Fun Family Facts: Names

I am named after my dad. He is Robert. I am Robin. I love that I share his name. I think family history names are super cool.

There is a book titled, Descendants of Matthew Glaves, which is a great family history book written by Dennis Glaves that can be found on the Gleaves Family Website and you can get to the book if you click here.

There is a section at the end of the book with neat facts about the Gleaves name and family. Today, I've chosen some of the facts about names in our family history. I love names and their meanings. I collect strange names of students I teach. I make lists of names I like for any future children we have. I thought some of these name facts were fun.

Let's start with the surname of Gleaves: The Family Name "According to 1990 census figures, “GLEAVES” is the 15,192nd most frequently occurring surname in the United States: “GLAVES” is the 72,559th." Well...I always knew I have a unique last name, but now I have some statistics to back it up.

Now, if you are looking for some names for your kids and you want to name them after a state, here are a couple of great options: The Family Geography Award "James Robertson Gleaves (1799-1865) and his wife Elizabeth win this one hands down. Each of their six daughters, born 1831 - 1845, had the name of a state incorporated into their given names: Tennessee Malvina, Martha Ann Virginia, Missouri Jane, Elizabeth Alabama, Caladonia Indiana, and last but not least: Sarah Catherine Louisiana."

Most Common Given Names "The Family database used to produce this document contains more than 2,000 individuals born with the Family Surnames. For males, 84 family members are documented with the first name of William or Willie. A close second is James, with 70 occurrences. The most popular name for females is MARY, with 52 occurrences; no other given name comes close."  So, how many Williams or Marys do we have now? We don't have anyone named Mary on the facebook group, but we have a William, and I've got a little brother named William. Do you have any Williams or Marys in your family?

Last fun fact of the day, and my favorite: Unusual Names "Choose your own, my favorites are, Male: “Nimrod M. Glaves Jr.” and “Finley Pennebaker Gleaves”. Female: there a lot of great choices. Two I like are “Adalaska Gleaves” and “Meusetta Gleaves”." I love weird names. I wouldn't use any of these, but I love to find unusual names as I do family history research. I think it's great that Nimrod was a Jr. They loved the name so much, dad and son got to have it. If you have any strange names in your family, post them in the comments.

And because no blog post is complete without a picture, and because I love old pictures as much as I love a good name, here is a family member who is a namesake in my family. I have a brother named after this David. And I love the name Mae and would love to use that name if I ever have a daughter. Is anyone else names after an ancestor?

Gleaves Wilson House

I was looking around the Gleaves website the other day. I wasn't trying to find anything specific; I was just looking to see what was there. I looked through some letters and some pictures and I came upon a link for the Gleaves Wilson house. Intrigued, I clicked on the link to find out what this house was all about.

The Gleaves Wilson House

Well, it turns out, there is an absolutely gorgeous house in Lebanon, Tennessee that was built around 1830 and it's first owner was none other than Benjamin Franklin Gleaves. I wasn't sure how he was related to me (but what a fantastic name!), so I looked him up on my family tree and he is my 4th great grandfather's brother.

When the house was built, they were next door neighbors to Andrew Jackson (7th US President)! He and Benjamin were friends. I think that is pretty neat. Anyway, the house was passed down through generations and ended up belonging to Alfred and JoAnn Wilson, who were married in the 1920s and lived most of their lives in Houston, Texas. But, Tennessee was the place Alfred loved and they lived their final years there.

Back to the house, it was restored once in the mid 1800s, but in 1989, when Alfred and JoAnn inherited the house, they decided to get it back to its formal glory while adding some niceties of modern day. As they were restoring the house, they realized that the house was no longer in a good location; the area was becoming more urban and Alfred and his siblings decided to sell the property, so they moved the house! They dismantled, numbered and moved the house 20 miles into beautiful countryside and put it all back together. It took them 22 years to finish restoring the house. Those 22 years were worth it. The house is beautiful.

You can go the their website here: http://www.gleaveswilsonhouse.com and see more pictures and read other information on the family and the house. I thought it was neat to learn about this house, and maybe some day I'll find myself in Tennessee and can see the area for myself!

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to the Gleaves Leaves blog! This blog is a place for me to share stories and facts about the Gleaves family. Learning the stories of our ancestors makes them real and they have many things to teach us. There are some amazing stories and places to learn about and I'd love to share them with you. We have ancestors who fought in wars, built their own homes, loved and lost loves. Feel free to share this blog with any Gleaves, married or born, as well as any friends of Gleaves. I hope that you enjoy the stories I share!