Genealogy is a hobby similar to fantasy sports: the most interesting thing in the world is your own data/team, and the most boring thing in the world is hearing about someone else’s. With that in mind, I’m only bringing the subject up here on the blog because I found an angle that may be good for a few cheap laughs. That’s me, keeping it classy.
The silly aspect is that the 17th-18th century New England Puritans from whom I descend often gave their children first names that, suffice it to say, didn’t quite catch on. They’re strange or comical by present-day standards — but then again, we have been known to indulge in some creative nomenclature ourselves.
After the jump are a few of my favorites; let it never be said that my ancestors can’t take a joke (although I’ve found that dead people tend to be pretty good about that).
Salmon Treat (1673 — 1746) of Preston, Connecticut; first cousin 9 times removed. The man for whom the tidbits you feed to your cat are named.
Cornelis Lambertsen Cool (c. 1585 — bef. Dec 30, 1643) of Gowanus, Long Island,1 New Netherland Colony; 10th great-grandfather. A misnomer if ever I heard one. I don’t claim to speak for the rest of my family, but I have never been one of the Cool People.
Experience Strong (born c. 1650) of Northampton, Massachusetts; 8th great-grandaunt. She married Zerubbabel Filer, who probably worked his whole life to take the edge off his own first name. Her married name of Experience Strong Filer only compounds the hilarity. These two take the Couples Award, hands down.
Freelove Gillet (born Aug 10, 1729) of New Haven, Connecticut; half second cousin 7 times removed. That name… I do not think it means what you think it means.
“1662/63?” WTF?
England and its colonies didn’t make the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar until 1752. Under the Julian system, March 25 was the first day of the year. With the Gregorian system, the first day of the year was moved to January 1. The double-year dating is how we account for the discrepancy with pre-1752 dates between January 1 and March 25. For example, if I’m looking at old church records that list Preserve Lippincott’s birth date as Feb 25, 1662, I record that in my data as Feb 25, 1662/63 because to our present-day reckoning, the year was 1663. For more about the Julian vs. Gregorian calendar topic, follow the links above.
Preserve Lippincott (Feb 25, 1662/63 — Feb 6, 1688/89) of Shrewsbury, New Jersey; 8th great-granduncle. Alas, he only kept for about 25 years.
Gerrit Wolfertsen Van Couwenhoven (c. 1610 — c. 1645), of Midwout, Breuckelen,2 New Netherland Colony; 9th great-grandfather. This name isn’t particularly odd, I just wanted to throw in one that was really long and Dutch. The “Wolfertsen” part means what it looks like — in fact, his father’s name was Wolfert Gerritsen Van Cowenhoven. Fortunately, Gerrit Wolfertsen didn’t name either of his sons Wolfert, so the mirror-like naming madness stopped there. Over the course of succeeding generations in America down to the present day, the last name Van Couwenhoven has been streamlined into “Conover.”
Waitstill Hotchkiss (born c. 1740) of Cheshire, Connecticut; 5th great-granduncle. Jeez, what a bummer of a message that sends. They might as well have called him Dontholdyourbreath Hotchkiss.
Hackaliah Preston (Apr 9, 1643 — Nov 20, 1692) of New Haven; 8th great-granduncle. Twin brother of my only slightly more fortunate 8th great-grandfather, Eliasaph Preston (1643-1705).
Mehitable Hurlbut (Nov 23, 1690 — Jan 8, 1743/44) of Middletown, Connecticut; first cousin 9 times removed. Is it me, or does that name look like a car crash of letters? Even to pronounce, it ain’t pretty. I looked up the name “Mehitable” and discovered that it apparently is an earlier version of “Mabel.” I’d say the latter is an improvement… you gotta pare down those extraneous letters.
Lettice Underhill (died Mar 21, 1673) of Portsmouth, Rhode Island; 9th great-grandaunt. Aww. Isn’t that a quaint little bucolic image? Lettice was a sister of my 9th great-grandfather, the controversial military ass-kicker Capt. John Underhill.
Submit Strong (born Feb 23, 1689/90) of Northampton, Massachusetts; half 7th great-grandaunt. An oxymoron of a name like that will make a kid wonder if she’s coming or going. In case you’re wondering, she was the niece of the previously-mentioned Experience (Strong) Filer. As if the name itself wasn’t enough, get this: her father Thomas Strong had five kids with his first wife, before being widowed. He married again, and with his second wife he had eleven more children. Submit Strong was the last of her dad’s 16 children — and, he died before she was born. If that’s why they named her Submit, I think it was way uncool.
And My All-Time Favorite…
Silence Hand (born Nov 12, 1679) of Middletown, Connecticut; 8th great-grandmother. Talk to the Hand.
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I have traced my grandmother Beatrice Breymeier back to Barnabus Cary born 1793, who married Freelove Treat, birth 1799
My grandmother often told me, we had native american blood back in our line. She looked like a native american with long black hair and dark eyes. She passed, but I still would like to know my heritage. Any information would be great.
Thank you
Penny
Er… I didn’t expect this to become a genealogy research post, but whatever. I guess I should be encouraged that genealogists in search of leads have found the one single post mentioning genealogy on my five-year-old blog. I must be coming up in the search results somewhere.
For the Treat family, a good place to start is always John Harvey Treat’s 1893 The Treat Family: A Genealogy of Trott, Tratt and Treat for Fifteen Generations & etc. It’s online courtesy of Google Books, and a quick check of the index leads to Page 63:
303. Freelove Treat, b. June 4, 1799 in New York (presumably Otsego County), child of Thomas and Rachel (Welch) Treat. No mention of Barnabus Cary, but perhaps you can finish the link with this info.
The book contains Thomas Treat’s ancestry back five more generations to the emigrant ancestor Richard Treat, baptized 1584 in Pitminster, Co. Somerset, England, who came to New England about 1637 and died 1669/70 in Wethersfield, Connecticut. A conjectural lineage in England for the emigrant Richard Treat is listed as well, going back four more generations to John Trott (c.1435 – after 1479) of Staplegrove Parish, Taunton, Co. Somerset.
What a hoot! I noticed that we shared some of the names in our ancestery….like Van Cowenhoven, and Lambertson Cool. I found you while searching for the history of the name Van Cowenhoven. “Cohen” is often a sign of Jewish ancestry. Although I don’t think Wolphert himself was Jewish, I wondered if in the Netherlands homeland the community may have been Jewish? I don’t suppose you know do you?