FAVORITE NAME

I am participating in the #52Ancestors challenge. Each week I will follow a prompt and write about an ancestor.  You can join too, click the link on the top left.  The stories about our ancestors are what helps to keep their memories alive! 

This weeks prompt is FAVORITE NAME. 

My ancestral tree is full of the most beautiful names.  That is what happens when you have mostly French-Canadian and Italian heritage.  Just look at some of these given names.  I love how they just roll off the tongue. It's like music! 

 Here are some of my ancestral surnames, they are just as beautiful! 

If I had to pick a favorite name it would be CONSTANTINEAU!  The Constantineau family is the first family I started researching, and I was hooked!   I especially love the many different ways my great grandfather Nelson Constantineau spelled his surname.  It makes the searching harder, but much more rewarding when you finally figure it all out!

Nelson was baptized Narcisse Constantineau in 1846 in St-Valentin, Quebec, Canada.

In I864 Nelson enlisted in the United States Army to help fight the Civil War.  By then, as you can see, he went by an alias Nelson Teno.  He Americanized his given name.  And, I figure Constantineau was just to big of a name to say and pronounce so he decided to shorten it considerably!!  

I was fortunate to find a cousin who had a picture of Nelson Teno in his Civil War uniform. 

In November 1866 Nelson married Mary Raymond, now he is using the surname Tino.   Maybe people just couldn't spell Teno!  

The variation I love the most is found in the 1870 United States Census.  Nelson and his small family are living in Elliott, York, Maine.  His brother Alfred was also living in the same town and they both went by the more distinguished surname of Constantinople!! 

I actually found a couple of sentences about Alfred Constantinople in the 1880 book "History of York, Maine." 

In the 1880 census Nelson and his family are back in Massachusetts and using the surname Constantino.  

Unfortunately, Nelson Constantino died at the young age of 39 years old.  He left Mary Raymond a widow of nine children.  

In case you are wondering how I know that all the variations are the same person, this  document that granted Mary Raymond Constantino guardianship of her own children (a sad but common practice in those days) states that Nelson Teno was an alias.  

The name Constantineau means "steadfast and faithful".   Whether using the name Constantineau, Constantinople, Constantino, Teno or Tino, it is a beautiful name to me and I am grateful to be a part of this great heritage.

The name clouds were created using TreeSeek, check it out here.  It works with FamilySearch FamilyTree.