Why Does One Change His or Her Name?

There is a belief that officials at Ellis Island changed people's names. That is simply not true because the officials at Ellis Island were given passenger lists prepared at the point of departure. It was the immigrant himself or herself who made the name change. It was often an attempt to make the name more pronounceable or more English sounding.

Changing one's name is not only a phenomenon of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but it also occurs in the periods preceding and succeeding that time. I found many instances from the 17th century forward of names having been changed. In the 17th and 18th centuries, names were often spelled phonetically. So it was not unusual to find a person's name recorded differently from document to document. The phonetical spelling varied with the nationality of the person recording the event. So for example, I might find a resident of New Amsterdam recorded with a Dutch spelling of the name and that same individual as a resident of British New York with a different but similar spelling of the name.

As my family moved from New York City to other parts of the colony and to other colonies, the surnames was spelled in six if not more different ways. As people were themselves recording their name, they took on the various spellings of the name. In some cases, the individual simply gave into how others were writing his or her name. I have an Indian friend who changed his name because he got tired of people not being able to pronounce it or because when he was asked to spell it, the person just could not get it.

I have other friends who made a name change because they did not like the name that was given to them. You can find many instances in which a person chooses to use a middle name or just the initials because to that person it sounds better, more professional, or for whatever reason.

Peter J. Pefley, Mayor of Boise, Idaho

Most family histories follow the male lines. Daughters are generally followed only to their children but not beyond. I decided that I wanted to know about the families of the daughters of the progenitor of my mother's surname. This man was my grandfather 10 generations back and his daughters having been born in the years following his marriage in 1649 in New Amsterdam were my aunts.

I found some very interesting people as I researched these women and their descendants. I was most fascinated with the men that they married and accomplishments of their children. One such female relative was Sarah Smith. She is the 4th great granddaughter of my direct ancestor's sister. Her family along with other families including the Pefley family moved to Oregon in 1851.

Peter Pefley was a harness maker. Sarah's father was a farmer. So who would have guessed that Peter Pefley would be an influential person in the state of Idaho?

Although he was mayor of Boise for 2 years (1887-1889) and a member of the constitutional committee to bring about statehood for Idaho, he was a harness maker and saddler throughout this period and beyond. As I studied this man further, found more intriguing facts.

In 1884, he filed a patent for a Saddle-girth. Then in May of 1887, he filed a patent for Girth-buckles for Saddles. A few months later he filed a patent for a Riding-saddle. Now it seemed to me that he was not just a harness maker but an inventor.

In the 1891 Boise City Directory, he is listed the proprietor of the Idaho Saddlery Company at 833 Main Street. You can see a picture of the building in 1895 at the Washington State University Library Digital Collections.

Sarah and Peter were married in 1855. She was at his side throughout his career. There is a saying, "Behind every great man there is a great woman." They were married 41 years when he died. She was his wife throughout his career.

Widow in Distress

Today, I was reading court documents that were filed in 1893 in Virginia by a widow. She was the sole support of her 10 minor children. Annie was asking the court for permission to sell property left to her children in order to provide for their support. The property was not generating enough income to pay the mortgage and provide support for the children. I was struck by the complexity this poor woman had to deal with in order to provide adequate support for her children.

The court documents that I read reveal that she was before the court from 1893 to 1896. Having recently been involved with the judicial system as a guardian of my brother and trustee of his trust, I was shocked that to learn that this poor woman at the end of the 19th century was dealing with similar issues that I faced.

We like to think that we have progressed and are an enlightened people, but one only need to look back in history to see that we do not learn from history.

Based on the number of depositions and petitions submitted to the court between 1893 and 1896, I am sure that the income that she had hoped to gain for her children by selling unprofitable property and reinvesting it elsewhere was substantially reduced by court and lawyers' fees.

