Letter from Kathy Gamble-nee Eardley

FOR THE ATTENTION OF THE IRISH/LIVERPOOL EARDLEY'S

Dear Friends and Family

Thanks to dear Jack, we are so lucky to all be in touch with one another, and for that I will always be so very very grateful - how can we ever thank him enough. I do not know about you, but I was brought up with so little knowledge of my family history and now that both parents are dead I am feeling rather guilty in one way for not asking more questions but also too quite excited that through the hard work of Jack Eardley we are all given the chance of getting to know each other. For that I will always be eternally grateful. If I may give you a quick run down of the little I know and anyone at all who has any information that can piece my side of the family together before the BIG GET TOGETHER in July, I would be so thrilled. Here goes:

My father was: John Eardley born on 2nd January 1909 in Colne, Lancashire,
Mum was: Caroline Eardley (nee Dawson) born 12 Oct. 1909
Grand parents : John Eardley (known to everyone as Jack) married to Ellen (maiden name Curran).
Grand-dad was born in 1877 and his wife Ellen Eardley (nee Curran) was born in 1882.

Although the family settled in Colne, Lancashire I know that they had originally come from Ireland and there was a strong Liverpool connection as Dad had talked in my younger days of the family settling around this area when they arrived from Ireland. My parents were well in their 40's when I was born so as such all grandparents were dead before I was born. Hence why I have so little knowledge of facts. My father was one of 7 children but few of his brothers and sisters did have families. All I really have to go on was that one cousin years ago when I was a little girl, I do remember, coming into our kitchen and telling my (very straight laced mother) that she really was not married! to which of course she was aghast!!!! He went on to say that he had traced the family tree back a long way and had found a change in the spelling of Eardley to Earley and then back again. He tried to convince mum that this would have made her marriage illegal!!!! Mum of course did not believe him but for me as a smallish child it did stick in my mind. I had absolutely no idea at all why this change of name had occurred. It was one of those things that you store and then when I got involved with Jack's History of the Family and was lucky enough to get letters from the Irish side of the FAMILY, I noticed a letter stating THAT very same fact and he readily gave me the answer. This being, that the name had changed because a teacher had tried to distinguish between between the catholic Eardley's and protestant Eardley's - all of a sudden it all fell into place. One simple fact had changed the whole history of the family. Knowing this was the case in my family I would so welcome any member of the family to contact me to introduce themselves of course and to also give me more details perhaps if they have them as to tell me more about this side of the TREE. Without sounding too brash or name dropping either: does anyone anywhere know of any connection to the Kennedy's. My father told me always that we had a strong connection to the Kennedy's, in fact he seemed to believe that President Kennedy's grandma and his grand-ma were cousin's - does this ring any bell at all, or was this just talk. I honestly believe that there really must be some fairly deep connection here as I do know for a fact for Mary Kennedy (who President John F Kennedy) visited on his visit to Ireland did write on a very regular basis to my dad's sister, my name sake Kathleen Eardley. I was actually born on my dad's sister's birthday and was called her name. Can any light be thrown on a Kennedy connection????. We all in our family had a similar look. My father had jet black hair and all his three children had the same. My sister and I also followed in his like by having green/hazel eyes but my brother followed mum and had blue eyes. I am now so absorbed in tracing my heritage, any help would be so very much appreciated and may I also say that I would also welcome people contacting me to arrange a suitable tribute to Jack on our special day in July. It will be a special day for us all and one that we will always remember. Please contact me either on e-mail as shown or alternatively on:

Kathy Gamble
14 Aireville Close
Utley, Keighley
West Yorkshire
BD20 6EG
England
Tel/Fax: 01535 691863
Many thanks to you all and let's make July so special not only for us but for Jack who has put all the hard work into this project.
Kind regards to all
Kathy Gamble (nee Eardley)

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