Friday – From the #History Files

AGneoma
A.G. Neoma, 101 (August 31, 1913 – )

One of my favorite things about my upcoming novel, LAST IN A LONG LINE OF REBELS, is how Lou begins to research her family history. Like Lou, not everything in my own family history is wonderful. Some of the things I’ve learned are sad, embarrassing, surprising and even downright hilarious. From now until the book release (Sept. 29) , I thought I’d use Fridays to share some interesting things I’ve learned.

My grandmother is one of eleven children born to James Jefferson and Annie Mai Halfacre. Her first four siblings have fairly normal names, but around child five, things start to get a little CRAZY. What happened? It turns out that her father had a brother-in-law named John. One evening, as he was leaving an ale house, someone called from the dark, “Is that you, John?” He answered, “Yes”, and was promptly shot and killed! Apparently the assailant was waiting for a DIFFERENT John and shot the brother-in-law by mistake. Is this the worst possible result of mistaken identity or what? Determined that this would never happen to his own children, my great-grandfather took over the job of giving them names.

Here they are in order:

Hank Brusher

Leo Boles

Cordell Roosevelt

Alice Catherine

Alison Leathers

Q. X.  Quillers

A. G. Neoma

O. Z. Roxy

Tipsy Topsy (Seriously, what??)

Gracie ToeToe

Jessie Juanita

I’m guessing by the time Jessie Juanita was born, my great-grandmother had had enough. The names might be crazy, but they worked! Not one of James Jefferson’s children were ever shot over a mistaken identity!

Do you have any crazy names in your family? I’d love to hear them!

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9 Comments

  1. Nona Morrison said:

    I had a great-great aunt named Britimert.

    March 20, 2015
    Reply
  2. Martha (White) Lee said:

    What a wonderful accomplishment. I will be sure to get a copy and read it once it’s release.
    Martha

    March 20, 2015
    Reply
  3. Tania Stephens said:

    I can’t wait to read about Lou, and her crazy family.

    March 20, 2015
    Reply
  4. Douglas Cantrell said:

    My parents, Oblo and Crateena. The only one of each of those names on the planet as far as I know! Congrats on the book Lisa. Very exciting!

    March 25, 2015
    Reply
  5. […] call a “hoot. I have a few hoots in my own family tree. Last week I mentioned the story of John and how his death resulted in some of the worst-named children in history. Today I want to tell you […]

    March 27, 2015
    Reply
  6. Sandy Stiltner said:

    My grandmother’s name was Zuleima, no jokeL

    March 28, 2015
    Reply
  7. Katie Nichols said:

    This is so great! I had no idea why Granny was named AG, that’s crazy! I’m so excited to learn more about our family!

    March 31, 2015
    Reply
    • Britney Halfacre said:

      Hey Katie! Your grandmother and my great grandfather are brother and sister!

      February 3, 2017
      Reply
  8. Britney Halfacre said:

    Cordell Roosevelt is my great grandfather and his parents are my great great grandparents.

    February 3, 2017
    Reply

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