I See What You Did There

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

Doing some non-family geneology research I came across an interesting family in Missouri with the unusual last name of See.

The patriarch was born in western Virginia and named a daughter Missouri Virginia.

His sons were:

Millard Fillmore b. 1856. Was dad a Whig or a Know Nothing?

Robert E. Lee b. Aug 1861. He must have really thought highly of Lee standing by Virginia since he had won no battles yet. I couldn't tell if the son's full name actually spelled out Edward.

Thomas Jefferson Jackson. Apparently he couldn't decided between a Founding Father and Stonewall so he went with both. Or maybe he didn't realize Stonewall's middle name was Jonathan, not Jefferson. T.J.J. See became a famous astronomer, and also somewhat infamous for his arrogant attitude.

George Washington. Not an uncommon first and middle name in the 19th century, but interesting the name was used after Fillmore, Lee, and Jefferson/Jackson.

His last son was named Edward Everett, as in the famous orator who delivered the longer but less well-known Gettysburg Address. (I didn't realize Everett was a former Congressman and Governor, and he died only a little over a year after the Gettysburg dedication. He was a Massachusetts Whig, indicating Papa See was either still a dedicated Whig or at least didn't let his own Southern sympathies get in the way of a love of good oratory.

The See family had two other daughters, both of whom had fairly unremarkable names (Anna Marie and Lucy).

 

[lupaglupa]

Great collection of names!

My family has a group like that - all born in the last half on the 19th century, just a bit later than the See family. One daughter is Mary Tennessee and another Annie Alabama. Of course their mother is Sarah Louisiana so there was a good role model! The boys include a George Washington, but as you said, that's not that unusual.

 

[Gary Morgan]

I recently went through the Departure records from Andersonville prison. Middle names seem to have been fairly uncommon, but there were a lot if GW's, BF's, TJ's and WH's. I suppose for George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and William Henry (after W H Harrison, the first president who died in office, just about the time a lot of these guys were born).

 

[Peace Society]

Is there any way to figure out pronunciation of names like See? My great-grandmother was a Sea, pronounced "Shay" (Irish).

 

[Gary Morgan]

Is there any way to figure out pronunciation of names like See? My great-grandmother was a Sea, pronounced "Shay" (Irish).

In Gaelic, an S followed by an e is pronounced like "sh" like in the names Sean and Seamus. Outside of Gaelic, it's probably always just a hiss sort of sound.

 

[Zella]

This is interesting! I've got a family in the family tree that insisted on naming someone in each family George Washington, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson. So confusing because multiple brothers, uncles, and nephews had the same name.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

I recently went through the Departure records from Andersonville prison. Middle names seem to have been fairly uncommon, but there were a lot if GW's, BF's, TJ's and WH's. I suppose for George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and William Henry (after W H Harrison, the first president who died in office, just about the time a lot of these guys were born).

I have a William Henry Harrison Miller in my family tree.

However, William Henry was a popular name before Harrison and long after Harrison slipped from the public consciousness. I think it was originally popularized by the British-German royal family.

You are likely right about the GWs, BFs, and TJs though. I think AJ was also first popularized by people naming sons after Andrew Jackson.

Winfield Scott was also remarkably popular for naming.

I think the trend died out in the early-to-mid-20th century. In my geneology research, personal and professional, I've seen people named after Lincoln, Grant, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson but FDR, Dwight Eisenhower, and JFK don't seem to have gotten the same amount of naming love despite their popularity. Part of it may be a cultural shift with the massive immigration in the half century following the Civil War. 20th century Americans seem more likely to name children after family members, and it became more common to have Jr's and III's.

 

[Gary Morgan]

When I was pregnant with my last one, it was 1992 and the 500th anniversary of "Columbus sailed the ocean blue." I liked the name Christopher, and toyed with naming the baby "Christopher Columbus," but it was very popular that year to bash Columbus for his treatment if indigenous people, so I thought about going with Christopher Colm, instead, which would have been a nod to my Scottish roots.

Over dinner one night, I proudly told our guests that we were going with "Christopher Colm" if it was a boy. "Colm?" Echoed our guest. "Wasn't that the name of the slimy creature in The Hobbit?"

Ugh!

Ended up naming the baby after her great grandmothers, instead. But the cat's name is Christopher!

