My family and I recently make a trip home to Ellwood City,
Pennsylvania to celebrate my mother’s 70th birthday and to spend
time with my father who has stage four throat cancer. It was a wonderful trip. We
had a wonderful time with our family; getting to laugh and spend quality time
getting closer to our father and siblings is something I will cherish for a lifetime.
On our last day we were spending time with our father at our
sister Tina’s house. On this day two of our Aunts and one of our Uncles was
there and as always talk turned to family history. Somehow we got around to my
mother’s father and my beloved Grandfather, Holiday Waters Nye and I mentioned
that I wished I knew how my Grandfather got his name.
See my mostly German-English family has passed names over
and over and over again down the generations and then comes Holiday Waters Nye.
Where in the world did that name come from? Many have asked over the years and
all were told he was named for the “day before Ground Hogs day” because Pap’s
birthday was February 1st, but no one ever provided a real
reasonable explanation.
However, when I mentioned that I wished I knew how my
Grandfather got his name my Aunt Edna said, “I know. He was named after the man
who founded Ellwood City, Holiday Waters Hartman.” This was a complete and
total shock because first and for most Aunt Edna is my Dad’s sister, not my Mum’s
sister so Holiday Waters Nye was not her father, so how does she know this????
Secondly, I was totally shocked because I would have never in a million years
thought that my Pappy would be named after someone who founded out town.
So I filed that in the back of my head and came back to
Florida. I filed it so well I completely forgot about it until last night in
the middle of the night I woke and said, “I need to look up who founded Ellwood
City.” I must say I was disappointed that the information provided on Wikipedia
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellwood_City,_Pennsylvania)
mentions NOTHING about the
founder of Ellwood City!
The second website that I clicked on (http://judgingbyhisbooks.blogspot.com/2008/09/rise-of-henry-waters-hartman.html)
gave me the information I needed. Ellwood City, Pennsylvania was founded by H
Waters Hartman. His first name is not Holiday, but Henry so at first I thought
my Aunt was mistaken, but then I continued to read and found that H. Waters
Hartman’s son was named Holliday Ellwood Hartman. My mouth was hanging open
with surprise and excitement. Here was my Grandfather’s name; never have I ever
seen anyone with a name even close to my Grandfather’s name. I wanted to cry I was
so happy.
What I need to find out now is why? Why did Victor and Mary
(Graff) Nye name their son after these two men? Could Holliday Ellwood Hartman
know my Great-Grandfather Victor? They were both born in the 1880's and were
only two-years apart in age. Was Henry Waters Hartman friends with Victor's
father and thus knew Victor? This new mystery is SO exciting to me I don’t know
how if I will sleep tonight.
Mysteries like this make Genealogist continue to search!
Mysteries like this are why Family History is so much fun! Mysteries like this
are what keeps me searching and enjoying what I do.
