Quaker marriage records are a treasure trove of genealogical information. In addition to providing details about couples and their families, these records include the signatures of wedding guests in attendance. Read More
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Share your thoughts about the survey! Please limit submissions to 150 words or fewer. Responses featured in a future newsletter may be edited for clarity and length.
Last Week's Survey:
Ancestors Named for a Sibling Who Died in Childhood
Total: 3,313 Responses
49%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors was named for a sibling who died in childhood.
23%, Yes, at least one of my relatives was named for a sibling who died in childhood.
29%, No, I don’t know of any ancestors or relatives who were named after a sibling who died in childhood.
Readers Respond
Shannon Ortiz, Long Island, New York: My great-great-great-grandfather John Porter of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and his wife, Elizabeth Sommers, had eleven children. My ancestor Washington Irving Porter was the third child. Their firstborn, Charles Filmore, died in 1856 at six years old. Their fourth son, Charles Webster, was born the same year that the first Charles passed away. Their eighth son, Augustus Gilmore, died also at six years old, in 1869; their tenth son, Augustus Embury, was born in 1871.
Carolyn Nash, Austin, Texas: My Swedish ancestors Per Andersson and Maja Ersdotter had twin daughters, Christina and Catharina, who lived less than a month. They named their next daughter Christina Catharina for the dead twins. Christina Catharina lived to be sixty-one and had five children of her own, including twins named Christina and Sofia.
Robert Kenney, Narragansett, Rhode Island: In about 1780, my ancestors William Hanks (1728-1807) and Hannah Sargent (1737-1809) left Mansfield, Connecticut, and settled in Pawlet, Vermont. They had eleven children. Their first and third were daughters named Sarah; the fifth and sixth were sons named Eleazar. The first baby of each pair died at two months old. Oliver, the ninth child, died at age three; their eleventh child was named Oliver. The seventh child, my ancestor Arunah (1770-1830), married Lucy Perkins (1771-1860); they had ten children. The third, Harvey, died at thirteen months; they named their fifth child Harvey—he was my great-great-great-great grandfather.
Karen (Styles) Freeland, Jackson County, Michigan: My great-great-grandparents had eleven children. Their second-oldest daughter, Sarah Jane, died in 1872 at age 18. They had another daughter in 1873 and named her Sarah Jane. The name was important to them because Sarah was the name of my great-great-grandfather’s mother, and Jane was the name of my great-great-grandmother’s mother.
Lora Wimsatt, Owensboro, Kentucky: My great-grandparents had fourteen children, six of whom died as infants or as very young children. Their fourth child, Hugo, died in February 1904. The parents gave his name to their next child, who was born in December of that same year. That little boy grew up to be my grandfather. I had the privilege of placing a flower on the grave of the “first” Hugo several years ago. More than 100 years after he was born and died, this child is remembered.
Christopher Kersting, a volunteer at a museum in Park Ridge, New Jersey, wondered if the tale about the piece of wood was true and began a quest to see what he could learn. “Something told me, ‘Let’s find out.’”
“In the almost 130 years since the Smithsonian Institution acquired Abraham Lincoln’s black silk necktie, the museum’s curators gave very little thought to this personal piece of the president’s clothing.” But, recently, the tie has received some attention.
“A new exhibition examines the more than 1,000 resorts and hotels that dotted New York’s Catskills Mountains and provided relaxation, dancing and laughs.”
“The words ‘fall’ and ‘autumn’ appeared around the same time in Great Britain, but only one of the seasonal names is still used there today.”
Spotlight: Western Kentucky Obituary Database
by Valerie Beaudrault
Hosted by the Browning Genealogy and Local History website, this database collects obituaries gathered from thirty funeral homes and twelve newspapers in twenty western Kentucky counties: Breckinridge, Bullit, Butler, Crittenden, Daviess, Edmonson, Grayson, Hancock, Hardin, Hart, Henderson, Larue, Livingston, McLean, Meade, Muhlenberg, Nelson, Ohio, Union, and Webster. Search by name, funeral home, date of death, and county. Browning Genealogy and Local History also hosts other databases for the surrounding area including marriages, veterans, cemeteries, and more. Search Now
Please Note: Due to scheduled maintenance, our registration system for paid events will be offline 9:30–11:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, September 20, 2023.
Non-probate assets such as an IRA, 401(k), or life insurance policy are not covered in your will or trust—you must name beneficiaries separately. Our friends at FreeWill.com have provided a free and secure online tool to guide you through naming beneficiaries for your non-probate assets. Learn More
