New Post
Search
Help[Facts] Re: Samantha
in reply to a message by Retrospectre
OP, what is your current earliest record (of a real person, not character) of the spelling “Samantha” or “Samanthe”? I’ve been sifting through familysearch records and most of the earliest ones (1780s - early 19th century) are just from indexes that could have transcribed the wrong name or the right name with the wrong spelling/variant. I’m just curious what your earliest one is that you’ve found.
2
Replies
I could definitely do with some help on that as all the earliest forms I found were Semanthe or Semantha. The oldest Samantha I could verify was from the 1840 census and this 1830 headstone which is very hard to read https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/129966530/samantha-barrett
There's also a Trumbull Ohio tax record from
1823 that has a Samantha Smith. But everything I can check before that is too hard to read or actually Semantha. I have not been thorough, there's likely an earlier one.
There's also a Trumbull Ohio tax record from
1823 that has a Samantha Smith. But everything I can check before that is too hard to read or actually Semantha. I have not been thorough, there's likely an earlier one.
This message was edited 1/4/2025, 2:34 AM
2
I’ve seen several Samanthas in Canadian records from the 1830s. It looks like this spelling was beginning to be popularized by then. examples include Samantha Ann Crandle, married 1835 in London, Ontario and Samantha Coldgrove, married 1833 in Bytown, Ontario. It’s hard to find records from this time in the States or even earlier records anywhere just since they don’t seem to be photoscanned and put online.
After some research, the earliest one I’ve been able to find and confirm as saying “Samantha” is Avalina Samantha Abell, who was born in 1797 in Bozrah, Connecticut. Just looking through the profiles and sources on FamilySearch, it looks like her father was Simeon Jr., his father was Simeon Sr., and Simeon Sr.’s father was Samuel, and Simeon Sr. also had a brother called Samuel. So Avalina’s father would have had both his grandfather’s name and uncle’s name be Samuel, so it’s very possible she was named for either or both of them. Additionally, it seems like naming new children after family members was common in this family — many children given their mother’s name or their grandfather’s name, etc. Avalina Samantha Abell’s 1812 marriage is also in this record (with the same spelling “Samantha”): https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89V5-VCFS?view=index&action=view&cc=2448940
After some research, the earliest one I’ve been able to find and confirm as saying “Samantha” is Avalina Samantha Abell, who was born in 1797 in Bozrah, Connecticut. Just looking through the profiles and sources on FamilySearch, it looks like her father was Simeon Jr., his father was Simeon Sr., and Simeon Sr.’s father was Samuel, and Simeon Sr. also had a brother called Samuel. So Avalina’s father would have had both his grandfather’s name and uncle’s name be Samuel, so it’s very possible she was named for either or both of them. Additionally, it seems like naming new children after family members was common in this family — many children given their mother’s name or their grandfather’s name, etc. Avalina Samantha Abell’s 1812 marriage is also in this record (with the same spelling “Samantha”): https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89V5-VCFS?view=index&action=view&cc=2448940
3
Thank you! This is both earlier and related to a Samuel! It is kind of odd that Samantha was the most common spelling by the 1840 US census but so hard to find compared to Semanthe before that. Was there some famous Samantha that made everyone recording the census names "correct" the spelling of Semantha?
1