My father had an uncle Gustaf Hedberg HUTTON - where did these names come from?! His father was plain Thomas Webster (can't work out where Webster came from - I'm sure there's a remote family link) HUTTON from Newcastle. Mother was born Hannah Maria COOKE (haven't traced her birth anywhere) but married as Hannah Maria LEES in Stalybridge. At the time Thomas Hutton may have had a shop towards the bottom of Grey Street, or The Side, not far from the Quayside. He had been in Grainger Street West in 1879. He lived in Oxford Terrace, Gateshead in 1881, but moves were frequent. Gus, as he was known, was born in March 1881 and appears in the census as one month old. Curiously, there was an Erik Gustaf HEDBERG, captain of a Swedish ship moored in the Tyne at Newcastle on census night. There has to be a connection? What a very unusual naming on Tyneside. I feel sure it raised a lot of eyebrows at the time, and during most of his life! Can I can hear some tittering at the back? Thomas Webster is believed to have been an alcoholic and was made bankrupt in 1879. Possibly Captain Erik was a regular visitor to the Tyne. But wouldn't it have been more usual to have named the lad Erik after a friend, rather than Gustaf Hedberg? We'll probably never know what put the Hutton's under such a spell to land Gus with such names. There was a famous Swedish bookbinder by the name Gustaf Hedberg, but he was only about 22 in 1881. There was a lovely little vessel called Gustaf Hedberg, see; http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://www.tugboatlars.se/GustafHedberg.htm&ei=Z0inS4-aFJTw0gTy65zOAQ&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CBoQ7gEwBg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dgustaf%2Bhedberg%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX Chris Morgan Sheffield

Hi Chris, On 22 March 2010 11:04, Christopher Morgan <chrismorgan4@btinternet.com>wrote: > My father had an uncle Gustaf Hedberg HUTTON - where did these names come > from?! > > > Gus, as he was known, was born in March 1881 and appears in the census as > one month old. Curiously, there was an Erik Gustaf HEDBERG, captain of a > Swedish ship moored in the Tyne at Newcastle on census night. > > I cannot help with your query, but sometimes once you find out more about their lives the reasons for unusual names can emerge. My GG Grandfather John Ray Cook named two of his children Alfred Septimus and Zenobia. At the time I found this I looked for all sorts of possible reasons for these names but found nothing obvious. A long while later I found out that Alfred Septimus Palmer was the pit manager at Wardley Colliery where my GG Grandfather worked and in the 1881 census a cousin of mine found that a few doors down from John Ray Cooks family in Wardley was a Zenobia Robinson, daughter of Morgan Robinson a Colliery Viewer and probably my GG Grandfathers boss. I know that my GG Grandfather was involved in work to improve conditions in Wardley along with these men. So he possibly named his children out of respect or perhaps he was simpy a creep to his bosses!!! I will never know. As the rest of his children had more usual names of the time such as Frederick, Isabella, Jane etc I have never investigated whether they were named after anyone else. Regards Karen

BTW Septimus was usually a name given to the seventh child in a family. I've seen it before. Joan ----- Original Message ----- From: "karen" <karen.milkhillcottage@gmail.com> To: <northumbria@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, March 22, 2010 07:41 Subject: Re: [NMB] Inexplicable forenames? > Hi Chris, > > On 22 March 2010 11:04, Christopher Morgan > <chrismorgan4@btinternet.com>wrote: > >> My father had an uncle Gustaf Hedberg HUTTON - where did these names come >> from?! >> >> >> Gus, as he was known, was born in March 1881 and appears in the census as >> one month old. Curiously, there was an Erik Gustaf HEDBERG, captain of a >> Swedish ship moored in the Tyne at Newcastle on census night. >> >> I cannot help with your query, but sometimes once you find out more about > their lives the reasons for unusual names can emerge. My GG Grandfather > John > Ray Cook named two of his children Alfred Septimus and Zenobia. At the > time > I found this I looked for all sorts of possible reasons for these names > but > found nothing obvious. > > A long while later I found out that Alfred Septimus Palmer was the pit > manager at Wardley Colliery where my GG Grandfather worked and in the 1881 > census a cousin of mine found that a few doors down from John Ray Cooks > family in Wardley was a Zenobia Robinson, daughter of Morgan Robinson a > Colliery Viewer and probably my GG Grandfathers boss. > > I know that my GG Grandfather was involved in work to improve conditions > in > Wardley along with these men. So he possibly named his children out of > respect or perhaps he was simpy a creep to his bosses!!! I will never > know. > As the rest of his children had more usual names of the time such as > Frederick, Isabella, Jane etc I have never investigated whether they were > named after anyone else. > > Regards > > Karen > > > The NORTHUMBRIA FAQ page is located at > http://www.bpears.org.uk/NorthumbriaFAQ/ > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NORTHUMBRIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >