Notable namesakes of the now-dim past

Question

I have a new topic in the general area of "notables": Namesakes of the Dim Past, by which I mean once-notable people who were popular namesakes for children in past centuries, but whose names we no longer recognize as names of famous people.

For me, this started with Harriet Newell. A great-grandfather of mine had a sister with the given name (first and middle name) Harriet Newell, so I was on the lookout for hitherto unknown relatives named Newell. After running across an apparently unrelated family that named a daughter Harriet Newell, I Googled the name and found a Wikipedia article in which I learned that Harriet was a very young woman from Massachusetts who had died after going to India to be a missionary, and whose story had inspired many 19th-century American families to name their daughters Harriet Newell. I could stop looking for relatives named Newell, because it was clear where my devoutly religious ancestors had gotten this girl's name!

Now when I run across a family member with a middle name that sounds like a surname and isn't recognizable as the name of a family member (or a well-known notable like Benjamin Franklin or Jenny Lind), I search the Internet to see if the first and middle name represent a famous person of the dim past. In addition to Harriet, I've found family members who apparently were named for three popular Christian ministers of yore: Edward Payson, Lorenzo Dow, and John DeBaun. (Of these, Payson and Dow were both popular as namesakes.)

Some time ago I created a WikiTree profile for Harriet Newell and her husband because I figure that other genealogists might look for her in their family history. Recently I found family members for her and connected her to the global family tree. Katherine Patterson built a profile for Lorenzo Dow for the same reason that I profiled Harriet, but the other namesakes I found are still on my future to-do list.

Others of you probably have encountered similar situations. What other now-forgotten notable namesakes have you found? Are there enough of them to form a category?

Answer 1

What a great idea!

I'm just quivering in my boots, though, because I know my grandchildren (now adults) never heard of any of the names of celebrities of my teen years ... and I will be somewhat upset if it turns out that these people are put into the "dim past" category ... what would that be saying about 'lil 'ole me when I still claim to be 21 years old (with many years of experience)?

Comments

21, eh? And you admit to having grandchildren?

To clarify my intent regarding "dim past", I suppose I could have defined "dim past" to mean something like "before the invention of the typewriter." (I'm guessing that your grandchildren probably have only a vague memory of typewriters...)

It appears to me that the WikiTree community is older, on average, than the typical online project, with far more members from the Baby Boom Generation (and older) than from the Millennial Generation. Thus, 20th-century celebrities aren't likely to be forgotten at WikiTree any time soon, but we can't say the same about the celebrities of the early 19th century.

---

Of course I admit to it.  Two of my three grandsons are older than me and the other one is the same age.  I told them all that the secret to life is to find the right age and stick with it, but I can't help it if they want to get old.

Whew!  That's a big relief, to know that there are people here who will remember the same names from the past as I do!!!!!