Re: Finding my great-grandmother Oakum
-
In reply to:
Re: Finding my great-grandmother Oakum
Florence Powell 12/04/10
Cornelia makes an excellent point in her posting which applies across the board for records of any kind. You have to be sensitive to all variations for any name. There is an instance she can better describe where a Vandiver was told by his French teacher that the original name was spelt Van Diviere. Not true, of course, but the variant was used by a few and has obvious French qualities. I have run into over 60 variants of Vandiver used fairly regularly at different times. For research purposes, I have a list of over 200 potentials.
A given name like Oksana is very interesting. I have not seen it outside of Slavic ethnic groups. There were not many Eastern Europeans who immigrated to the America's prior to the Civil War. Oakum could be a nickname. Then again, there are the Yokum families, one English and the other Swede. Could have been the surname of a grandmother of hers or something, using surnames for given names is not uncommon.
As far as the Marion Francis or Francis Marion, there are many instances I have seen where individuals went by their middle names. They may have been named either, that would have to surface in records overall. Maybe he felt Francis was too feminine? My grandfather Wentz was named Keith Marion - he never used his middle name because he felt it was too feminine.
More Replies:
-
Re: Finding my great-grandmother Oakum
Florence Powell 12/06/10
-
Re: Finding my great-grandmother Oakum
Jerry Vandiver 12/06/10
-
Re: Finding my great-grandmother Oakum
Florence Powell 12/08/10
-
Re: Finding my great-grandmother Oakum
-
Re: Finding my great-grandmother Oakum