"Mapsatilla" Was Probably "Mapsey Lilla"

Mapsatilla?  I don't even know where to begin with that.  No one by that name (beside this Mapsatilla) comes up on a search on Google or Bing search engines.  Maybe it is Massatilla?  1850 U.S. census, Madison County, Mississippi, population schedule, p. 143), dwelling 188, family 190, Mapsatilla Herrod; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 20 Jun 2017); citing NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 376.

My 3rd great grandmother Celestine Letiticia Herrod had a sister who was born about 1840 in (likely) Madison County, Mississippi, and her name has been very difficult to figure out.

M. L. Herrod married S. B. Barnes in Madison County, Mississippi.

She is found in the 1860 Census living with S. B. Barnes:

Mapsey L.  Those initials match the marriage index record.  1860 U.S. census, Madison County, Mississippi, population schedule, p. 895, dwelling 797, family 795, Mapsey L. Barnes; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 20 Jun 2017); citing NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 586.

And in 1870 she was living with Silas B. Barnes and 5 year old Narcissa (Bonus: Mom has a DNA cousin match at Ancestry to a descendant of this Narcissa, which was a very cool discovery the past week!):

Clearly says Mapsy.  A nickname, or her actual name?  1870 U.S. census, Madison County, Mississippi, population schedule, Police District No. 4, p. 73, dwelling 572, family 572, Mapsy Barnes; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 20 Jun 2017); citing NARA microfilm publication M593, roll 739.

She likely died sometime about 1877.

I have cast about looking for the origin of Mapsatilla or anyone else on the planet whose name is Mapsatilla, with no success.  So concentrating on the Mapsey name, I did a search for it in the US Censuses 1850-1880, and in general in that era using Ancestry.  I made an interesting discovery.

According to various census records and family trees there was a Mapsy/Mapsey Lillia/Lilla (Wethersbee or Witherspoon) Cotten (born abt 1804 in probably Barnwell County, South Carolina), married to Haley Cotten, living in Franklin County, Mississippi in 1830 (when my "Mapsatilla's parents--Barney Herrod and Susan Wells-- were living there), and by 1850 this Mapsy Lilla was living in Leake County, Mississippi (neighboring county to Madison County, and where some of the the Herrod and Wells people ended up.

Is this a relative?  A family friend?  What kind of name is this?  I need more research, but I think this is possibly the same name of my aunt "Mapsatilla."

Mapsy Cotton in Leake County, Mississippi in 1850.  1850 U.S. census, Leake County, Mississippi, population schedule, Beat 5, p. 80, dwelling 528, family 587, Mapsy Cotton; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 20 Jun 2017); citing NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 376.

Madison and Leake counties have been next to each other since their creation.
Image from the FamilySearch wiki on Mississippi.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

What's in a Name? Willet, Orlando & Richard

As we learned from Richmond Worden's pension applications, his family moved to Oswego, New York, in about 1820. That's where, on February 4, 1843, Richmond's great grandson (and my great great grandfather) Willet Orlando Worden was born.

The baby's first name, which means "little William" came from his uncle Willet Randolph Worden (1821-1903) but the only place I've found that name used (other than in his military records) is in the 1850 U.S. Census.

[Oswego Township. Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

By 1854 the Wordens had left New York State for Cedar Rapids, Iowa and in the 1860 U.S. Census, Willet was represented only by its initial letter with Orlando being spelled in full. Orlando is an Italian version of Roland, a name with Germanic roots meaning "famous land" which was introduced into England by the Normans. I haven't found any Worden family connection with the name Orlando; a search of regional newspapers shows a number of public figures with that name and there's always the possibility his parents knew of the character of that name in Shakespeare's "As  you Like It"* or even Ludovico Ariosto's 16th century poem "Orlando Furioso" which remained popular for centuries.

[Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.]

 During his military service in the 24th Iowa Infantry from 1862 to 1865, his name is recorded as Willet O. Worden.

[The National Archives, Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers

Who Served in Organizations From the State of Iowa. Source Fold3.com]

In the 1870 U.S. Census for Fairview Township in Jones County, Iowa, his name was listed as Orlando Worden.

[Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA microfilm publication M593, 1,761 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.Minnesota census schedules for 1870. NARA microfilm publication T132, 13 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.]

Then in the 1880 U.S. Census, his name was listed as Richard Warden.**

[Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. 1880 U.S. Census Index provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints © Copyright 1999 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. All use is subject to the limited use license and other terms and conditions applicable to this site. Original data: Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

And he remained Richard for the rest of his life (and beyond).

[Find A Grave Memorial# 8260130, photo by Gail Wenhardt (#47280322)]

It seems that my great great grandfather ended up not only rejecting his given name but also dropped his middle name, preferring to be called by something entirely different. His reasons for doing that are lost in the mists of time.


*Shakespeare's plays were very popular in 19th century America. You can read more about that here.
**A common rendering of the surname.

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Book Shelf: British family names; their origin and meaning, with lists of Scandinavian, Frisian, Anglo-Saxon and Norman names

This nice book by Henry Barber (published in London in 1894), uploaded to the Internet Archive by an archivist associated with Cornell University, would be helpful for anyone looking for clues as to their British last name.

I figured I'd try to determine the origin of Tibbetts.

pp. 208-209
TEBBUT.  A.S. Tedbert; Fr. Thibaut; p.n.
TIBBETTS, TIBBITTS.  Dch. Dibbetts; a p.n.  See Tebbut
TIBBITT. Fl Tybaert; a p.n.

Other variants include:
Tebb, Tebbs, Tebbatts, Tebbitt, Tibb, Tibbs, Tibby

Hahahaha, Tedbert.

It seems May Jarvis had tried to figure out the origin of Tibbetts as well, consulting Mr. Barber along with other sources:

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

What's in a Name: Jesse

I don't recall ever having met a man named Jesse but in my direct line there are seven: three in the paternal line, all Warrens (Virginia and Georgia); four maternal ancestors including two Tomlinsons (Maryland), a Webb (born in Texas but with a father from Pennsylvania) and a Sill (Pennsylvania).

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries every branch of the Warren family in and around Hancock County, Georgia, seems to have a Jesse in each generation which makes sorting them out a challenge. Fortunately the three in my line are a father, son and grandson, all of whom are clearly identified through probate records from the mid-1820s. (As for exactly who was the father of the oldest Jesse, that requires more research which we hope to accomplish with a visit to Georgia later this year.)

Behind the Name gives us this etymology:

"From the Hebrew name יִשַׁי (Yishay) which possibly means 'gift'. Jesse is the father of King David in the Old Testament. It began to be used as an English given name after the Protestant Reformation."

In Christian art the Jesse Tree is a depiction of the ancestry of Jesus as a descendant of the House of David.

[Detail of a miniature of the Tree of Jesse. Origin: France, N. E. (Burgundy) 

Attribution: later addition under Louise de Savoie and Master of the Burgundian Prelates

Source: The British Library]

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

What's in a Name? Cinderella

Relatives with unusual, strange or unexpected given names--we all have at least a few, lurking somewhere in the tree, not necessarily in our direct line. So I've decided to take a closer look at some of them.

I couldn't resist starting with the given name of two women lodged in my (very) extended family tree: Cinderella!

[The adventures of Cinderella. Published 1810 by Printed and published by G. Martin, 6, Great St. Thomas Apostle, Row-Lane, Cheapside in London. Source: Internet Archive, original from University of California Libraries.]

Cinderella Hart (1814 - 1888) is my son-in-law's third-great grand aunt; she was born in Tennessee and married a man named John W. Bradley. Born fourteen years later in Indiana, Cinderella Bell Skaggs (1828 - 1893) married John Kissinger, my ex-husband's second cousin three-times removed.

[Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

[Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

It's clear that some census enumerators had problems with spelling the name, at least until the latter half of the 19th century as it's variously spelled as Cinderilla, Cinderalla, and Sindrilla.

From Find A Grave contributor Maxine Kelly, we even have pictures of Cinderella Kissinger and the gravestone she shares with her husband.

[findagrave.com, photo: Maxine Kelly]

[findagrave.com, photo: Maxine Kelly]

And yes, it's spelled Cindrilla on the headstone.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.