Another prompt by 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge. It's run by Amy Johnson Crow.
Information on the Topic:
This week's topic features on people who sometime ridicule celebrities for the "unusual" names they choose for their children. Clearly, they haven't looked at some ancestral names, like "Strange Powers" or "Preserved Fish." Who's name in your family tree makes you smile? (Of course, feel free to interpret this theme however you'd like!)
Unusual names people pick for their children have been topics of discussion between my friends and myself. Truly, I don't understand why someone would name their child 'ABCDE' but there you go someone has done it.
As someone who has a name which people ALWAYS screw up, it gets to be very annoying, so why would they do this intentionally if only to make that child pay in the future? I can only imagine the person who goes to research them in the future thinking someone had it wrong when filling out the forms.
Anyhow, as I was doing my family research, I did run into some people who had unusual names. The two who immediately come to my mind are my maternal grandmother's father - Appolanus Jagodzinski (born 1888 in then Poland) and my maternal grandfather's great grandfather - Aloysius Hyppolitus Gauquie (born 1847 in Belgium).
Yes very different names overall and not the same generation either. However, these two had more in common than having very different names - they both immigrated to the US from the country they were born, disappeared for a time in main documents of the US, and they ended up changing their names without doing it formally.
My Ancestors Unusual Names
Appolanus Jagodzinski (born 1888)
I've written about him, and this side of the family, before on many posts. You can see those here.
I have talked about how he disappears, reappears under different names, and the disappears again. However, the whole family gets on it including changing their names at times.
This post, I'll center it around my other unusual ancestor name.
Aloysius Hyppolitus Gauquie (born 1847)
When I came across his name I was intrigued about why someone would name their son Aloysius. However, as I know that side of the family, and by research, many of the children took names, as was the custom, from someone of the Catholic faith. In this instance, I think they took his name from the Pius of Saint Aloysius.
This is Pius of Sat Aloysius. Credit
His middle name, Hyppolitus, was the one that always made me smile or laugh because it made me think of the animal hippopotamus. When looking at the church angle again, I found there was a Saint Hippolytus of Rome. However, there's nothing there which adds up to a birth date or time but this Saint was mentioned as having a huge impact on Christian beliefs.
Saint Hippolytus of Rome Credit
Our other relatives on this side of the family are named Jacobus, Jean Baptist, and many other Catholic or Christian names.
The last name Gauquie, while sometimes has a diacritical mark over the ie, sounds French. However, it depends on who you talk to. I have been able to trace the name back to the early 1700s and while its on the border with France, it was still within Belgium. I do know there are relatives in France, but the majority are in Belgium.
However, what I know about him? He was anything by a Saint. Although, in his defense he had been drafted into the Belgium Army at a very young age. I think this did things to him mentally, but I could be wrong.
Aloysius' Birth entry in 1871 in Belgium. Credit
Aloysius' Birth entry translation from above.
Aloysius' Military Draft form Credit
Anyhow, he does his time in the draft, gets out, and finds out on the way home, he's a father by a servant which is on the other side of the country. His parents find out about it, and very soon after, his birth is registered, he's married to the servant, and the child has his name.
Aloysius' son's birth entry and the side note of which explains who Aloysius is, etc. Many other documents follow this page as proof. Credit
However, within 2 years of the birth of his daughter, their 3rd child, being born, his wife dies.
In 1877, his daughter is born. Above is the birth entry. Credit: FamilySearch.org
Soon after, he moves his family from Belgium to the USA around 1879-1880. This is backed up with his and his oldest son Jules' naturalization documents.
Part of his Intent of Naturalization document in 1892 which states he's been in the US since 1878. Credit: NY Orange County Registers Office
He works on various dairy farms in and around Chester, New York in Orange County. He becomes a US citizen. His children get married. His youngest son, Charles, goes off to serve in the Spanish American War in 1898.
Charles Gauquie is his son. Credit
Then he disappears around the same time his youngest son goes off to serve. Could his son volunteering bring back his days serving in the draft in Belgium? I have no idea and I don't think we will ever figure that question out unfortunately.
