Let’s get to know a little about Judy and her family history through this piece she’s written for the Culbert Family History blog. Take it away, Judy!
I was born on 1 March 1957 in London, Ontario not far from Lucan where my Irish Hodgins ancestors settled when they first came to Canada in the early-mid 1800’s. The town of Lucan was originally called Maryville. The renaming of the town was the result of a large influx of Irish immigrants. This increase of Irish settlers to the area was spear-headed by Colonel James Robert Hodgins.
Although Colonel Hodgins is not my direct descendent, he was instrumental in convincing a significant number of Irish families, including my own, to put down roots in Biddulph Township. The result was that a large number of Irish Protestants settled on the Huron Tract. Within 10 years of Colonel Hodgins’ arrival, close to 50 Hodgins families joined him and quickly established themselves in the township. Most of these families were from Northern Tipperary. Even today the name Hodgins is very common in Lucan and the surrounding area.
Many Irish families moved to Canada for a better life as conditions in Ireland made life very challenging. My Hodgins family were drawn to the area by the large tracts of rich agricultural land. They were not only interested in farming but also in breeding horses. Over the following years, they made many trips back to Ireland to obtain horses for their breeding program.
Even though the trip by sea to Canada was arduous and often dangerous it did not deter the Irish travelers. My ancestors could not convince their mother/grandmother, 89-year-old Eleanor Revington (Atkinson) Hodgins, the widow of William “Longworth William" Hodgins, that she should not take the potentially life threatening trip to Canada with them. The good news is that Eleanor insisted on traveling with her family and she survived the journey. Eleanor (known as The Grand Old Lady of Biddulph) died peacefully in Biddulph Township at 103 years old, on her porch rocking chair.
The name Hodgins is an ancient name and variations such as Rodger, Hodge, Hodgson, Hodgens, Hodgkins, Hodgkinson, Hodgin, may have been derived from Hrodgar or Hruodger. By the 12th century, the name Hodge was very common in Lancashire, England and in 1545 Hodgins appears in the archives of the city of Norwich. However, even before then the name Hodgins appears in Warwickshire in a variety of alternative spellings. In the early 1600’s several Hodgins, including my ancestors, left for Ireland. I believe that my family Hodgins’ name appears in Ballyroom in about 1650, followed by Dublin, County Leix (then Queen’s County) and then emerges in some of the small villages such as Lucan, which is just outside Dublin. They later moved to Modreeny, County Tipperary, and settled in several small communities in Tipperary. I imagine that being so close to County Offaly (then King’s County) that it may have been there that they came into contact with the Wards and the Culberts.
My grandmother, Gladys Hodgins was very proud of her Anglican, Irish background. She was born in Lucan, Ontario and many of the families who settled there also lived near each other in Ireland.
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| Judy's grandmother, Gladys (Hodgins) Luker. |
Names like Hodgins, Hill, Culbert, Ward, Crawley, Armitage, Coursey, Brownlee and Atkinson are all plentiful in the local cemeteries in Lucan, Ontario and surrounding areas. Most of the names that I have mentioned do not sound very Irish but many families like the Hodgins may have come over from England as soldiers, mine in the early 1600’s. They also might have been sent to Ireland by King James 1st during the early 1700’s during the Plantations of Ireland.
I am the oldest daughter of Sam Luker and Melva Murphy and I have Irish roots on both my maternal and paternal lines.
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| Judy (Luker) Massey (right) with her parents, Melva (Murphy) Luker and Sam Luker. |
I am very fortunate to still have both my parents, currently 89 and 91 years of age (good Irish genes). They have been amazing role models for both my sister, Jana and myself.
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| Sisters, Judy (left) and Jana. |
My parents have nurtured hope, a positive attitude in us, and taught my sister and me to always look for the silver lining despite the circumstance. My parents inspired us to be well-rounded and focus on many aspects of life. We learned to value and enjoy academics, sports, and music but most importantly relationships. I have tried my best to follow their excellent example.
I have been fortunate to have travelled extensively with my parents and with my husband, Dave Massey, both professionally and for pleasure in countries such as China, Australia, Europe, the Caribbean, and Jordan.
