{"id":57,"date":"2015-06-04T21:36:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-04T21:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rootdig.genealogytipoftheday.com\/?p=57"},"modified":"2015-06-04T22:04:00","modified_gmt":"2015-06-04T22:04:00","slug":"michael-john-or-john-michael","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rootdig.genealogytipoftheday.com\/?p=57","title":{"rendered":"Michael John or John Michael?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"p.

p. 11, Mills, Elizabeth, Shown. Evidence Explained<\/em>, 2007 edition.<\/p><\/div>\n

There’s always a certain amount of irony when I’m referred to as “John Michael” instead of “Michael John.” Ironic because my name was supposed to be John Michael instead of Michael John.<\/p>\n

Until Grandma Neill heard about it.<\/p>\n

The reasons why my mother chose Michael for my first name have been lost to the ages. When asked, Mom only told me that she liked the name and at the the time that was good enough for me. \u00a0There was no need to ask where John came from.\u00a0My maternal grandfather was John H. Ufkes and that first name had been passed from grandfather to grandson since Johann Hinrichs Borjes was born in Holtrop, Germany, in 1687. \u00a0It was virtually the Ufkes Law that the name John be used and used liberally.<\/p>\n

The name Michael wasn’t used in my maternal family, at least not by any relatives born before me. It was used in my Grandmother Neill’s family, but I was not aware of it until I began my genealogical research. \u00a0And that’s why Grandma objected to me being named John Michael: her\u00a0brother.<\/p>\n

“A rounder” is what Grandma called him, a vague phrase covering a potential variety of ills which children were not to be told specifically. \u00a0Dying in a car accident in his thirties while out carousing and nearly forty years before I was born, Grandma never told me he was also divorced a few years before he died. She only told me that she refused to attend his funeral.<\/p>\n

So there wouldn’t be a grandson named John Michael because one John Michael Trautvetter was enough.<\/p>\n

Turns out Grandma’s brother wasn’t really named John Michael either.<\/p>\n

His 1898 christening record at the small church in Tioga, Illinois, indicates that his christening name was John Julius. John for his grandfather and Julius for his godfather. And his grandfather was named John Michael Trautvetter and it’s easy to understand why Grandma thought her brother’s name was John Michael as well.<\/p>\n

It turns out that Grandma’s Grandpa, John Michael Trautvetter (1839-1917), wasn’t the first John Michael Trautvetter. There were several Trautvetters named Michael. The earliest documented John Michael\u00a0was Johann Michael Trautvetter who in the 1790s was living in Wildprechtrode, Thuringen, Germany, when he was a godparent for his brother Erasmus Trautvetter’s child also christened Johann Michael Trautvetter.<\/p>\n

\"john-michael\"<\/a>

The Earliest John Michael Trauvetter from Wildprechtrode, Thuringen, Germany. Taken from a 1790s era christening where he appears as a godfather.<\/p><\/div>\n

Of course, my Mother didn’t know all that when she chose Michael to be one of my names.<\/p>\n

So when I get referred to as John Michael, and I invariably do, I never get upset and I always chuckle. In fact, I rarely even mention it. \u00a0I’m pretty certain I didn’t when I noted that my names were switched in\u00a0Evidence Explained<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I’ve adopted the approach that it was the way Mom wanted it…so it’s ok.<\/p>\n

And since I’m pretty much grown by now, hopefully Grandma’s ok with it too.<\/p>\n

And….I’ve long been thankful it was Michael John and not Julius John.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s always a certain amount of irony when I’m referred to as “John Michael” instead of “Michael John.” Ironic because my name was supposed to be John Michael instead of Michael John. Until Grandma Neill heard about it. The reasons why my mother chose Michael for my first name have been lost to the ages. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rootdig.genealogytipoftheday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rootdig.genealogytipoftheday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rootdig.genealogytipoftheday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rootdig.genealogytipoftheday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rootdig.genealogytipoftheday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rootdig.genealogytipoftheday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rootdig.genealogytipoftheday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rootdig.genealogytipoftheday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rootdig.genealogytipoftheday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}