23 December 2013

The naming of the Baumgarten children

It's interesting to see if it is possible to work out who the children in a family were named after. You can surmise who might have been a beloved relative or a treasured friend. Of course sometimes it's completely impossible to work out who (or what!) ancestors were thinking of when they named their kids! However, the children of Samuel Christian Frederic and Mary Baumgarten née Joynes seem to have names that were honouring friends and relatives.

Name of child Date of birth Date of baptism Parish of baptism Possible namegiver
Elizabeth Mary 16 Feb 1753 22 Feb 1753 St Martins in the Field The middle name of Mary is probably after her mother, but I'm not sure who the Elizabeth honours. I haven't found an Elizabeth amongst the Baumgarten or Joynes relatives so maybe she was a family friend. It's possible that it was for family friend Elizabeth Worrall - see Lucinda Worrall Baumgarten below.
Marie 21 Jul 1755 15 Aug 1755 St Margaret Westminster Probably named after her mother.
Charlotte 24 Feb 1757 28 Mar 1757 St Margaret Westminster Probably named after her maternal aunt or maternal step-cousin - her maternal uncle Samuel Joynes was married to Charlotte Tully, who had been widowed by the death of her first husband Stephen Downes. Charlotte and Stephen had at least three children, including a daughter, Charlotte, and a son, Tully.
Tully c1759 19 Dec 1759 St Andrew Holborn Probably named after his step-cousin Tully Downes.
Thomas c1761 7 Feb 1761 St Andrew Holborn Probably named after his maternal uncle Thomas Joynes.
Henry c1761 7 Feb 1761 St Andrew Holborn Probably named after his maternal uncle Henry Joynes.
Frederick c1762 20 May 1762 St Andrew Holborn Either named after his paternal uncle, Frederick Baumgarten, or after his father's second middle name.
William c1764 2 May 1764 St Andrew Holborn I've no idea who William was named after!
Frances c1765 2 Jun 1765 St Andrew Holborn Probably named after her paternal aunt, Frances Baumgarten.
Lucinda Worrall 30 Sep 1766 16 Oct 1766 St Andrew Holborn Lucinda Worrall's middle name was in honour of Elizabeth Worrall, spinster of Kensington, who was her godmother (noted in Elizabeth Worrall's will). The reason for the choice of Lucinda as her first name is unknown.
Joynes Philip c1768 7 Dec 1768 St Martin in the Fields "Joynes" is clearly derived from his mother's maiden name, no idea where "Philip" comes from!

It was a very helpful exercise to put all this information into a table - firstly, I had an idea that Thomas and Henry were possibly twins, but realising that they were both baptised on the same day, when none of their other siblings were baptised with another, makes it more probable that they were twins. I wonder if they were identical or fraternal (fraternal being hereditary).

Secondly, I originally had a problem with Lucinda Worrall Baumgarten - I had her birth year down as 1756, and yet she was baptised 10 years afterwards, unlike any of her siblings. Plus, based on that birthdate, when she died in 1859, she would have been 102 - which I felt was highly unlikely in that day. Add to that the fact that she was baptised at St Andrews Holborn, when the two siblings apparently on either side of her - Marie and Charlotte - were both baptised at St Margaret Westminster. However, if we assume that 1756 was a transcription/typing error, and in fact she was born in 1766, that all works much better.

Edited on 12 January 2015 to add: Lucinda's death certificate from Mulhouse states that 30 September 1766 was in fact her birthdate.

2 comments:

  1. I like how you've done this Prue and I think this sort of thing can really help to see the overall patterns.

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    1. Yes, it was really helpful. When I first found out the names of the children I thought Tully and Joynes were very weird names, but knowing their origins, now they make perfect sense.

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