JOTS & JAUNTS

NAMES THAT ARE MEMORABLE

My maternal grandfather was a Texan born in 1894.  While in the service, he went home to Pennsylvania with a good friend where he met and then married his friend’s sister, my grandmother.  My grandfather moved east to Pennsylvania and then together they re-located to Adrian, Michigan where they lived out their lives.   And their house is still standing, but looking a bit smaller.

When I knew him, Granddaddy was still a handsome man, solidly built with a full head of thick white hair and a somewhat leathery face.  He enjoyed the outdoors, was an avid fisherman, and he and my grandmother spent part of the winter in Arizona in their later years.  At home, and especially after retiring, he spent time cultivating a large vegetable garden, “the back 40,” he called it.  Kentucky Wonder green beans, New Zealand spinach (the name was supposed to make it go down better with us kids), and okra (not a vegetable I’d ever encountered before) were some of the bounty of his labors.  I also recall that he was a fan of a daily late afternoon nap, stretched out on the living room couch.  A practice my mother also adopted.  

In his working life, Granddaddy was a traveling salesman for a hardware distributor making calls on stores in the greater Adrian region to sell the Bingham Company’s wares.  Like him, two of his sons were also “drummers” for this firm for a time.  He must have been persuasive since he was successful in the business, but I, his granddaughter, never found him to be much of a conversationalist.  And I was a bit intimidated by his seemingly gruff manner. 

My last vivid memories of him are the weekend we spent in Ohio one summer celebrating his and Grandmommy’s 40^thwedding anniversary.  It was a fun family reunion, and all our cousins were in attendance as well as great aunts and uncles I hadn’t previously met.  Sadly, he died only a couple years later when I was fourteen, and I missed the chance to get to know him better.

He was known as Bill and my grandmother was Jean.  But his first and middle names were “Zenith” and “Boone.” That’s a mouthful.  Combine it with a notable last name like “Hancock,” and you’ve got quite a handle.  I got curious about his names and did a bit of research on how often certain names are used.  It turns out that according to Social Security Administration records, Zenith was used as a first name for only 430 babies between 1880 and 2017.  In the year, 1897, six babies were named Zenith, and the first recorded Zenith in the U.S. was in 1875.  Even more surprising, the year that saw the most babies given that name was 2017 with 19.  As far as I can tell, there were no other Zeniths in the family before my grandfather.  Perhaps his parents, William Allen and Sarah Elizabeth, just liked the sound of it and its connotation as the highest. 

His middle name, “Boone,” was easier to trace.  Family lore had had it that somehow, we were related to the famous Daniel Boone.  But I also discovered that the name Boone has occurred most often in Texas.  And my grandfather’s grandfather (his mother’s father) was Nathaniel Boone Burkett, born in 1820, the year Daniel Boone died.  A note in the genealogy site, geni.com, added by another Geni user, states that Mr. Burkett was named after the youngest son of Daniel Boone, a close family friend.  That son was Nathan Boone. One mystery solved.

Bill and Jean Hancock, my grandparents, had four children. (Note that there were almost half a million girls named “Jean” between 1880 and 2017).   They named their oldest son and firstborn for his father and he was Zenith Boone Hancock, Jr.  He was also known as “Bill.”  My mother was next and was just Elizabeth, perhaps for her grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth, but I don’t really know.  The second son was James with Findley (my grandmother’s maiden name).  Lastly, the youngest and third son was christened John Hancock, no middle name, but a very distinctive name for sure. 

Uncle Bill (Z. B. Jr.) married and divorced and had no children so there were no more Zeniths.  The male names given to my cousins were: James, David, John, and Steven, while my parents conferred names from my father’s side on my only brother.  In naming our son, the Chief Penguin and I decided that “Hancock” was a most appropriate middle name. But to answer the unasked question, I don’t believe we are direct descendants of the John Hancock.

DINING OUT

We had heard a bit about and I kept reading about The Rosemary. Finally last weekend, the Chief Penguin and I dined there with friends.  The restaurant that offers dinner is now several doors down from the original Rosemary (serving breakfast and lunch) and is called Rosemary and Thyme.  It is lovely and pleasant and inside doesn’t feel at all like you are in Sarasota. 

The main dining room is large and nicely appointed with dark wood sideboard and attractive tables comfortably spaced.  There is a side room which is longer and narrower with tables and booths closer together.  And, as a third option, you can dine outside in a more casual area.  I ordered the swordfish special which was excellent accompanied by risotto and veggies, while others sampled the tasty grouper, the delectable looking scallops, and the fish soup which got rave reviews.  It’s a great addition to our Sarasota dining repertoire.