When the name is not the same - 52 Ancestors challenge

This is a prompt from 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks and is run by Amy Johnson Crow.

Information on the Topic
 Do you share your name with an ancestor? What about a name that keeps repeating itself in your family tree? Do you have an instance of ancestors naming two children the same? (It happened more often than you might expect!)

I've found that while we have had people who were named for someone else's memory or named after one of their parents, we didn't have much of children, at the same level, named the same by the same parents. I know it was done, but it didn't seem like my ancestors followed that idea. 

Instead we followed name a child is named after the parent method. It happened many times over the years. 

My father Matthew was named after his father. His father was named Mathias, but he translated it to Matthew after arriving from Germany. My father's known by a few different names - Matt or Gerry/Jerry which is after his middle name. Of course, my mother had several other not so nice names for him as well, but we won't go there. 

My grandfather, Mathias' picture taken for Naturalization. Then he started to go by Matthew.

My brother, Charlie, named his son after himself. The rest of the family took to calling my brother Charlie, or Chucky (like in the Child's Play movies). My nephew, his son, we took to calling him CJ which is short for Charles Jr. My brother, before his passing, either called my nephew Junior or Charles, which just sounds weird to me. 

My sister law, Kathy, CJ and Charlie. 

Then you have my second eldest sister, Jean's, child. She named him after his father, Tommy. Once again we had Tommy, my brother in law, and TJ, short for Thomas Jr, for my nephew. 

Tommy and TJ in 1980 at my father's house in Newburgh, NY

Then you have me. I was a surprise to my parents. Due to this fact, they did a bet for my name but either way I was going to be named after one of them. If it was a girl it/I was to be named after my mother. If it/I was a boy was to be named after my father. I'm a girl, so named Jo Ann after my mother Jo Ann. Talk about a huge set of headaches there because people don't realize which one of us it is. Its affected everything from who I was when I tried to get a passport/visa to come to Australia to get married to my credit rating, to who is listed against certain addresses all over the place. I left the US over 20 years ago and I'm still dealing with it. Then there is the whole spelling thing which gets old...

Mom and I

My niece, Jessy did it with her son too. She was married to a guy named Ron. When they had their first child, a boy, they named him Ron Jr, so he was then called RJ. I told you it was a tradition...

RJ and Ron during Easter in 2011.

There there was my maternal grandfather, Louis. He was named after his father's cousin Louis Van Rompaye, who he was very close to. They made a few trips back and forth to Belgium after settling into NY. In fact, they most certainly spoke quite often because one was a dairy farmer and one - for a while before branching out - transported milk from the area farms to supermarkets all over NY and then later the US. 

Louis Van Rompaye at his company in Chester NY. Credit 

Credit: Middletown Daily Times Aug 11 1936 - Julius Gauquie coming back home from Belgium 

My maternal grandfather's middle name was Paul, after, I think, his mother's father, who died in Denmark. I found this information out on her passport application in 1924. 

Credit: US Immigration Services

My great grandmother Annie Gauquie. Credit: US Immigration Services

Then when my maternal grandparents, Janet and Louis, had an oldest son, Louis, after his father. However, they did change the middle names. His father's middle name was Paul, but they put their child's middle name was Julius which was after my grandfather's father - Jules Gauquie. This is really interesting as Jules kicked my grandfather Louis off of the farm when he was 15 years old. 

His entry is the one highlighted in yellow. Credit

What's even more interesting is when my Uncle Louis had a child, they named him Louis as well. Once again, they changed my cousin's middle name too. This time from Jules to Michael - Louis Michael. In fact, on pictures they named him as Louis III. I wonder if they were trying to channel Henry the 8th of England...just my attempt at some humor.

Uncle Louis and his son Louis (called III on back of picture) Credit: J. Gauquie

This stopped when Louis Michael had a child and they went away from the naming sequence by naming him Vincent. 

On my mother's side, there have been several people named after others. I'll just put a list of just some below because there have been MANY. 

My Uncle James Joseph was supposed to be named Joseph I think he said. However, somehow it was mixed up and he is known as James or Jimmy. This was a nod to one of his uncles but I can't remember which one. 

Florence Gauquie Sherman (my great aunt) was named after her grandmother Florentia Gauquie who died in Belgium before the family left for the US. 

Mary Ann Gauquie (my great aunt) had her mother's name, Annie, for a middle name. 

Alice Ann Gauquie (my great aunt) had her mother's name, Annie, for a middle name like her sister. 

James Peter Gauquie (my great uncle) had was named after another relative which I can't figure out - maybe after my great grand uncle's child? 

Charles E gauquie (my great uncle) was named after his uncle Charles Gauquie (born 1876 died 1952) or maybe my  4th great-uncle Charles Gauquie (born about 1823)? 

I think the many Theresa's or Therese's can be traced back to our 5th Great Aunt Marie Therese Gauquie who lived for just a month in 1808 or it could be for our 4th great-grandmother Joanna Theresia Vandendriessche. 