 

[lupaglupa]

Trends in baby names are fascinating. Women's names seem especially prone to following the latest fashion. There have been eras when jewel names (Ruby, Pearl, Jewel) were popular, or flower names (Lily, Rose, Violet). Maybe the state names were the trend at the time my family used them! Men's names are less volatile. For every one Henry Harrison there were a lot of Johns.

 

[Ole Miss]

My GGGrandfather George Washington Litton's brothers name was Andrew Jackson Litton.
Regards
David

 

[Forks of the Ohio]

Doing some non-family geneology research I came across an interesting family in Missouri with the unusual last name of See.

The patriarch was born in western Virginia and named a daughter Missouri Virginia.

His sons were:

Millard Fillmore b. 1856. Was dad a Whig or a Know Nothing?

Robert E. Lee b. Aug 1861. He must have really thought highly of Lee standing by Virginia since he had won no battles yet. I couldn't tell if the son's full name actually spelled out Edward.

Thomas Jefferson Jackson. Apparently he couldn't decided between a Founding Father and Stonewall so he went with both. Or maybe he didn't realize Stonewall's middle name was Jonathan, not Jefferson. T.J.J. See became a famous astronomer, and also somewhat infamous for his arrogant attitude.

George Washington. Not an uncommon first and middle name in the 19th century, but interesting the name was used after Fillmore, Lee, and Jefferson/Jackson.

His last son was named Edward Everett, as in the famous orator who delivered the longer but less well-known Gettysburg Address. (I didn't realize Everett was a former Congressman and Governor, and he died only a little over a year after the Gettysburg dedication. He was a Massachusetts Whig, indicating Papa See was either still a dedicated Whig or at least didn't let his own Southern sympathies get in the way of a love of good oratory.

The See family had two other daughters, both of whom had fairly unremarkable names (Anna Marie and Lucy).

Do you know for sure that the one son was named after Stonewall Jackson? Maybe the son was named after Andrew Jackson. Maybe the father couldn't decide which POTUS contributed more to the early Democrats.

Also, if another son was named after Washington and another after Fillmore, maybe the father really was trying to honor all of his favorite POTUS's.

 

[lupaglupa]

He'd be in a select group then - not a lot of folks have Fillmore on their short list of favorite presidents!

 

[Forks of the Ohio]

He'd be in a select group then - not a lot of folks have Fillmore on their short list of favorite presidents!

When Fillmore ran for POTUS as a no-nothing (lol, I meant Know-Nothing), he selected Andrew Jackson's nephew (Andrew Jackson Donelson) to be his running mate.

 

[Gary Morgan]

In 30 years of teaching, I have never taught a kid named Millard. Or Bob.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

Do you know for sure that the one son was named after Stonewall Jackson? Maybe the son was named after Andrew Jackson. Maybe the father couldn't decide which POTUS contributed more to the early Democrats.

It's not impossible, but the fact that Stonewall's name would likely have been reported in papers as Thomas J. Jackson would be he likely made the same assumption we do (TJ = Thomas Jefferson). His son named after Lee is also his only child besides T. J. J. to have a double middle name.

FWIW Papa See named the son after Jackson and/or Jefferson before he named a son after George Washington.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

Another family (in mid-19th century southern Georgia) I have come across in my genealogy research had four sons. The first son was simply named Jonathan. The second, born in 1847 (during the Mexican War), was named after Zachary Taylor. The last two sons were named after James Monroe and Thomas Jefferson, in that order. Not very often you find someone who ranks Monroe above Jefferson and Washington!

 

[Zella]

In 30 years of teaching, I have never taught a kid named Millard. Or Bob.

I have a great-uncle who is 87 named Millard. I've never asked him why he was named that.

I taught for 2 years and never encountered a Millard or a Bob. I'm glad about never encountering a Bob because that was always the name I used in example sentences for teaching grammar.

 

[DixieRifles]

George Washington. Not an uncommon first and middle name in the 19th century,

I just checked my tree on Ancestry and I have eight(8) people named George Washington.

 

[Gary Morgan]

I taught for 2 years and never encountered a Millard or a Bob. I'm glad about never encountering a Bob because that was always the name I used in example sentences for teaching grammar.

My theory is that it's the Brady Bunch effect. I can't recall ever having taught a Marcia, Jan or Cindy either. Only one Greg. Did have a Peter every now and then, though.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

I'm glad about never encountering a Bob

I encountered a Bob once, floating in the ocean.