One of my great-great grandmothers, on my mother's side, bore the name Juan Fernandez Pritt. In various census records she is listed as Penandis, Permandus, Joana P., Juann P., Joanne, and Pernandis E. Even though one of the most thorough researchers in the area found her listed as Juan Fernandez in the Weston, West Virginia courthouse, who can blame him, and others, for assuming that was an error and calling her Joanna? Even her middle name would be in question because of the census data.
I'm convinced, however, that Juan Fernandez is her correct name, although she was no doubt called by one or more nicknames throughout her life. The name in that form shows up in a published biography of her eldest son (my great-grandfather), and also on his official death certificate, bizarre as it seems for a child born in the backwoods of West Virginia, with no Hispanic relatives in sight.It took only a few minutes of searching to reveal several women with the same odd appellation. Why would anyone name a little girl Juan Fernandez? Someone else asked, and answered, that question here, in the case of Juan Fernandez Bennett and Juan Fernandez Cuffee.
Was there a seafarer amongst my great-great-grandmother's forebears? What I know so far of her ancestry has her roots firmly planted in the mountains, but there's still room for an old salt, or perhaps an unusually literate hillbilly, somewhere in the family tree.Why would someone name a beautiful African American girl, who ultimately graduated from Philadelphia Medical College in 1888, “Juan Fernandez” Bennett? What kind of name was that for a girl? Family research revealed that Dr. Bennett’s grandmother, known as Johanna F. Cuffee, was originally named Juan Fernandez Cuffee. Apparently William Cuffee, her sea-faring father, named his daughter for the Juan Fernandez Islands off the coast of South America. These islands were the first place that ships set into port after the harrowing experience of rounding the Horn.
