Date in History: N/A
Everyone probably knows, or has heard of, someone who married themselves right into an unusual name. For instance, in 1919 a young woman named Golden Ward married Fort Atkinson dentist, Dr. Orie Gates and wound up with the bridge-like name of Golden Gates.
Staff at the Hoard Museum frequently run across unusual names from the past. Recently, while reading an obituary of a Fort Atkinson resident named Sarah Child Petit, we learned that Sarah’s father’s name was Dr. Increase Child, and her mother’s given name was Desire. Apparently, the aforementioned couple, Increase and Desire Child, managed to live up to their billing as the obituary dryly went on to note that they raised a large family.
This historic document aired on the radio as an Historic Minute on 09/20/2004.