The Namesake

Once upon a time when the hubby and I were first married, his Grandma Patrick was having a bad case of great-grandbaby fever.  Her brothers and sisters had all started to have some come around and she was ready!  Hubby and I were the first prospect and so when we'd visit her, she'd drop hints like "when I have great-grandchildren...".  Unfortunately she didn't live to see any of those little twinkles in her eye in person, but we did fulfill one of her requests.  She used to say, "if you have a daughter, you should name her Artemacy or Sevilla".  Both were family names from both her side and her husband's and she always thought they were so neat:)  So, when Mookie came along we gave her the middle name Artemissia, and then named her first name after our beloved Grandma Patrick who gave us the idea.

Mookie 3 months

So who is this great-great-great Grandma we named our little girl after?  Artemacy Pritchett was the daughter of Andrew and Louisa Myers Pritchett.  In 1850, just before she was married, she's living with the Clark family in Morgan County, Indiana.  Her mother had just passed, and her father had died a few years previous.  She married John Edgar Patrick later that year and had 9 children over the next 22 years they had together.  In 1872 John died in a railroad accident. When we visited Indiana several years ago, I was unable to get the newspapers for that era because they were missing!  Maybe someday I can get more details. 

Artemacy, Velma, and Eliza

  Last year a distant cousin of Hubby's sent us a picture of Artemacy!  I was so excited! It was taken with her daughter Eliza (Patrick) Stone and granddaughter (aunt to my Hubby) Velma Patrick.  I envision that this was taken when Artemacy was taking Velma, who had been recently orphaned due to a flu epidemic, to live with Eliza. The funny thing is that recently I finally found Artemacy in the 1900 census, which was about the time this picture was taken, because living with Eliza Stone in Texas is an "Arta Mason".  Ha! Don't let those census takers fool you. They aren't always correct in their transcriptions:) 

  One physical tie our family has is a fan that belonged to Artemacy.  It was given to Hubby's grandparents on their anniversary by some distant Patrick cousins.  It is a treasure to have something that she actually owned and touched.  It brings the past to life!