52 Ancestors Week 26: Favorite Name

 From Amy Johnson Crow: The theme for Week 26 is “Favorite Name.” Whether it’s the name of a favorite ancestor or you just like the way it sounds, many of us have a name in our family tree that makes us smile. This is a good week to write about the person with that name.

Zebulon Drew will always be an "S" tier name. Facts.

    According to my archive it's been four years since I last talked about a favorite name in my family tree. Zebulon Drew still ranks among the top ten all these years later just on the star power of the name alone. Like I said in the blog, the name sounds like it belongs to the lead singer of a Nordic Metal band. I know that isn't the case. But, if I ever decided to form a metal band I would so call it "Zebulon Drew". It'd be original! 

    In any case, it's time to once again look at the "Big Book of Baby Names" to see what names really stand out in my family tree. As you all know, I have a healthy mix of French, English and Italian names to choose from. There's no shortage of people named "Paolo", "Jacques" and "Maria". Some names end up repeating themselves and sometimes the same name appear as second great-grandparents albeit in different languages. This week we're going to talk about Antonio Tedesco and Antoine Legault, my two "Tony" 2nd great-grandparents!

Antonio Tedesco and
Domenica Gullo.

    I've always thought it was pretty cool how I have two guys named "Anthony" as second great-grandparents. Of course both names are in different languages. Antoine is a very French name and Antonio is Italian. Both names would be anglicized to "Anthony" if they were to go to America or any other English speaking country. 

    As it is, only one of the Tonies ever went to America and that would be Antoine. More on him later.

    Antonio here couldn't be more different from Antoine. For starters he was twenty-five years younger than Antoine. When Antonio was born in 1876, Antoine had been married to his wife Lucie Cadran for two years at that point and had two daughters, Lucy and Melvina. 

    I will say this. At least both men were born in July in their respective towns. Antonio was born on July 23rd, 1876 in San Pietro a Maida and Antoine was born on July 28th, 1851 in Riguad, Quebec. That's another amazing coincidence! My family tree is full of them. Sadly, this is where the similarities start to end.

  

      Unlike Antoine, Antonio never went to America. He spent his life in San Pietro. He married Maria Domenica Gullo in 1899 and had at least three children that I know of with her. One of those children did end up going to Haverhill, Mass and that lucky lady was my great-grandmother, Maria who was born the same year Antoine passed away.

    It's a shame Antoine passed away so young. As I've said before, he worked in a factory in Haverhill and passed away just after his son Oliver was born. That's another thing. Antoine had way more children than Antonio did. He and Lucie had thirteen children together from 1874 to 1901. That's a lot of people to keep track of!

    Fortunately, Massachusetts has great records and I have a ton of DNA matches who descend from Antoine. They've all been able to confirm bits of information here and there and share enough stories that I've been able to piece together his and Lucie's life together in Haverhill. However, I haven't been able to find pictures of either of them and I hope a cousin out there has one!

    I think finding a picture of Antoine might be a little bit harder than finding one for Lucie. Any photo of Antoine would have to be a tintype. Getting your picture taken in his day was also very expensive. So, who knows if he had his picture taken. I'm hoping he did. Fingers and toes are crossed on that front. At the very least, I am hoping Lucie had her picture taken. One never knows!

    Back to the two Anthonys. Antonio may not have had as many children as Antoine. However, I've been told he was a good man by his great-grandchildren who still live in San Pietro. And I can sort of see where my ears came from when I look at his picture.  It doesn't help that my grandfather Robert ALSO had two radar dishes attached to his head. Sigh. I was doomed from the start, gang.

Check out the two Tonies!

    Anyway, it's nice having two guys named Anthony in the tree at the second great-grandparent level. Both men were similar in name and they came from somewhat similar backgrounds. They may have been born in two very different parts of the world but, their cultures were more or less the same. French-Canadians and Italians are Catholic, love wine and are known to tell really good albeit LONG stories. I have a feeling that if Antoine and Antonio ever met they'd be good friends once the language barrier was broken. They might even bond over how common their last names are in their respective homelands!

    Having the name "Anthony" on my tree in two different languages has the added benefit of showing everyone just how similar two different sides of a family tree can be. While the names come from two different cultures, they're still fundamentally similar in the way they act and the religion they practiced. It's an amazing coincidence that both men ended up being my 2nd great-grandparents and to me it'll always be cool how that turned out. Who wouldn't love having an Antonio on one side of the tree and an Antoine on the other side? 

 See ya next time!

P.S. I also have several people named Anthony further down the tree. Notably Antoine's son, Anthony and Antoine's grandson Anthony. On the Italian side of things I have Antonio Carrabis, son of Rocco Carrabis and Antonio Forgione, son of Pasquale Forgione.