G2G: 52 Ancestors Week #14: Begins with a Vowel

Question

From Amy Johnson Crow:

The theme for Week 14 is "Begins with a Vowel." Chances are there is someone in your family tree whose name begins with a vowel... or lived in a place that begins with a vowel...  or had an occupation that begins with a vowel....  You get the idea ;-) Have fun with this week's prompt!

Easy prompt for Amy since her name begins with a vowel. =)

Comments

Speaking of "A" names, let's compare Antoine Legault and Antonio Tedesco! https://allroadhaverhill.blogspot.com/2023/04/52-ancestors-week-14-begins-with-vowel.html

Answer 1

I had a cousin I never met; she was winding down as I was gearing up. Our paths never crossed until I was climbing the Tree, she was not a "Chiefs" I can clearly see. She was the daughter of Edward, my 3rd gr grandfathers brother. If I had to guess, they (Ed and Martha Ann, who went by Ann) left a familiar sign, GTT, before heading south in the late 1800's.

Ed and Ann had 6 kids. One half of their offspring shared the letter E as the first letter of their first name. After 3 boys there was Eula, Edna and Edward Jr, the last-born child. So much for tradition. It's only a genealogical guess but, Edna was torn by so many family names beginning with a vowel she was more distressed than Little Miss Muffet. After rejecting many perfectly good suiters, she chose a man named Emil. Now Emil must have been unique as I have known many yet, only one Emil. To complete this Wheel of Fortune puzzle Emil's last name would appear to be missing something, say maybe a vowel? How can that be Vanna asked Pat. I haven't a clue said clueless Pat, we'll have to look at that. To see how this story can be so, Smith-292325

Comments

There is Archibald Elihu Rice who I almost forgot. His son had eight vowels and only six consonants in his name, Elihu Coffee Rice. Proprietors of the last store headed west, on the Sante Fe Trail. See Rice-Tremonti Home.

Answer 2

My male Buch line contains three ancestor's that start with the letter "E":

• Elias Buch (1845-1902) • great grandfather
• Elias Buch (1815-1890) • 2nd great grandfather
• Ephraim Buch (1792-1877) • 3rd great grandfather

Answer 3

My great grandmother Elizabeth Bartlett's brother was Arthur Allison Bartlett, a double A.  http://wikitree.com/wiki/Bartlett-7709.  There are mysteries about double A.  Where did the name Allison come from?  Never found another one, first name or surname.  Then there's this photo at a train station.  Arthur Allison is seated with a coat in his lap.  His niece Frances Prichard is on the far left and everyone else is a mystery person, even bow tie guy who sort of looks like Arthur Allison.

 

Comments

Pat, there has got to be a great story with this photo. Wherever they are going on the train must be a great adventure. Thank you for sharing such a fabulous photo of Frances and Arthur.

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My guess is total strangers. Uncle Arthur probably wanted a photo of himself and the tallest man he ever met. That guy appears to be a foot and a half taller than the other people standing.

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Thank you, Alexis.  Yes, sometimes I wish I could step into a photo for a moment and talk to the people there.

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Thanks, K. That was a good laugh. You make a good point because with tall man's hands on the heads, it's almost like, look at the little ones down here.

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I think the hands on the head shows how large his hands were since he covers the majority of their heads. He was a very tall man.

Answer 4

Can anybody top this?  My surname begins with a letter that is sometimes a vowel (W) and all three of my other grandparents' surnames begin with vowels, and two of them begin with a *pair* of vowels:

Uber

Uecke

Auler

Comments

I sure can't top that, Peter.  My 4 grandparents' names, first and last, spell: Cmfpcsml, not easy to pronounce WITHOUT VOWELS.

Answer 5

My first thought was Oklahoma, since both my family and my husband's family have lived here before it was even a state. 

