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Archiver > IOWA > 2002-05 > 1020692268


From: "JACK CHILDERS" <>
Subject: [IOWA] Names
Date: Mon, 6 May 2002 08:37:48 -0500


My name came about in a rather unusual manner, just to show you that you can't always go by a naming pattern.

When my mother first met my father he lied about his name. He told her his name was Lloyd Jack. Being a farm girl from Iowa, my mother said she had never known a Jack before, so she was enchanted by the name. Come to the time of saying I do at the alter my father confessed that his name was actually Lloyd Childers. After some shuffling of the paperwork mother went ahead an married him under the Childers name, but when I was born she was insistent on naming me Jack, said she was darn sure going to have a Jack somewhere in the family !

Jack is my middle name. My first name is Walter and that name came from a favorite uncle of my mothers. Her uncle Walter was a drinker. One night in Frederic, Iowa, he passed out and in falling he threw both of his arms across the railroad tracks. Yes, the train came along and removed both of his arms.

So it turns out I was named after an armless drunk and a fictional person !

As an aside, in my family file containing over 20,000 individuals, I am the only Walter listed as a first name. I have several entries showing Walter as a middle name. I found that to be unusual. Evidently Walter is/was not a popular name.

Jack Childers in OKC
International Society of BlackSheep Genealogists
http://www.gbnf.com/genealogy/childers/html/surnames.htm
"I've traveled a long way and some of the roads were not paved"


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