#52Ancestors – Week 6

#52Ancestors – Week 6                                             Randi Mathieu

This week’s prompt is “Favorite Name”.

This is an interesting thought to process.  My first gut reaction to “Favorite Name” was how do I not use “William Fain Rountree” after all I used his middle name for my son’s middle name. As I thought about what to write, I thought about my own name – how original it is and how much it’s not what you expect.  Most people hear the name Randi and think male (until they notice it’s spelled with an i).  As I think about the names in my family my two great aunts stand out to me. Willis Melmus Simmons and Jessie (Chessy) Ward Simmons. These two women grew up with male sounding names in the early 1900’s.  Willis was named after 2 ancestors – both male.  Willis was the name of her grandfather and Melmuth was the name of a great uncle who died in the civil war.  I have not been able to track down where Jessie’s name came from but a middle name of Ward must have been a family name somewhere – guess I have some more research to do!

                             

 Willis

 Jessie