Religious Names

We have had where some names have been after Catholic saints as well. 

For instance, my sister, Theresa, has a middle name of Mary after Jesus' mother, Mary. 

Another example is 6th great-grandfather, Jean Baptiste Gauquie (born about 1723 - died Jan 1772). He was named after the saint - John the Baptist as they were and are Roman Catholics. 

One of Jean Baptiste's sons was named Jacobus Josephus which I believe was for Flavius ​​Josephus and who was named for Saint Joseph from the New Testament in the bible.

Jean Baptiste  Credit

Yes, we were very good Roman Catholics at one time and some still are.

Where did my name Jo Ann/Joanne come from?

In fact, I always wanted to know where on earth they came up with my first name - Jo Ann. My mother always told me it was her first and middle names jammed together. Wrong. Her birth certificate has her name as Joanne and not Joan Ann as she always told me. 

So I wanted to see if I could connect the name to any of the family. The first instance of the name I could find was my 4th great-grandmother, Joanna Theresia Vandendriessche, who lived from 1796 and died in 1866 in  Boezinge, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. 

I found it comforting the name came from some place rather than a made up one. 

In Who's Namesake...Ancestors in 52 Weeks

This year's challenge is 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks and is run by Amy Johnson Crow.

Topic Info:

They could be ancestors who had the same name for many generations? Or were named for famous people? Someone who saved a person's life? Or were named for a favorite food, flower, or scenic spot. Do you have a name that's been carried through the family for several generations? An ancestor named for a famous person or someone special to the family?

This week's topic is on namesakes. Namesakes are big in my family, but I thought it was because my generation lost creativity or something.

Namesakes in this generation of family
For instance, my brother's name was Charles Adam. He was named after our grandmother's partner Charles Gardner and my great grandfather Adam Wojtkowski. When my brother and sister in law had a son, they named him Charles Adam Jr. In our family we call the child by their initials so Charles Adam Jr was CJ for Charles Junior. My nephew grew annoyed at this and wants to be called Charles now, but to those of us in the family CJ will stick. My brother did try and he called him Junior much of the time.

My sister, Jean, has a son and he was named after his father. My ex brother in law's name is Tommy or Thomas, so my nephew is called TJ for Thomas Jr. My sister, Debbie, had a son and his middle name is after my father, so his name is Eric Matthew. Like I said, many of us weren't very original in this generation.

It was only when I started to put the family tree together, I found there were many namesakes within the family and it gets to be a real headache. In fact, one family the Galloway's, way back when did a real good thing. In each generation for about 4 generations, each son had named at least one son a John, a George, and a Washington. Sometimes, for real laughs, they had a George Washington as well as a Washington. I would have loved to be around when they had the entire family together that's for sure!

Who's my Namesake...? A bet is a bet. 
If I had to pick just one namesake, it would probably be me. Yep, me. Something I know more than a lot about if I do say so myself.

When my parents found out my mother was pregnant again, as I would be the 5th child, they made a bet on the sex of the baby. If it was a boy, it would be named after my father Matthew. If it was a girl, then it would be named after my mother, Jo Ann.

1956 Picture of my mother and father in Newburgh, NY. Credit: M. Schmitz

My mother went into labor and had to call my paternal grandmother Jean Schmitz, due to my father being in the south offloading one of the US Navy submarines as he was on duty. It was funny how my father heard about my birth. Apparently, West Point hospital where I was born, called the Red Chinese whispers!

My military birth certificate front side. Copyright: J. Fitzgerald

Cross to give my father the information. This was intercepted by one of the radio men on board, who called my father to give him the heads up that I was born, but had to send a message to the CO, commanding officer, on board even though they were in port. Within fifteen minutes, the CO approached my father to tell him of the birth. Talk about


The CO told him.....    Congratulations its a girl.............

1972 local newspaper which announces my birth.

What about your middle name?

I do have a middle name which is Janet.

Janet is my maternal grandmother's first name. I know my grandmother was adored by my mother and her brother, Jimmy. I'm not sure about the oldest brother Louis.

Undated photo of my grandmother Janet. Credit: J. Gauquie

The sad part is I met my grandmother maybe four times my entire life. Even then, she didn't say much because the hospital she was in had her so pumped up on medication, she didn't even know what planet she was on let alone who was in the room with her, which is just sad.

Because I didn't know much about my grandmother, it fueled me on to find out more about her in my research. This was tricky because she was a housewife and mother and didn't attend society lunches
or committees. However, I was able to find out when they visited, sold land or houses, and even found an advertisement for her selling her sewing which I was impressed with.

My grandmother, in pink above, is trying to sell hats she made. Credit

This made me a bit happier because I knew a bit more about her and not just what I've been told. I wrote about her in one of my past posts when I found where she was buried.

So that's it...my name comes from my mother and her mother.

SNL with Alec Baldwin. Credit

Ta Da!