These Challenges do make me work harder on my profiles, so I have chosen          Edmond Agustus Edmondson. He was the Congressman from my district in the U.S. House of Representatives, and he and his family were members of my church. This week, I will look through photos at my church and add a profile of his wife. Also, I will take a photo of the Federal Court House here that is named after him. This is a public domain photo of him. 

Comments

Alexis, I didn't know we had an Edmondson connection going on. Edmond is my 7c2r.

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K. the Edmondson name has been at the forefront of Oklahoma politics for many years. My grade school class got to tour the governor’s mansion when J. Howard Edmondson was governor. I still remember that day very well; he was extremely popular, but he died young of cancer. Drew Edmondson, who is my age, lost the election for governor a few years ago. They are likely your relatives.

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Most of mine settled in Cassville Mo Southwest corner of Missouri, a stone's throw from OK. I'll try to turn the line towards OK next time I work on it.

Answer 6

I immediately thought of Erfurt, my mother’s birth place. So then, I looked at family names in Erfurt‘s category starting with a vowel.

Closest to us is my mother’s aunt Margot whose LNAB was Ulmitz and who also was born in Erfurt.

Next comes the family Eger, ancestors of Margot‘s maternal grandmother who came from Stotternheim, now a quarter of the city of Erfurt.

And finally, there is the family Apfelstedt, no direct relations of ours but whose profiles I created in order to connect some theologians from Erfurt. The connection now goes through South African immigrant Jan Beijer who also was born in Erfurt.

This week’s theme has reminded me of how important categorization is; it really makes it so much easier to find people connected to the same place. Please categorize!!!

P.S.: I didn’t mean to forget the currently unique LNAB Oremuseus, another maternal ancestor of aunt Margot from Stotternheim in Erfurt.

Answer 7

One of my nth great grandmothers has a very unique last name that starts with a vowel: Aletglburs. I’ve also seen it spelled Altgilburs. I’ve learned a bit about her family history, but no names or dates. So she’s still the only Aletglburs on WikiTree.

Answer 8

I've got lots of folks staring w/ vowels!  Alfred, Alice,  Anne, Angus, Elizabeth, etc., etc.

Best name is America Truslow,  Sadly I haven't been able to determine yet if they were an aunt or an uncle.  

Comments

My America's have been female. Or should I say, their husbands sported male names.

Answer 9

My dad had a paternal uncle named Eula Emmett. His oldest daughter was named Eula Thelma and he had twin sons, Eula Emmett Jr and Emmett Eula.

Apparently it was a well loved name.

Comments

oh my I bet census time was fun for that family!

Answer 10

Both of my sons names begin with vowels - it wasn't planned though  and my maternal grandmother was named Iris.

As well as the usual multitude of Elizabeths and Anns, I've found first names of Audrey, Amelia, Isabella, Emma, Edith and Ivy, middle names of Emmeline, Euphemia and Agnes, all names I might have chosen but I wasn't blessed with any girls! 

And surnames Abberley, Allen, Ellerton, Edmondson and Udale.

Alton, Audlem, Ayr, East Grinstead, Isle of Man, Oxfordshire but no U for locations...yet!

Answer 11

One of my great grandfathers was Edwin Albert Parr, who married Eliza Emma Roberts. Edwin started work aged 14 as a "Lad Goods Clerk"  with the Great Western Railway. And retired as Goods Cartage Superintendent in 1939. 

A family story is that during the General Strike of 1926 Edwind continued to work as he was in a management grade and my grandmother had to take him a packed meal one day as he was working late. She was scared stiff when faced by a picket line of burly railwaymen but when they discovered who she was visiting was waved through and told that Mr Parr was a good man and the men's dispute was with senior management and she could come and go as she pleased.

Comments

Good story, Martin, about Edwin and Eliza.

Answer 12

Here's a puzzle I solved in December 2019.

Attley Aaron Simeon Austin https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Austin-8650 is not the same person as his brother Alta "Altie" L Anderson Austin https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Austin-8551

Attley and Altie were differentiated through two World War I draft registrations.

