Favorite Name....Week 6

This week's post is for the 2018 challenge called , 52 Ancestors In 52 Weeks, by Amy Johnson Crow.  Theme for this week: Favorite Name

Well, to be honest, the Wood/Woods family seem to be very traditional and reserved people who did not venture too crazy with names.  As a genealogist, we adore unique names.  It makes them easier to find in records.  Our direct family line was "blessed" with not-so- unique names and this makes the research a little harder at times.  For instance, I believe there were two John Wood men arriving in Owen County, Indiana around the same time in 1838.  It takes a lot more research surrounding each family to figure out who is who and make sure you have the right guy.    

Let's talk a little more about the John Wood family.  They do have one person whose name is a little unique.  We saw the John Wood family 1850 census when they arrived in Indiana in last week's blog post.  John and Martha had three children listed in the census: Nathan, Hardin T. and Hiram. 

John Wood Family, 1850 US Census, Owen County, Indiana

Nathan was our Civil War veteran and his two brothers, Hardin and Hiram, were elusive for the longest time. I tried many times to figure out what happened to Hardin and Hiram as they grew into adults and kept hitting dead ends.  

The key to finding out more about them was when John Wood died at a fairly early age of 46 in 1857.  John Wood died without a will.  According to FindLaw.com, "Dying without a will leaves an estate intestate, and a probate court must step in to divide up the estate using legal defaults in order to give property to surviving relatives."  What does this means for us? Lots of records filed at the county courthouse.  (WOOT! WOOT!)  

When I found his probate records, I discovered more information about the children---including the fact that John and Martha had TWO MORE CHILDREN!  The first screen shot is for the May 1, 1858 filing for the John Wood estate.  It lists Nathan B, Thomas H., King H., Martha E. and Henry H. Woods.  The second screen shot is for the Jan 23, 1860 filing and lists a little more information:  Nathan (age 19), Thomas H. (age 16), King H. (age 12), Martha E. (age 6) and Henry H. Woods (age 2).  I believe this is referencing the ages of when their father died.  And very sadly, this latter record is for Martha, not John. She dies also at a young age of 46 in 1859 and leaves all these children.  

John Wood Estate Petition to Sell Land, May 1, 1858

      

Martha Wood Complete Record, January 23, 1860

The two probate files for this couple are like a GIANT puzzle, and I will talk more about that in LOTS of future blog posts.  Let's get back to our names.  Does anyone else think that King is a unique name?  It appears his name was Hiram on the census when he was 2 years old, but now his name is listed as King H.  I am wondering if King could be a last name of a relative.  I will just keep that in mind as I keep researching.    

I also did some research and maybe the name wasn't that unique at the time.  According to ohbabynames.com, "King was actually quasi-popular back in the late 1800s. The name appeared on the U.S. male naming charts since 1880 (the first year the government began tracking naming trends in the country)."

I also know that Hiram was the name of his uncle, Martha's brother.  Hiram Bray was appointed as Guardian over the children when John died.  This means he was financially responsible for the children.  When Martha dies, I am wondering if King went to live with Hiram Bray and his wife and having 2 Hiram's in the house was too confusing.  

In closing, as a genealogist, I am always trying to find every record to add to the puzzle.  This is a great example of two children being listed with two different names at different points in their lives.  Notice, Hardin is now listed as Thomas H.  I think this was the reason why I couldn't find out anything else about these two siblings as adults.  They were going by first --or-- middle names.    Now that I think about it, I personally did this sort of thing too.  I was born as Deidre, but for some reason, early in elementary school, everyone called me Dee Dee.  I distinctly remember one day saying to my mom, "Can I please go by Deidre?  My name is Deidre. "  Maybe King sounded more like royalty, and he just liked the sound of it!  We may never know why our ancestors were named certain things, but it is fun to dig up their lives and wonder. 



Sources
Ancestry.com, 1850 United States Federal Census (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005.Original data - United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Seventh Census of the United States, 1850. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1850. M432,), Year: 1850; Census Place: Clay, Owen, Indiana; Roll: M432_164; Page: 71B; Image: 147.

http://estate.findlaw.com/estate-administration/estate-administration-the-will-after-death.html 

Owen County, Indiana, Court of Common Pleas, Vol 2, 1856-1862: Page 203-204, John Wood Estate Petition to Sell Land; Ancestry.com. Indiana, Wills and Probate Records, 1798-1999 [database on-line], Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Owen County, Indiana, Complete Record, Court of Common Pleas, Vol 3, 1857-1863: Page 252-257, Martha Wood; Ancestry.com. Indiana, Wills and Probate Records, 1798-1999 [database on-line], Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

http://www.ohbabynames.com/meaning/name/king/1648#.Wn78ZainFnI