New Post
Search
Help
ArchivesChaney
I have an ancestor (female, caucasian)who lived in Arkansas and went by the name Chaney. This name is what is recorded on the gravestone she shares with her husband, and on a document, written by her brother, which he carried with him during his service in the Civil War. Family, census and marriage records indicate that her actual given name was Harriet and her nickname, Chaney, was either part of or based on her middle name. However, due to spelling variances, poor penmanship, and her name being given inconsistently in various records, I am uncertain what that middle name is exactly.
Are any of you familiar with Chaney? Are you aware of a full name for which it was commonly used as a diminutive in that time and place?
I realize this is a long shot, but there are very few surviving records to go on as the applicable courthouses in the area, to which all of the old documents were gathered up and deposited, have burned down...one of them three times. One would think our government officials would learn stop gathering all of our historical documents into one conveniently-flammable location. Sigh...
Thanks, in advance, for any advice. :)
Are any of you familiar with Chaney? Are you aware of a full name for which it was commonly used as a diminutive in that time and place?
I realize this is a long shot, but there are very few surviving records to go on as the applicable courthouses in the area, to which all of the old documents were gathered up and deposited, have burned down...one of them three times. One would think our government officials would learn stop gathering all of our historical documents into one conveniently-flammable location. Sigh...
Thanks, in advance, for any advice. :)
1
Replies
My first guess would be that a woman in Arkansas called Chaney simply had been given the surname Chaney as her middle name. I think you should check out if she was related to or if her parents lived near anyone who had Chaney as a last name.
http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Chaney
The surname Chaney certainly existed in Arkansas:
http://www.ccchaney.com/chaney/chanbros.htm
http://arkansasgravestones.org/cemetery.php?cemID=2179
http://bchaney.tripod.com/ultimate/d0/i0000345.htm
http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Chaney
The surname Chaney certainly existed in Arkansas:
http://www.ccchaney.com/chaney/chanbros.htm
http://arkansasgravestones.org/cemetery.php?cemID=2179
http://bchaney.tripod.com/ultimate/d0/i0000345.htm
1
Thank you...
...these suggestions are great and I did wonder the same thing. So far, I've not found any relatives with the surname Chaney, but I hadn't thought of looking for folks living nearby in general.
I didn't want to say anything too leading in my original post, but in the digital image of the hand-written marriage entry, her middle name, or names, is/are given as (best I can make out the penmanship) Chris, with a small blob that could be a period, then a small space (not quite enough to definitively call a space between separate words), then what looks like chany or chary. The possible second middle name is definitely not capitalized the way the "Chris" part is. In addition, my great grandmother had given her ancestor's name as Harriet Christeny, which she pronouced kris-tee-nee. Because these ancestors had little or no schooling (many never learned to read and/or write), it can be tough to interpret their records. I never knew anything about her going by Chaney until I saw a photo of her grave stone and then spoke with a distant cousin who told me their family never knew her as anything other than Chaney.
I was curious whether Chaney was perhaps a known nickname for Christine/Christina/Christian type names. She is recorded variously in census records as Christina (as a child), Harriet and Harriet C.
Thank you again for your assistance. I really appreciate it. :)
...these suggestions are great and I did wonder the same thing. So far, I've not found any relatives with the surname Chaney, but I hadn't thought of looking for folks living nearby in general.
I didn't want to say anything too leading in my original post, but in the digital image of the hand-written marriage entry, her middle name, or names, is/are given as (best I can make out the penmanship) Chris, with a small blob that could be a period, then a small space (not quite enough to definitively call a space between separate words), then what looks like chany or chary. The possible second middle name is definitely not capitalized the way the "Chris" part is. In addition, my great grandmother had given her ancestor's name as Harriet Christeny, which she pronouced kris-tee-nee. Because these ancestors had little or no schooling (many never learned to read and/or write), it can be tough to interpret their records. I never knew anything about her going by Chaney until I saw a photo of her grave stone and then spoke with a distant cousin who told me their family never knew her as anything other than Chaney.
I was curious whether Chaney was perhaps a known nickname for Christine/Christina/Christian type names. She is recorded variously in census records as Christina (as a child), Harriet and Harriet C.
Thank you again for your assistance. I really appreciate it. :)
1
How interesting. When I was a child living in a suburb of Buffalo, New York, there was a teenage girl who went to my church who was called "Chana" or "Channa" Smith. I don't remember how they spelled it, but it was pronounced to rhyme with Hannah.
In her case this was a pet form of Christiana. The family explained that her older sisters couldn't pronounce Christiana when she was a baby and it came out as "Channa".
She was the daughter of Henry P. Smith III, who was later a US Congressman. I can't find a reference to Channa herself on the Internet right now, but she was named after her father's mother, Christiana Long Smith, and you can find references to her here, explaining how Christiana Street in North Tonawanda was named after her:
http://www.nthistorymuseum.org/Collections/citystreets.html
So yes, I do know of one case where a name similar to Chaney was used as a pet form of Christiana.
In her case this was a pet form of Christiana. The family explained that her older sisters couldn't pronounce Christiana when she was a baby and it came out as "Channa".
She was the daughter of Henry P. Smith III, who was later a US Congressman. I can't find a reference to Channa herself on the Internet right now, but she was named after her father's mother, Christiana Long Smith, and you can find references to her here, explaining how Christiana Street in North Tonawanda was named after her:
http://www.nthistorymuseum.org/Collections/citystreets.html
So yes, I do know of one case where a name similar to Chaney was used as a pet form of Christiana.
1
Interesting indeed.
Again, thank you so much for taking the time to assist. I'll have to look into this family and, maybe I can find a name-interested historian in Arkansas. I actually did contact the local Mason's lodge in Arkansas, asking them to look for old membership records, since the gravestone has their symbols on it. Still waiting to hear back and it's been a while, so I may have to pester them again. :)
Again, thank you so much for taking the time to assist. I'll have to look into this family and, maybe I can find a name-interested historian in Arkansas. I actually did contact the local Mason's lodge in Arkansas, asking them to look for old membership records, since the gravestone has their symbols on it. Still waiting to hear back and it's been a while, so I may have to pester them again. :)
1