Comments

Great find, Margaret but I imagine their mother might have confused the names from time to time.  That happens even when the kids have wildly different names.

Answer 13

One of my brick walls is my third great grandmother  ( https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Crutchley-47 ) Alethea (or Althea of Alleathea) (Crutchley) Wood (1783 - 1850).

Her listing in the 1841 census indicates that she was born in England or Wales, but not in Staffordshire.  She died before the 1851 census. I have the record of her marriage in Wolverhampton in 1807, but have not been able to find out where she was born.  There are other Crutchleys (including an Alethia) in that part of Staffordshire, who may be part of the same family, but I have not been able to connect them.

Answer 14

Can't resist a second contribution here.  Although she's not entered here on WikiTree, I have a 2nd cousin, once removed, who lived in Illinois (1915-1997).  I've always loved the name.  It sounds almost poetic:

Opal Ida Ethel Odle

Answer 15

I have far too many people whose names start with a vowel to list them here. My parents both start with A, my mother Anne the name she used but actually her second name, my father Anthony.

112 Ann or Anne, or Anna

7 Ann/ Anne with no LNAB, 29 Anne with a LNAB, 58 Ann with a LNAB, and the remainder are Anna or Annie and one Annabel.

10 with no birth date, 77 with no death date because they are spouses, or mothers listed only on baptism records.

Many of this group could have guesstimated birth dates and locations if I make the assumption that they were probably born in the same area as their husbands, and within 5-10 years of their husbands.

Almost all of them were likely born in England before 1825.

An interesting rainy day project for an unknown future date.

Answer 16

My name starts with a vowel Does that count?

https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1563260/52-weeks-of-us-black-heritage-notables-week-begins-with-vowel

This week, USBH Project is featuring

Edward Underwood, American physician and civil rights leader. 

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Artis Leon Ivey Jr. , aka Coolio, an American rapper, record producer, and actor.

Answer 17

On the left is my great uncle, Albert Vaskie with his eldest brother, John Vaskie. Albert never married and never had children. He worked as a professional bartender,, as he liked to put it, in high end clubs in Chicago, but in the winter he would go to Florida and work the clubs there. He served in the Army in World War II. While he and my grandfather, Mike Vaskie Sr,  were serving in the war, John died of ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease. After the war, he went back to his bartending circuit until the late 1960s when he moved back home to help his aging mother. Al loved to fish, play golf, and was a hoot to tip a few beers with, and we tipped a few!

Answer 18

Annie "Annie Margaret" Mooney married Joseph Andrew Gygar. Together they had four boys and one girl as follows:

• Joseph Hermann Gygar
• Joseph Andrew Gygar (Jun)
• Joseph Hugh Gygar
• Kathleen Mary Josephine Gygar
• Joseph Francis Stuart Gygar

Now you'd think all those Josephs would be confusing in one family, wouldn't you? However they ALL went by middle names. Yes sirree!  Family story goes that there would be a big inheritance for a JOSEPH Gygar within the family tree - guess what; it never happened!

As an aside ALL the children in this tree became members of holy orders. All were different aspects of churches/orders, and none ever married.

When I started researching this little family, I thought I had transcribed names wrongly, but no, they were all correct!

Answer 19

I started again in the Germany Unconnected list. There I found Frederick W Lesse Sr.. Then I looked in his branch, in which I found his daughter-in-law Erna A. (Rahmel) Lesse. I started my search here, since her name starts with a vowel. Ultimately I found a connection with her brother-in-law Fred William Lesse. The LNAB of his wife, who eventually brings the connection starts with O (again a vowel). Her father Frank Oliger is already connected, but I also found a connection to his grandfather, who also is connected. By creating Frank's father/Andrew's son John Oliger, I cut down the connection between Frank and Andrew from 20 to 2 steps.

Answer 20

Well, me, of course.