Friday, November 28, 2008

A Rose by any other name....

Lorine at Olive Tree Genealogy Blog has challenged us to share our stories about ancestors with first names that have absolutely nothing to do with the name they were given at birth.

I have adjusted to the fact that many of many ancestors used their middle names rather than their given name or used the two interchangeably. As long as I have the names I simply search for both. Rose is the first that I've found that seems to have either simply picked a name she liked better or perhaps it was a childhood nickname. Arazina Rose Graham Camfield was one of my brickwalls.


Page 2

Joseph H Camfield; married May 8, 1872
Susan Arazina (Rose) Graham
Fred H.; Nile, Mich 1874
Mabel; Blackriver, Mich 1876
Pearl; South Bend, Ind 1886
Ruby; “ “ 1888
Leroy; “ “ 1890

I may have discovered through some other means that Rose's given name was Susan but it might have taken years more. Rose's father abandoned his family to seek his fortune in California prior to her birth. By the 1860 census she and her siblings would be split up.

On the 1870 census Rose was recorded as Zina and when she married Joseph her name was recorded Zena. Rose Arazina had a sister named Xenia Belle. Xenia could easily be misspelled as either Zena or Zina so I have to double check each record however Xenia seems to have always gone by Belle. In letters between Mabel and Ruby they call Belle "A.B." and I've assumed that the"A" was for Aunt but I have wondered about it. Just to add to my confusion Xenia Belle was listed on the 1850 census as either Hinera or Henera. I haven't found any other record for her with this name!

Rose seemed to enjoy calling two of her daughters by other names too. Mabel was often called Annabelle or Belle. Belle I understand but Annabelle? That was a stretch for me and at first I thought there must have been a child I was unaware of. I just finished transcribing a letter that references a baby daughter named Daisy. By looking at the date Daisy must have been my grandmother, Pearl.

I am currently having trouble locating some of Rose's other siblings on various census and other records and I can't help but wonder if they too, went by some nick name or other.


Marsh, Mabel Camfield. Genealogical Notes handwritten.
Enclosed with letter written 2 Jan 1933. “Joseph H. Camfield”
[Page 2]. Digital Image. Privately held by Apple,
[Address for Private Use], New York. 2008.
[Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, 1929 - 1939,
Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. 2008.]

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