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| Sam Luker with his daughter, Judy (Luker) Massey in Dingle, Ireland. |
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| Judy (Luker) Massey and husband, Dave Massey at Ashford Castle in Cong, County Mayo, Ireland. |
Growing up, I participated in many sports such as competitive skiing, running and swimming where I achieved success at both the local and provincial levels. I also enjoyed many recreational sports, and I still do.
I received an Honours BA at the University of Guelph with a double major in psychology and English. I then went on to get a Teaching Certificate and Bachelor of Education before completing a Masters in Sociology and Doctorate in Education at the University of Toronto.
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| Judy (Luker) Massey receives her Doctor of Education degree at the University of Toronto on 21 November 2001. |
I thoroughly enjoyed teaching numerous elementary grades. Later, I became a consultant for kindergarten to grade 8 where I supported teachers with program development, shared resources, and modelled strategies. I then went on to be a Consultant for the Gifted and worked with students and teachers from kindergarten to grade 12 before becoming a vice principal and then a principal. I next became a Superintendent of Schools where I did my best to support students and their families as well as other academic and non-academic staff.
I have always felt that I was fortunate to do such stimulating and inspiring work with so many exceptional individuals. Even when mentoring others, I always learned something from them as well and felt great satisfaction in our shared successes. My career experience provided me with many opportunities for leadership at the local, provincial and national levels. Five of the many, many highlights for me beyond my regular duties as teacher, consultant, principal and vice principal and superintendent of education were as follows:
The first was working with the Creative Education Foundation in Buffalo, USA out of the EPCOT Centre in Orlando, Florida. It was very exciting to support adults and grade 6 to 12 students using a creative problem-solving model to achieve their goals and solve problems.
The second was being the keynote speaker for a number of graduations and award assemblies such as for those graduating at the Master’s Level and above from Griffith University (Australia.)
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| Judy (Luker) Massey: keynote speaker at the Griffith University graduation for Master and Doctoral candidates. |
The third was going back after retiring to do contract work such as principal evaluations.
The fourth was teaching Additional Qualification Courses for Faculties of Education. There, I taught courses such as the Principal and Superintendent Qualification programs, Primary Methods -Specialist and Special Education.
The fifth was speaking and giving workshops across North America on a wide range of topics such as Emotional Intelligence, Creativity, Problem Solving, Gifted Education, the Young More Able Learner, Creative Problem Solving, and Site Based Planning and Management.
I loved each role I undertook and felt a sense of purpose in supporting others when sharing ideas and knowledge.
Now that I am fully retired, I still have purposeful work in that I am able to be there to support my parents, particularly my mother who has dementia. I also feel great joy in having the flexibility and opportunity to be with my family and friends more frequently. In addition, I now have more time to do some of the things that I had not been able to do when I worked such long hours.
One hobby I now have more time for is Genealogy. Spending more time tracing my ancestors through research and DNA is both enjoyable and interesting for me. However, my one regret is that I wish I had asked more questions of my grandparents. Some things I may speculate on now about their life and history, I may never ever really fully understand or know definitively. I wish I had thought to ask about their childhoods, their grandparents and family growing up, as well as what they might have remembered or have heard about the old country, Ireland.
I am very grateful to my ancestors for being courageous enough to take the risk of venturing from Ireland to a new and unknown country. They must have left Ireland full of hope but also with some fear and uncertainty about what was ahead of them. Their hard work, love of family, and faith in a better life has brought the generations that followed many opportunities and blessings. I am thankful to them and fascinated by the life they had in Ireland, which I am only able to glimpse and ponder from a distance.
I will always be proud to be of Irish heritage and of my wise and resourceful ancestors who leaped into the unknown to bring us to Canada and give me the life that I now value and love. However, Ireland will never be forgotten and it will always be in my heart and in my blood.
Judith Lynne (Luker) Massey's Family Tree:
Ancestors:
John Culbert & Mary Ward (3x-great-grandparents)
Susan Culbert & Philip Crawley (2x-great-grandparents)
Sarah Catherine Crawley & Samuel Hill Hodgins (great-grandparents)
Gladys Sarah Hodgins & Wilbert Luker (grandparents)
Samuel Robert Luker & Melva Moreen Murphy (parents)
Judith Lynne (Luker) Massey.
No descendants.
