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52 Ancestors, Athens County Ohio, Cagg, Kagg, Oliver, Risley
It’s bound to happen. As we start to delve into our family histories we come across a name that makes our modern eyes widen and our mind do gymnastics trying to figure it out. If we’re lucky, we knew this person, or at least of them, and may have a headstart on the pronunciation at the very least, or we may not have known them by that name at all, and that may make a lot of sense all of the sudden.
Naming children, in my own experience, can be a difficult journey. There are so many factors that can go into it. For our children, Scott and I had a list of things we wanted to keep in mind:
- Could not start with R, or end in -er
- Easy to pronounce, unlike our last name
- Unique enough to not have to be called “Child R” in school, see above
- It should pass the grandma/grandpa test – can we imagine said child to easily carry the name through the various stages of life: child, adult, grandparent?
I can barely imagine what the process might have been like for my ancestors without the plethora of resources I had at my literal fingertips via the internet and the countless baby name books available to me in 2007, 2011, and 2013. So when we come across a name that is not only unusual to our modern eyes and ears but is also so unique that a quick google search only brings up mentions of this one individual who existed in time… wow. Such is the case with one of my ancestors, my third great grandmother, Algephia.
First of all, how in the world is this name pronounced? Is it a hard g like golf? Or a soft g like gel? Looking at general rules of English, which of course means there’s a lot of times those rules are not followed, a g followed by an e, its sound is soft, like the word generous.
Al-ge-phia | \ˈal-jə-fē-ə\
Algephia Ann Cagg was born 18 June 1852 in York Township, Athens County, Ohio to Andrew C Cagg and Julia Ann Risley. Andrew and Julia, married 24 April 1851 in Athens County, and had both been married previously. Algephia was their first child together. She was Andrew’s first known child and Julia’s fifth. Andrew and Julia would go on to have at least four more children before Andrew’s unfortunate death in 1865.
When there is such an unusual name in the family, it seems natural to look at other names in that family. Is there a pattern? Are there other names that stick out? Let’s look at Andrew’s family members:
- Grandparents: Sebastion “Boston” Cagg, Maria Roof, George Miller, Hannah Stackhouse
- Aunts/Uncles: Solomon, Boston, Jacob, Elizabeth, Maryann, Polly, Hannah, Solomon, Cynthia Ann, Frederick, Margaret, Mary Ann, Roanna
- Parents: John Cagg, Barbary Miller
- Siblings: Henry, Samuel, John, Sarah Ann, Cassandra, Mary, Isaac Wesley
- Wives: Mary Annace Bobo, Julia Ann Risley
Nothing too crazy here. Biblical names, popular names of the times. The lone standout, Boston, I believe to be a shortening of Sebastian, with some alteration. Andrew’s grandfather, Boston Kagg’s will alone uses three versions of his name: Boston, Bastian, and Baltzer. Nothing to point towards the unusual name of Algephia.
Julia’s family:
- Grandparents: Richard Risley, Naomi [unknown], maternal grandparents are currently unknown
- Aunts/Uncles: Richard, Naomi, Susannah, Eli, Rebecca, Jesse, Solomon, possible maternal uncles – John and Lewis
- Parents:
- Siblings: James, Samuel, Reason Oliver
- Husbands: Harry Henshaw, Andrew Cagg
Again nothing remotely similar to Algephia. Reason is a bit odd to me, especially for a male child, Oliver was his mother’s maiden surname. Often these types of puritanical names, like Honesty and Patience, tend to lend themselves more toward females. So we know that Algephia was not likely a nod to a family member. Though, she did have a niece named after her, thanks to her half-brother Morris Henshaw.
Have you ever heard this unusual name before or know where her parents might have learned it from? I may never know where the name Algephia comes from, but I do know, she most often went by her middle name Ann, or Anna. I can’t really blame her.
This is the 3rd prompt for the 2019 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks series by genealogist and author, Amy Johnson Crow.