Middle

This week's blogging prompt of "middle" had me stumped.  Middle of what?  I guess it was chosen because we are approaching the middle of the year, a year we all probably wish was closer to the end . . . So, what angle should I take?  Maybe, an ancestor who was a middle child?  Then it occurred to me that a study of MIDDLE NAMES would be interesting.  

So, I sat down and tallied up all the middle names used in my family over the last five generations.  It was a fun process for a genealogy geek.  Some of the people I knew had used their middle names in lieu of their first names.  Most of the names were clearly masculine or feminine, but many were surnames or otherwise gender neutral and have been handed down to both male and female descendants.  Several of my 2xgreat grandparents either had no middle name, or I've only been able to find a middle initial.

Anyway, here's the list of all the middle names I collected, in alphabetical order:

Adeline

Agnes - traces back to my 7xgreat grandmother Agnes (Rives) Walker, who lived in Virginia in the early 1700s, and is still in regular circulation among her descendants.

Alan, Alice, Annie, Barco, Barry, Baxter, Bernice, Blakesley, Bonner, Caroline, Claire, Curtis

DeSales - attributable to St. Frances DeSales, patron saint of writers.  (Like this one!)

Diane, Edith, Edward, Elaine, Elizabeth, Ella, Estelle, Etta, Flowers, Frances, Francis, Franklin, Fred, Grace, Henry, Inez, Jane,  John, Joseph, Josephine, Lobban

Lorenzo - popular among my Methodist relatives, attributed to an itinerant preacher named Lorenzo Dow who evangelized the South in the early 1800s.  Many baby boys were named for him.  For more info, check out this post.

Lowry, Macy

Madison - supposedly inherited from one Mrs. Faith Hanna who died in Anson County, North Carolina, in 1841.  I have not been able to confirm Madison was her maiden name, but it has certainly been perpetuated among her descendants.

Margaret, Mary, McClure, Oscar, Pate, Patrick, Paul, Peter, Roxanna

Swinney - my own middle name, origin explained in prior post.

Thomas, Vincent

Virginia - traces back to my 3xgreat grandmother, who went by the nickname "Ginny."

Wahnita, Wayne

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Unexpected

One of my hobbies is to try to reunite old photographs with living descendants.  Whether in an antique show, flea market, or garage sale, I always seek out old photos.  If I find any with enough identifying information and the price isn't too high, I'll buy them and take them home to begin my genealogical sleuthing.

Recently, I attended the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair in St. Petersburg.  I wasn't expecting to find any vintage photos there, but was pleasantly surprised to find the exhibit hall full of all kinds of ephemera--not just books!

Anyway, I bought a handful of old photos, including the one pictured above.  It appealed to me because it was taken in Florida.  The reverse states it is "J.H. Cooper and Family, Antioch, Florida."

It did not take me long to identify the couple, as they pop up regularly in census enumerations and have findagrave memorials.  They were James H. Cooper and his first wife Frances, taken about 1900.  I believe the two children are Johnnie and Olive.

The unexpected surprise was Frances's maiden name: JERNIGAN.  This is one of my direct Florida pioneer lines.  It did not take me long to identify Frances (1857-1912) as my second cousin five times removed.  She was a daughter of Elias Jernigan, granddaughter of Isaac Jernigan, and great-granddaughter of Martha (Deas) Jernigan, the earliest known member of my family to live in Central Florida.

So, this little gem has already been reunited with a living family member!

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Handed Down

One of my most prized possessions is the old Springfield pocket watch pictured here.

It is in workable condition, but missing its original glass face.  Inside is inscribed the name of the original owner "E.M. Blakesley," a railroad engineer who acquired it about 1897.  The movement is a Bunn Special with 21 rubies.

My 3xgreat grandfather Edson McClure Blakesley (1845-1931) was the original owner.  He was a veteran of the Civil War, having served with Company F of the 145th Ohio Volunteer Regiment.  After the war, he moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he began a career in railroading, eventually becoming an engineer based in Kansas City.  He used this watch daily towards the end of his career, and the gold plating is worn in places where he grasped it to check his progress against railroad time tables.  

Grandpa Blakesley retired to Florida in the early 1900s, living first at St. Petersburg before settling in a little house on Mills Avenue in Orlando.  When he died in 1931, this watch passed to his only surviving child, my 2xgreat grandmother Lola (Blakesley) Morgan.

Lola, or "Mammy" as she was known within the family, had lived with her father during his last years.  But, after his death and the loss of his pension income, she could not afford to keep his house on Mills Avenue.  The Great Depression forced her to move around quite a bit, renting small bungalows in the College Park area before going to live with her younger son William Swinney Morgan, Jr.  When she died in 1954, the watch was handed down to him.

William was my great grandfather.  He was a veteran of the US Army Medical Corps, having served in France during the First World War.  He worked many years at the Orlando Post Office, eventually managing the south station on Michigan Avenue.  But, by the time he inherited the watch, he had started a second career as a homebuilding foreman for the Wellborn Phillips Company.

When William died in 1960, the watch was kept in the old family home on Muriel Street by his second wife, my step great grandmother Erma (Barco) Morgan.  Shortly before her death in 1995, she handed the watch down to her only son (my great-uncle) Richard Barco Morgan.

Uncle Richard handed the watch down to me along with some other family memorabilia about ten years later, when he downsized and moved into a retirement tower downtown.

Recently, the "Antiques Roadshow" came to the Orange County Convention Center and I was able to get a ticket entitling me to bring up to three items for a free appraisal.  Of course, this watch was one of the things I brought.  I was a little disappointed to find it was only worth about $100 in its current condition, maybe $300 if the glass cover was restored.  But, to me it is priceless, because it reminds me of all the precious people who have served as its steward since 1897.

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Wedding

June is the month for weddings, so this week's blogging prompt from 52 Ancestors is appropriate.

I thought I'd use the occasion to share this old wedding photo of my great great grandparents, taken in Kansas City, Missouri, on 22 September 1889.

The groom was William Swinney Morgan (1863-1917), son of James Lorenzo Morgan and the former Martha Virginia Brown.  (His parents were second cousins, descendants of Revolutionary War patriot William Jones.)

The bride was Lola Estelle Blakesley (1872-1954), daughter of Edson McClure Blakesley and the former Mary Elizabeth Blakesley.  (Her parents were cousins once removed, descendants of Ohio pioneer Amasa Blakesley.)

So, when I get endogamous results among my DNA matches, I know who to blame . . .

Anyway, William and Lola were next door neighbors in Kansas City.  Yep, he literally married the girl next door.

As the story goes, he had grown tired of driving cattle along the Chisholm Trail and was looking to settle down.  

She had been working as a lady's maid, and had been swindled out of her savings by some charlatan they met at church.

So, William worked some magic to convince the charlatan to give them their money back, perhaps with interest.  Complete details on just how he was so persuasive have been lost to history, probably a benefit to posterity.

This, of course, made William not only Lola's next door neighbor, but also her hero.  And, they quickly tied the knot.

Sort of romantic if you overlook the endogamy and vigilante justice  . . .

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