What's In A Name?

There is a Chinese Proverb that states:The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.
But what if you can't find the "right" name?

Searching for our ancestors can be quite daunting. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to sort through various spelling variations to find your family members. My maiden name is Schralla but that is not the surname of my 2x Great-Grandfather. His last name, according to the church records from Germany states his last name as Schütte, known as Schrell. On the passenger list from Bremen to New York in 1860 it appears as Schrill. In the 1870 U.S. Federal Census for Quincy, Adams Count, Illinois it appears as Schriller and in the 1880 census it’s Schreller. It’s not until the 1900’s that it finally morphs into Schralla.

So when it came to do researching my Mother’s side of the family with the name Sauerborn, I was prepared to do some digging. Surprisingly in the New York passenger list of 1856, the name is Sauerborn as it is in the church records from Germany. But in the 1860 U.S. Census it is clearly written as Sawborn but in Ancestry.com the name is listed a Swborn. Then in the New York State Census for 1865 it’s written as Souerbourn In 1870 U.S. Federal Census it has the wonderful spelling of Sarbarn but once again Ancestry has it indexed as Sarbam. Searching the 1875 New York census I find the name as Sowborn but again Ancestry has it indexed as Lowborn. And finally, in the U.S. Federal Census for 1880 the matriarch is living with her daughter and the name is Sauerborn.

William Shakespeare once said, “What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Our family is our family regardless of how the name is spelled. It sure would be nice, however, when records are being indexed that the person doing so had good eyesight; and can read and write English. Because how can we gain wisdom if we don't know what the right name is?

You Picked A Fine Time To Leave Me...

Lately I have been researching my Mother's family who lived in New York. Unlike my father's family that lived and moved in the southern States, her family stayed in and around the Keuka and Seneca Lake area. Predominantly in the towns of  Geneva, Seneca of Ontario County and Penn Yan in Yates County are where I find these relatives. Even still, with names such as Grady, Kelly and Cummings it hasn't been easy. Because of this my husband has often found me muttering to myself as I bang my head on my desk.

 

Recently I started to look into Jeremiah and Mary (Ginty) Cummings my 2x Great-Grandparents. According to the 1870 U.S. Federal Census they are living in Fayette, Seneca County, New York. Jeremiah is a farm laborer and is 30 years old. Mary is 25 and she is keeping house as well as caring for two year old twin daughters, Maggie and Lizzie and a six month old daughter Mary, (my Great Grandmother). Also living with them is Mary's sister Ann Ginty who is 14 years old.

 

In the 1875 New York census they have moved to Geneva, Ontario County and Jeremiah is still working as a farmer laborer. Everyone is five years older and the family has grown, Anna is three years old, Richard is two and John is six months. But then something happens, for in the 1880 U.S. Federal Census Mary is 35 years old, a mother of nine children ranging from 13 years old to one years old and she's a widow! Can you imagine the overwhelming despair she must have felt? The anxiety of how she would provide for these children is unimaginable.

 

Searching through Fultonhistory.com for anything regarding Jeremiah was just a bit daunting. But then in the Geneva Gazette for January 9, 1880 I find this:

 

 

Andrew Desmond it turns out is a Grocer in Geneva. Did Jeremiah owe him a considerable amount of money or was there more to it? Nothing else was found online so I'll have to return to Geneva to search for any court records.

 

Searching further through the newspapers I then come across this in The Post-Standard, Syracuse New York, June 1 1908:

 



It reads: "Geneva May 31-Word was received in this city to-day of the death in a private sanitarium at Wichita, Tex., of Jeremiah Cummings, formerly of this city___of whom nothing had been heard in twenty years and who was supposed to have been dead. At the time Mr. Cummings disappeared it was though he met with foul play and the family and relatives used all kinds of means to end mention of his whereabouts but without success." It goes on to say he was 68 years old and that he is survived by a brother, a wife, three sons and five daughters. No burial information is given. Also notably he wasn't aware of the birth of his youngest daughter and ninth child.

 

My next step was to contact the Historian of the Town of Geneva for any burial information for Jeremiah. Unfortunately she did not have anything but she made contact for me with her counterpart in Wichita County Texas. She wrote back that in Riverside Cemetery there is a Cummings buried in Section Q, Lot 300. His burial date was May 28, 1908.

 

Why he left his young wife and children will probably never be known. Why he traveled to Texas will also be a mystery. But my guess is that the family said to heck with him, he can just stay in Texas and rot! 

 

Mary's life was difficult after her husband left. From the various censuses from 1880 to 1910 she worked as a domestic, a laundress and a cook. The younger children lived with their older siblings as they married and started their own lives. Two of the younger sisters lived with their sister Maggie, the three brothers lived with their sister Lizzie. Mary eventually lives her with her youngest son, Jeremiah until her death in 1914.

 

Authors own picture; St Patrick's Cemetery, Geneva, Ontario, NY


Rest in peace Mary, you deserve it!