What's in a name?

If you haven't already gathered by now, my genealogical passion centres around the puzzle of one particular branch of my mother's family tree.

My great great great grandmother was born Elizabeth Armstrong in Adelaide, South Australia in 1842.  When Elizabeth was about 8, her father John Armstrong (a black African man) died. A year later, her mother Janet (a Scotswoman) married James Salter (an Englishman) and so Elizabeth's new surname was SALTER.

The new blended family moved to Chewton, Victoria shortly after the wedding, in early response to the goldrush in the Forest Creek area.

Elizabeth Salter grew up and married a miner, named Sims CUMIS.  Sims' birthplace is listed as the Cape of Good Hope, Sth. Africa, so he is also potentially dark skinned.  The couple married in 1864 in Chewton and over a period of ten years had five children; Robert, Louisa, Ellen, James and John.

All five children were given the surname of their father, (spelled either COMES or CUMMIS as per their birth certificates). The last child was born in 1875 with that name. But as the children grew, they rejected the CUMIS name and adopted different surnames, either Armstrong or Salter, their mother's maiden surnames. And despite their marriage and five children, Elizabeth was primarily known as Salter, not her married name of Cumis until the day she died.

In fact, at her death inquest in 1896 it is noted by witness Henry Matthews that:

                      I have seen the body now lying dead and identify it as that of Elizabeth Cummis otherwise known as Elizabeth Salter.  I have known her between 5 and 6 years.

Chewton policeman Constable Luke swears:

                    That at 2.21 pm today Elizibeth Comas, otherwise known as Elizibeth Salter, aged 50 years died in her hut at Chewton.

Her death is also reported in the local newspaper, the Mount Alexander Mail:

                     An old identity of Chewton, named Elizabeth Cumas, but better known as Elizabeth Salter, died suddenly at her hut on Sunday afternoon at 2.30 o'clock.

I have written previously about Elizabeth's different surnames in the article "Elizabeth gives me a headache."

Their children all reject the CUMIS name they were born with too.

Robert Armstrong Comes dismissed the Comes and became Robert Armstrong.  He married in Chewton, moved to Charlton in Victoria, and eventually moved his family to Queensland.

Louisa used the name Louisa Salter when she married in Geelong and one of her descendants is me. Her nickname was Blossom because of her dark skin.  Her married name was Louisa Clarke.

Ellen -we are still investigating and have no definite clues as to her  (see my previous blog on this search.) At this stage we theorise that she married and changed her name. Louisa's daughter was called Ellen.

James became James Salter Armstrong, moved to Kerang and served at Gallipoli and the Western Front in World War 1.  His nickname was "Snowy" in that ironical Australian way because of his dark skin. One of Robert's sons, named James after his uncle, sadly died at the Western Front.

John used the name Armstrong but his burial details in Cobram state: also known as George Saulter. Trying to find more details in Cobram.

 No-one knows what happened to Sims after the birth of his last child in 1875. We do know he also used the name William instead of Sims. We have no death certificate for him. Nothing. The puzzle is this: WHY did the wife and children of Sims Cummis reject his name?

Historically Yours,
Valerius Copernicus

Citations:

Article identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199612211
Page identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page21955428
APA citation
ITEMS OF NEWS. (1896, June 2). Mount Alexander Mail (Vic. : 1854 - 1917), p. 2. Retrieved October 10, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199612211
MLA citation
"ITEMS OF NEWS." Mount Alexander Mail (Vic. : 1854 - 1917) 2 Jun 1896: 2. Web. 10 Oct 2015 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199612211>.
Harvard/Australian citation
1896 'ITEMS OF NEWS.', Mount Alexander Mail (Vic. : 1854 - 1917), 2 June, p. 2, viewed 10 October, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199612211
Wikipedia citation
{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199612211 |title=ITEMS OF NEWS. |newspaper=[[Mount Alexander Mail |Mount Alexander Mail (Vic. : 1854 - 1917)]] |location=Vic. |date=2 June 1896 |accessdate=10 October 2015 |page=2 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

Cumis, Cummis, Cumes, Comes, Cumas, Cummas, Symns, Sims, Syans, Sinns

What's in a name?

A hell of a lot if your ancestors are illiterate.

When I first started doing research into my family history, I didn't completely understand that different spellings of the same name could in fact be the same people.

The first time I encountered this genealogical fact was when I started researching my Clarke ancestors.  I found documents varied from CLARKE to CLARK and I was uncomfortable thinking that there was such a "big" discrepancy in the spelling. Whoa, was I wrong!

Spelling variations happen a lot, especially in the days when not everyone was literate.  I often imagine myself as them standing before a petty authority, unable to spell, telling them your name, perhaps being asked to spell it, and being unable to do so.  Imagine the frustration, embarrassment, the shame perhaps in your lack of education. Perhaps in some cases even being ridiculed. Resentment then, and anger.  How valuable would it be to be able to write your own name?

Imagine my ancestor Elizabeth Armstrong (spinster) who was illiterate, marrying a bachelor African man who was English illiterate, a man we call Sims Cummis.

Imagine. Here it is, your wedding day in 1864, and the Reverend is filling out your wedding certificate.  He asks you, "what is your name?"  Elizabeth Armstrong is easy enough a name to spell.  Most people would get a close approximation.

Sims on the other hand, is a different matter.  The Reverend was forced to rely solely on his phonetic translation of the syllables he heard.  What if Sims had a heavy African accent?  What if the Reverend had some hearing loss?  What if someone had a cold? What if the wedding was in a noisy place?  There are lots of reasons for different spellings. It's not as if Elizabeth or Sims could check.

In fact, the Reverend put down the name as SYMNS CUMIS.  I think he must have listened very hard and tried diligently to translate what he heard onto the page. That 'N' in the name is a subtlety overlooked by other petty officials.

We are reassured all these generations down the line that the spelling is a close approximation to the correct sound of his name, because the signed witness on the marriage certificate was William Cadwallader, Elizabeth's brother-in-law and the local Chewton Blacksmith.

If you look at my heading above, all those names I've listed are all the different ways Sims' name has been spelled on various documents filled out by various different officials.  That's not even including a couple of transcription errors I've caught.

Is it any wonder he started using the name William?

Historically yours,
Valerius Copernicus

Family tree research in Africa in 1800's.

My Great Great Great Grandfather was a black African man born in the Cape of Good Hope, Africa in 1835.  His surname was Cumis or Cummis and his first name was Sims or Symns.  He also used the first name William.  He was English illiterate and so there are many different spellings of his name/s, including Comas, Comes, Cummas, Cumas even Cumins,

Can anyone tell me how to research his family in Africa?

 He was a miner in the Bendigo area of Victoria in the 1860's and 1870's.  We know he lived in Maryborough and Chewton, and spent time in the Castlemaine Hospital. Apart from the period of time when he married and fathered children he is a mystery. We can find no records of his entry to Australia.  Nor can we find any death records.

Not sure how to even begin researching his African birth records.
HELP!
Historically yours,
Valerius Copernicus.