An unusual name, Lebbeus Booth

Week 3 - 52 Ancestors 52 Weeks (Jan. 15-21): Unusual Name
#52 Ancestors

When different cultures merge, many times there are unusual names from one to another.  I like one that was popular in the 16th through 19th centuries in several ancestors, women named Kesiah.  But I think it may have originally been Native American.  So for them, it wouldn't have been unusual.

So I'm going to do the "throw the pin at the map" kind of selection...just log onto one of my three lines of ancestors, and find a name that sounds unusual, then figure out how they are related to me.  It's pure chance.

I had many ancestors with Bibical names, from many different faiths.  So I dare say that one of them would be my choice.

But here's a Booth cousin, and a name I've never run into before. Lebbeus Booth. I find it was also Bibical, a name for one of the appostles named Jude Taddeus.

The 1850 NY Census states Lebbeus Booth was 60 years old, thus born in Connecticut around 1790. Actual birth date was June 25, 1789. This census also lists his wife (?) and children.

He is living with a woman, younger than he was, age 46, named Laurietta, Lucretia.   The others listed in his household also have unusual names. A 22 year old man named Moss Pant  Kent Booth.  Then a woman, Marthy H Booth, age 20. 18 year old male has a common name of John C. Irrebela G Booth comes next (though she may have been Isabela) at age 11, as well as Lecretia, while Susan E. Booth is just 6.  Mary Johnson is 25, and may be a servant, who has a daughter, Adaline, age 1.  This census was taken in Ballston Spa, Saratoga County, NY.

He is listed as a student in Union College of New York in 1817 as being from Ballston Spa, New York (published in 1833).  (Catalogue of the fraternity of [Phi] B K, Alpha of New York. Union College, Schenectady, 1827.)

In 1818 he is in the Albany NY City Directory, in Montgomery.  Upon checking, Montgomery is about an hour away from Albany, so he may have had interests in both areas.  

He is again listed in Union College of New York in 1845 as being on a committee to organize the 50th anniversary of the college, being listed as class of 1813.  

His death listing happened on 16 Dec, 1859, when he was 70 years old, with his occupation as a retired gentleman.  His cause of death was marasmus (wasting disease). He was still married at that time.

He had written a will, in 1856 leaving his possessions to his children and wife. He was survived by Martha Booth Seely, John C. Booth, daughters Lucretia Booth and Susan E Booth, the last 2 being considered minors, so they were given a  male guardian. His wife also was named Lucretia (rather than the garbled name the 1850 census taker gave her.)

Oh, who is he to my ancestors? His father, Silas Booth (1758-1835) was the brother of Isaac Booth Sr, (1755-1841), who was my 5 times great grandfather.  So we have a 6 times great grandfather in common, and I think that makes him my 2nd cousin 6 times removed.  Please let me know if I've got that wrong.  I always scratch my head on that cousin stuff.

Amy Johnson Crow continues to challenge genealogy bloggers and non-bloggers alike to think about our ancestors and share a story or photo about them. The challenge is “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.”

More notes by writer:

"Lucretia Foot(e) ...married Lebbeus Booth, a banker who helped establish the Ballston Spa National Bank.  (probably in Roerig, Ruth W. The History of Ballston Spa National Bank, 1838-1988: A Story of “The Old Bank,” Its Community, and Its People. Ballston Spa, NY: Ballston Spa National Bank, 1988.)

Lebbeus was 2nd Principal of Female Academy, 1815-1824, founded by Ebenezer Foote, whose only daughter was Lucretia Foote Booth, Lebbeus' wife.

Had private school in Ballston several years.

Source: http://dunhamwilcox.net/ny/ne_albany_bio1.htm

Ancestry finally posted his relationship to writer...1st cousin 6 times removed!

Early dating in America

Some reasons to "hook up" with someone...

1901 dating site...

I am descended from both New England and Virginia's early settlers.  How did these people meet and marry? My consideration is often boggled when they came from areas so divergent.

Jamestown Settlement historian Nancy Egloff is interviewed in this History Channel article, 'When the Jamestown Colony Placed Ads to Attract Brides' - https://www.history.com/…/jamestown-colony-women-brides-pro…. 
Learn more at Jamestown Settlement's special exhibition,'TENACITY: Women of Jamestown and Early Virginia.'

"In 1619, the Jamestown colony—North America’s first permanent English settlement—consisted mostly of single men looking to get rich. For the Virginia Company, this presented a problem: how to keep it growing when few single English women wanted to venture to the struggling colony? The solution it came up with was to pay women’s passage to Jamestown so they could marry its bachelors.

"The Jamestown brides program attracted 90 women who came over in 1620, and another 56 who came over in late 1621 and early 1622.

An illustration of the arrival of the first women to the Jamestown colony.

Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

"Without these women—later known as “tobacco wives”—the Virginia Company was concerned that the 12-year-old colony wouldn’t survive. Unlike the Puritans who would soon settle in New England colonies with their families, the men in Jamestown didn’t have families to keep them in the Americas permanently, says Marcia A. Yablon-Zug, a law professor at the University of South Carolina and author of Buying a Bride: An Engaging History of Mail-Order Matches.

Many Jamestown settlers would “come to the colony, make their fortune, and go home to get married,” she says. A small portion abandoned “the colony to go live in the Indian villages, where obviously there were plenty of women and life was better.” This latter outcome was especially troubling to English religious leaders, who preached sermons about “the sexual availability of the Indian women,” she says.

Wives of settlers arriving at Jamestown.

Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

I know that at least one of my ancestors did marry a Native American woman, who became Christian and adopted an English name.  I haven't searched to see if any of my other Jamestown ancestors married a wife who came with these ships.  I know one who went back to England to marry and then brought his wife to the Virginia colony.

My American Indian roots:

The Nansemond Indians originally lived along the Nansemond River and were part of the empire ruled by Powhatan, the father of Pocahontas. When the English arrived, the tribe had about 300 warriors and a total perhaps of 1200 people. 

They were initially wary and often hostile toward the English, but by the 1630's some had changed their minds. A family sermon book still in the Chief's possession records the 1638 marriage of John Bass, and a Nansemond convert to Christianity named Elizabeth. Everyone in today's Nansemond tribe is a descendant from that marriage.  (Source: Smithsonian)

My grandfather, George Rogers' mother was also named Elizabeth (Bette) Bass.  She was descended from the early Virginia marriage. (Link to my post on Nansemond tribe). My grandchildren got a kick out of thinking of being cousins to Pocahontas.

Here's our Sepia Saturday for this week.

Perhaps this photo isn't directly connected to brides, or even settlers...but the model and the little ones observing her might end up marrying someone who sought their fortune and then wished to share it through meeting by an unusual method.  I know, stretching the meme a bit...


I'm sharing this with 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, under the meme "FIRST."