Week 3: Is my maiden name really “Glacy”? Week 3 challenge #52ancestors

This week’s challenge (from Amy Johnson Crow) to blog about an “Unusual Name” struck a chord with me. My maiden name is “Glacy” and the story my dad always told was that our name was French meaning “ice” and that was because our family was from the “Alsace-Lorraine.” Alsace-Lorraine has an interesting history involving both German and French claims to the region and it is true that the French word “glacée” does mean “ice” in English, but this is one of those family stories that has some truth, but a whole lot not-truth.

When I first started down the genealogy path, I had no luck finding any information on the Glacy family in Germany or France. However, the 1850 U.S. census identified my great grandfather (Joseph) as having been born in “Bavaria” So while Bavaria is not in Alsace-Lorraine, it is next to Alsace-Lorraine. OK! Thanks, Dad!

This census record turned out to be important information in my search, as this is the one and only record I’d found that said Joseph was born in Bavaria. All the other censuses stated he was born in New York or Pennsylvania. Even his death certificate said he was born in New York!

So how do I know that the place of birth in the 1850 census is accurate? Primarily because was taken when Joseph was 6 and his parents, who were also enumerated, would have been in the best position to know where he was born!

Later census records for Joseph Glacy have him enumerated under the various versions of Glacy, such as Glasy, Glazey, and Glasse. Remembering that my ancestors likely didn’t speak English well and, as we genealogists know, you are at the mercy of the person with the pen, none of this bothered me. What DID bother me was that I couldn’t anything find about when they came to the U.S. or anything in Germany.

Then, along comes the vast and wonderful Ancestry.com community. A guy named Richard is doing family research for his sister-in-law. Richard found Joseph’s mother’s death certificate and that proved to be the one clue needed to find this family.

Here’s the short-hand version of how this went:

· Joseph’ mother was Elizabeth Glacy.

· Elizabeth died on 15 June 1905 in Brooklyn, New York.

· Elizabeth was buried at the Calvary Cemetery in Queens.

· Elizabeth had purchased that plot in 1881. Hmmmm, did that mean her husband (also Joseph) died in 1881 and she bought the plot for him?

· Well, “yes,” that’s exactly what that meant.

· Elizabeth’s husband, Josef Glasechen died on 28 August 1881.

Wait, what? “GLAESCHEN?”

Holy smoke!

A name I’d never heard before but one that seems to be mine!

Dad, how come you never knew this?

So, why did Joseph have the “right” last name, but Elizabeth didn’t. Well, Elizabeth was the one who buried Joseph, so she would have known the original name, right? But why wasn’t Elizabeth buried under her original married name? She was living with her daughter when she died and I know her daughter knew the original name. Frankly, I don’t know and now I don’t care because if she hadn’t been buried under the Glacy name, I might never have found her or the rest of the family in Germany! I might have kept on searching for MY name without knowing it was the WRONG name!

Now that I’d cleared up that mistake, it was easy to find that elusive ship’s manifest.

Joseph, Elizabeth, Philippina, and Joseph arrived at the port of New York on 3 January 1845 (pre-Ellis Island days) from Le Havre, France. And, gosh, who do I find listed right below them? None other than Elizabeth’s sister Margaretha and brother Nicholas!

So how do I know that this is really them? Well, here’s where that 1850 U.S. census comes in handy again. It lists, in addition to the newly born children, Joseph, Elizabeth, Philippina, and Joseph. Thanks, Aunt Philippina for that unusual name to help confirm I have the right family.

An amazing discovery to find my “real name” and more and more about my family.

BTW, our name was NOT changed at the port. The claim that names were changed at Ellis Island is just a myth (thank you Francis Ford Coppola).

Manifest of passengers aboard the Louis Philippe