A Child Named Julia

I wonder what it would be like to be given the same name as your dead sister or brother, and to carry that name for your entire life. Such it was for Julia Geraldine Turner, Leslie Rice’s great-grandmother.  She carried the name of her sister, but not the memories of the young toddler, since the little three year old died two years before her own birth. Would not one be forever reminded of the poor sister, the way she died, the cause of her death, the missing opportunities for her future?

When we try to answer such a question for ourselves, we are, of course, answering from within the context of today’s culture and attitudes.  I myself, would think it rather odd, and maybe somewhat “scarey”, should I have been given the name of a dead brother.  It feels as if I might be challenging fate in such a way that it might repeat itself.  Besides, I believe that it is important for each child to have its old identity, and not take upon himself the memories and comparisons of a deceased sibling.  But that’s how it is for me, not how it was in the 18^th century.

Julia Turner was born in 1792 to Asa and Isabel Turner, but died three years later in 1795.  Julia was born and died in Franklin, New York, however, the cause of her death and the place of her burial are unknown.

Julia Geraldine Turner, the next female child born in the family, was born in 1796, also in Franklin, and according to what was common in New England at the time, she was named after her sister.  If a child died, the next child of the same sex would often be given the same name.

The loss of a child in the settling years of the frontier was a frequent occurrence. Diseases which stole away these infants included measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, mumps, and chicken pox. Accidents claimed children too. Frontier households were busting, cluttered places that were not always child-safe.  Open fires, kettles of hot water, privy holes, unfenced ponds, and open wells were daily dangers to a toddler. It was easy to lose sight of a small child in a crowed household.

In those days, children were often given the name for deceased siblings.  Historically one of the most quoted examples of this is that of Ephraim and Elizabeth Hartwell of Concord, Massachusetts. They lost five children, Ephraim, Samuel, John, Elizabeth, and Isaac to “throat distemper” in a single month in 1740. The parents survived and had nine more children, named Elizabeth, Samuel, Abigail, Ephraim, John, Mary, Sarah, Isaac, and Jonas.

Due to the unpredictability of a child’s stay on this earth, it was common for children to be compared to items of a frail and fleeting nature.  Portraits of children often depicted them with a single blossom as a reminder of how transient their time on earth might be. The miniature painted by Isaac Oliver in 1590 is possibly an example of this. 

"Girl Aged Five, Holding a Carnation"
Isaac Oliver 1590

  

A poem written by Anne Bradstreet (c.1612-1672), considered to be the first poet and first published female writer of British North America, demonstrates this very thing.  Anne experienced losing her namesake grandchild who died at the age of three years and seven months. On this occasion she wrote:

“I knew she was but as a withering flour,
That’s here to day, perhaps gone in an hour;
Or like a shadow turning as it was.
More fool then I to look on that was lent,
As if mine own, when thus impermanent.”

Julia Geraldine herself experienced the loss of two of her three children.  Her first born, Sarah Maria died at the age of 14 on April 12, 1831 at Mayville, New York. Then again, her next eldest child, Minerva Hart, died at the age of 24, at Logansport, Indiana on July 30, 1846.  Her third and youngest, Julia Martha, Leslie’s grandmother, lived until she was 80 years old.

Not only did Julia Geraldine experience the loss of two of her three children, but also the oldest of her two grandchildren.  Edward Potter Rice, died of typhoid fever at the age of nine years.  This at Oskaloosa, Kansas. The remaining child was Francis Jay Rice, Leslie’s father.

As an answer to my introductory question:  “How would it be to carry the name of one’s own dead sister?”  Julia Geraldine, gives an answer.  She obviously cherished her sister’s name, and when given the opportunity she named her own child Julia.

Julia Geraldine [Turner] Potter’s youngest daughter was Julia Martha [Potter] Rice

Notes:
Julia: the name originated from Latin and its meaning is youthful, soft haired, gentle. It is the feminine counterpart for the male name of Julius.  Julia has continually been one of the most admired female names used in the United States.  In 2011, it ranked 57 out of the top 1000 most popular U.S. girl’s names

- Julia Turner: March 31, 1792 – March 6, 1795, was a sister to…
- Julia Geraldine [Turner] Potter: August 28, 1796 – January 17, 1875, was the mother to…
- Sarah Maria Potter: October 31, 1816 – April 12, 1831. Buried in Mayville, New York, was a sister to …
- Julia Martha [Potter] Rice: July 7, 1826 – October 15, 1906

Anne Bradstreet: (c.1612-1672),

Credits:
- Ellis, John Harvard, ed. “The Works of Anne Bradstreet in Prose and Verse”. A. E. Cutter. Charlestown. 1867.
- Fischer, David Hackett. “Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America”. Oxford University Press. 1989
- Oliver, Isaac.  (1558 – 1617). English, “Girl aged five, holding a carnation”.
- Ourbabyname.com
- Volo, James M. and Dorothy Denneen Volo. “Daily life on the old Colonial Frontier”. Greenwood Press, Westport, CT. 2002