I am faced with a similar problem. I had hoped that I could make the money in my brother's trust last for at least 20 years while providing him with the things that Social Security disability benefits and Medi-Cal did not cover. Unfortunately that does not seem possible when I have to pay an attorney at least $2000 a year to file accounting report to the court. At this rate, between paying certain expenses related to my brother and the attorney's fees for filing the accounting reports to the court, the money will not last for my brother's benefit to 20 years.

So I ask, "What has changed?"

Death of my Nephew

My 35 year-old nephew passed away yesterday. It was completely by surprise and has devastated my sister. She sent me an email message the subject "Really sad news." Before I opened the message, thought that she was going to tell me that her nephew's wedding was cancelled.

Her nephew was going to be married in Las Vegas. My sister planned to attend and following the wedding come up to Reno to visit another sister. I was looking forward to joining my sisters in Reno and planned to take the train from the Bay Area to Reno. There would be lots of snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains and the scenery should be really spectacular in May.

As our mother would say, "Oh Poo!" But when I opened the message and read it, the air went out of my chest. I could not believe the words that she sent. 

Hi Lanaii,  your phone number is in my office and we tried to get your number from directory assistance.  I will try to call you later this evening.  I don't have the words but Collin died suddenly at 2:30 AM this morning from a heart attack.  It's not real yet for me, it's a very bad dream.  No prior indication or as the coroner said, he probably passed it off as muscle strain, flu whatever because his heart did show a previous heart attack.  He also said Collin's sibling should have their cardio systems checked out.  This is so hard.  I have never hurt so bad.  Love Shari

I was in shock! I called my sister in Nevada but got her voicemail. I left a message. I called cousins but got voicemail or an answering machine. I did not leave messages because I did not want to talk to a machine.

I watched my mother go through a similar event. I never thought that I'd be seeing it happen again. Shari is the only one of my sisters that looks exactly like my mother. Her son Collin resembled my brother Craig. Both died as a result of heart attack at a young age. Collin was talking about marriage. Craig was to be married a week later.

 I am in tears as I write this. Mothers don't expect to outlive their adult children. This is not the case for my mother and my sister.

2010 US Census

The US Census of 1850 marked a real change for people researching family trees. This was the first US census that enumerated every member of the household and included the age, place of birth and occupation. By the 1880 US census, information about the birthplace of the parents was included.

Each census, thereafter, included some relevant additional information. I won't see the images of the 1940's census for another two years. I wonder if that census will give more information.

I filled out the 2010 Census form for my family. As a person who frequently looks at the US census images from 1790 to 1930 as well as those from other countries, I was really disappointed with the questions asked in the 2010 US Census.

Nothing was asked about the birthplace of my parents or whether I was a citizen or not. Nothing was asked about when I came to the US if I was not born here. Nothing was asked about my occupation or whether I was employed or not.

I suppose that the Census Administration wasn't thinking about how the information collected might help people in the future researching ancestors and relatives who lived in 2010.

Political Parties in the 1930s

I was looking at the California Voter Registrations from 1900 to 1968 for a particular couple. I knew from the 1930 US Census they were living in Los Angeles County. I found the couple as registered voters in Los Angeles County in 1928. The couple was registered in Los Angeles County through at least 1956.

At the top of the page of the index was a description of the abbreviations of the political parties. By 1944, the description of abbreviations of the political parties had been eliminated.

In the 1928 voter registration index, only four abbreviations appeared at the top of the page. These were R for Republican, D for Democrat, S for Socialist and P for Prohibition. In 1934, something had changed as the 1934 voter registration index included several more parties. In addition to the Democrat, Prohibition, Republican and Socialist parties, the list included the following parties: Progressive, Commonwealth, Communist, Liberty and Constitutional parties.

By 1933, the economy following the collapse of October 1929 was beginning to improve, but probably not fast enough to be apparent to most US residents. The emergence of all these parties reminds me of that which is happening today with the emergence of several "tea party" parties. Some of the new parties were short-lived and most of them disappeared by the end of World War II.

