52Ancestors 52Weeks – Namesake

 name·sake

/ˈnāmˌsāk/

noun

noun: namesake; plural noun: namesakes

a person or thing that has the same name as another.

In my grandfather’s Moore family, there is the name NELSON that has been brought down through generations.

The first was Horatio NELSON Moore born in 1804 the first son of Tristram and Thankful (Foster) Moore in Moore’s Mill, New Brunswick, Canada.  Strangely, the day Horatio (1804) died in 1825, Thankful Moore gave birth to another son, her 12^th child. She and her husband name this boy after the first son, Horatio NELSON Moore.  It was the custom of the times to name newborns after a previous child who had died.

The name, Horatio Nelson Moore came from Admiral Horatio Nelson a British naval officer who fought in the Napoleonic wars. He was born in Norfolk, England in 1758 and died in 1805.

Admiral Horatio Nelson was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. He was shot by a French sniper and must have been easy to recognize as he wore his full uniform and all his medals.

After Admiral Horatio Nelson died, he was still loved by the British people, they named streets and parks after him.  They erected a statue in Trafalgar Square memorializing him. 

The next time NELSON was used in the family was for my grandfather, John NELSON Moore born in 1889 in Savannah, Georgia.  He was the grandson of Horatio NELSON Moore born in 1825.

John NELSON Moore (1889) named his son, John NELSON Moore in 1925 in New York.

John NELSON Moore (1925) named his sons, Michael NELSON Moore and Timothy NELSON Moore.

Timothy NELSON Moore then named his son Ben NELSON Moore.

We have the NELSON name down to the 5th generation after the original Horatio NELSON Moore in 1825.

Thankfully the name Horatio went out of fashion after 1901 so they carried the Nelson name forward instead.