Names go in and out of fashion. When I was in kindergarten, there were 3 Amys; we all sat together and drove the teacher crazy. But Amy isn’t a name you hear very often with children today. By the same token, I didn’t go to school with any Brittanys, Morgans, or Madisons.
Then there are names that have never been popular. Names like Calista and Esmerelda…. and this one from my family tree: Laurestine.
Laurestine U. Dinsmoor. (I don’t know what the U. stands for.) Seems like she got the short end of the stick when it came to names. Think of all of the possible ways to spell either name (and pronounce them, for that matter). Laurestine was born in Canada. Depending on the source, she was born in 1843, 1846, or 1853. (At least all of the records seem to agree that she was born in Canada.)
She became the second wife of Rezin (or Reason) Debolt on 12 October 1869 in Linn County, Missouri.1)Missouri, Marriages, 1750-1920,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V28G-KJ1 : accessed 15 April 2015), R. A. Debolt and Laurastine U. Dinsmoor, 12 Oct 1869; citing Linn, Missouri; FHL microfilm 1,009,871.
By 1870, Laurestine, Rezin, and Rezin’s children were living in Grundy County, Missouri.2)Rezin Debolt household, 1870 Federal census, Trenton Twp., Grundy Co., Missouri, p. 373, nos. 120/120.
Despite what her Find A Grave memorial and several online trees say, she died in Los Angeles County, California on 31 December 1932.3)California, Death Index, 1905-1939, Ancestry.com. Digitized image of the California Death Index. (Find A Grave and the trees have her death date as 5 January 1933. My suspicion is the January date is her date of burial.)Laurestine’s husband, Rezin/Reason Debolt, was the brother of my 3rd-great-grandmother Matilda Debolt Skinner Crossen Brown McFillen.
References
1. | ↑ | Missouri, Marriages, 1750-1920,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V28G-KJ1 : accessed 15 April 2015), R. A. Debolt and Laurastine U. Dinsmoor, 12 Oct 1869; citing Linn, Missouri; FHL microfilm 1,009,871. |
2. | ↑ | Rezin Debolt household, 1870 Federal census, Trenton Twp., Grundy Co., Missouri, p. 373, nos. 120/120. |
3. | ↑ | California, Death Index, 1905-1939, Ancestry.com. Digitized image of the California Death Index. |