I do not plan to spend more time researching these parties, but it was interesting to see how things don't change much throughout history.

The Socialist party was established in 1910. In one hundred years, this party has not effected any major change in the US government nor in the US economy. It surprises me that the Socialist party is seen by a vocal minority today as a real threat to the fiber of our government and the viability of our economy.

I ask myself, "Why do they have no confidence in the wisdom of the men who framed the Constitution of the United States?" This is a document that has withstood the test of time for over 200 years.

If I could return to a place and time in history, it would be from 1776 to 1787 as a fly on the wall of the various conventions that occurred to create the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. I would love to see how men of power and influence could come together to agree on these documents but in particular on the US Constitution.

Politics Do Not Change

In the process of attempting to determine what may have motivated my great uncle on my father’s side and my great-great grandfather on my mother’s side to move to Alberta, Canada, I came across a couple of books written about western Canada and the Canadian Pacific Railway.

A book that in particular attracted my interest was the History of the North-West, Volume III by Alexander Begg (Toronto: Hunter, Rose & Company, 1895). Chapter I “The Canadian Pacific Railway” was fascinating. Just having watched Republican’s in the United States House of Representatives employing delay tactics concerning the health care reform, I was struck with the similarity with regards to the establishment of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

The establishment of a transcontinental railroad in Canada was being discussed. The Toronto Globe printed an article on February 3, 1871 extolling the importance of an ocean to ocean rail routed through Canada. Apparently, Canadians travelling to Fort Garry (near Winnipeg) had to go to the United States in order to more easily reach this outpost in Manitoba.

William H. Seward of the United States saw the plan to build a transcontinental Railway through Canada as providing vast opportunities for Canada. It would open access to the Canadian timberlands near the Rocky Mountains but more importantly make Canada a major world trading company. The distance between Vancouver in British Columbia and Asia was much shorter than the distance between San Francisco and Asia. Seward (of Seward’s Folly) believed that a Canadian transcontinental railway would draw commerce to and from Canada to Europe, Asia and the United States.

Something changed between 1871 when the Toronto Globe supported the concept and 1880 when the same newspaper attacked the plan to construct a line north of Lake Superior as useless.

A contract was presented to Parliament on December 10, 1880 by a group of men who were connected with the success of the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway. The House of Commons had to approve the contract. Mr. Mackenzie and Sir John A. Macdonald of the Opposition party could not secure capitalists to bid. But miraculously George Stephens and colleagues presented to the House of Commons an offer to build the railroad for less money and provide more favorable terms to the government. These offers were deemed not legitimate.

The Opposition seemed more interested in bringing down the majority party than approving the building of a transcontinental railway. They waged a campaign throughout Canada to encourage citizens to send petitions to the House of Commons. A few citizens sent petitions; some were in favor but most of those who sent petitions were against the contract. During the Christmas recess, the Opposition tried to rally the people to rise up against the Syndicate offer. The populace did not respond.

So the Opposition turned to another tactic. Edward Blake on January 18, 1881, moved to amend the contract to make the contract between the Government and Sir W. P. Howland, et. al. vs. the Government and George Stephens, et. al. The Howland offer was not consider as genuine and voted down.

At this point the Opposition proceeded to introduce one by one twenty-three additional amendments to the contract. Each was defeated. Had any one carried then the contract would have been defeated. Sir John A. Macdonald, of the Opposition, ultimately on January 28, 1881, introduced the bill for the incorporation of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.

It was still a hotly contested debate but the House of Commons passed the bill on February 1, 1881 and sent the bill to the Senate. The Senate accepted the bill without amendment and the Canadian Pacific Railway Company officially was incorporated on February 17, 1881.

Can you imagine the impact on the economic growth of Canada had the Opposition party been successful at delaying the building of the transcontinental railway simply because the Opposition wanted to take down the majority party?

It looks like politics do not change.