I do know in 1895 and 1896 he was buying and selling property in Orange County, NY according to the land deeds index I found.
Aloyse's name is on here twice. Once with Jules and once with another person. Credit I just found this information out while writing this post. This brings up a reminder to keep checking back at your sources as it might bring up new leads.
Around 1900, a new person has shown up - Charles Gauquie. He gets married, has a few kids and his wife had children when they married. I'm estimating around 1900.
The 1900 US Census. Credit
By 1907, he's had one of his children, Ella, die along with one of his step children in Goshen, NY.
His child and step child's headstone in Goshen's cemetery. Credit: Find A Grave
At first, when researching, I wasn't sure if this was Aloysius or not because let's face it, Charles and Aloysius, names are miles apart. However, when I found him in 1910, I knew I was onto something as this was his youngest son, and everything - bar the name - matched.
By 1910, he's now living with his youngest son, Charles and his family on a farm. There it even lists his name as Charles.
The top names are my grandfather and his siblings (Jules' children). The first Charles is my great grandfather Jules' brother and his family which included another Charles and then it says Father and a third Charles. They lived next door to each other! Credit
However, I still wasn't sure if he was the same person. I then found him (Charles) in 1916, but it was at an Almshouse. This document says everything I needed for it to say - his age (matched), how long he was in the US (matched my estimates and naturalization), his parents names, and where he was born (matched). However, it says he was a widower, which I took as correct until I found his other family...but more on this later.
By 1916, he's now in the Almshouse in Orange County, NY. It says is destitute aka poor.
On December 5,1917, he passes away in the town of Chester, New York according to NY Surrogate Court Documents.
One of many pages in his estate paperwork. This one states on what date he died. Credit
Once again, the name is Charles on the documents. On other documents it lists his children and all match my relatives, so he IS or WAS going by the name Charles. My theory is it was due to his youngest child's name and his time in the military, he changed it, but I have no proof.
The 'Other' family
Around the time he changed his name, I mentioned above he also got married. It was around about the same time he changed his name to Charles. Well if this whole situation wasn't confusing enough, I found he deserted this new family as well by 1910 as this was when he was living with his son, Charles.
At first the above was just just a theory I had with no proof other than the few documents I found of another name.
However, a few years ago, this all changed. I had someone reach out to me asking me about him and if I had another relative with the Gauquie last name. I replied and soon we were exchanging information back and forth. Apparently, Aloyse came onto the scene after Aloyse's second wife's husband died. They were married (but we can't say for sure where (haven't found paperwork) but I think its probably in Goshen NY as he has ties to that area including where his daughter Ella was buried in 1907.
Further, there was the 1900 census which lists him with others. Upon talking to this person, his grandfather was one of them listed. I asked him if he knew of any documents and he doesn't either. However, a few other things point to it IS being him.
First, I found a few newspaper clippings about someone wanting to change their last name. This is because, according to the story, when the their 2 sons were born, she gave them their last name, Gauquie, on all the birth documents. Then when Aloyse/Charles took off, she changed everyone's last name to her first husband's last name. I can't say if it was because of the stories floating around, or if she wanted her reputation to go back to what it was with her first husband, but that's what happened. Years later after the sons grew up, got married, had kids, and when the sons wanted to retire and collect retirement from the US government, they were told no one by that name existed with the social security number and name. They found out their last name should be Gauquie and not Whittman after having spent all but a few years known as Wittman.
Requesting a formal name change. Credit
Secondly, I've done my DNA with 2 different companies for other reasons. When this came about, I went looking at the one company I had tested with. The grandson, who contacted me, matched me on DNA. Then around 2020, I did my DNA test with another company (again for other reasons), and this time not only did the grandson come up, but so did his father. We are definitely related.
Based upon all this extra evidence, including 2 DNA matches, I confirmed that Aloyse IS Charles.
In Conclusion
These are two of my more difficult ancestors because of how they lived and what they did or didn't do. An example, would be changing their names. It makes researching a challenge but when you finally crack the mystery you are very proud of yourself.
