derivation, in this instance, is from the Olde English pre 7th century "leoht", nimble, quick, with "fot", foot, originally denoting someone with a light, springy step; a speedy runner, or messenger. Early examples of the surname include; William Lightfote (Cambridgeshire, 1273), and Willelmus Lightfote (Yorkshire, 1379)."
Messenger of the Dawn anybody??
And the principle money grabbing website Ancestry.com says this:-
"Lightfoot Name Meaning
English (chiefly northern England, especially Liverpool): nickname for a messenger or for a fast runner, from Middle English lyght ‘light’, ‘nimble’, ‘quick’ (Old English lioht) + fote ‘foot’"


I have previously found and displayed another very similar Lightfoot heraldic shield



in a thread I started at:-
http://www.corfid.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=17001
Talking of ancestry.com and native American Lightfoots no wonder there is confusion in Ontario
see these two postings on a Lightfoot surname message board at:-
http://boards.ancestry.com/thread.as...ames.lightfoot

"OK, am I one of the idiots that thinks "Lightfoot" is an Indian name? This is my married name and I just tell everyone it is Cherokee because that is what my husband's grandfather told us."
"My Lightfoot ancestors were slaves of the white Lightfoots of VA and KY. Three brothers who 'escaped' to Canada were James Louis, Thomas Jefferson, and Samuel. They were definately Black! They settled in Ontario, near Dundas, and Hamilton. Anyone else out there looking for info on them?"
　
　
　
　
　

[Affair on Touhy Ave.]

Originally Posted by trudiewannabe

Apart from the music (of course ), I've been kind interested by Lightfoot's last name because by virtue of his last name, it appears as though he has some Native American heritage, but I have never actually found out any specific details about it.

I'm interested in knowing this! Can anyone enlighten me? Thank you!

I wonder of it's more appropriate to say Native Canadian heritage?

[charlene]

yeah - Native Canadian would be right..