I puzzled over Train C. McClure for a long time. He was the third son of Benjamin McClure and Sarah Denning, and he was born in 1843 in Wabash county, Indiana. Train was my hubby's first great-grand uncle on his mother's McClure side.
Train McClure served nearly three years in the Civil War, enlisting in Company A, Indiana 89th Infantry Regiment on Aug 3, 1862 and being mustered out on Jul 19, 1865 at Mobile, Alabama.
Two years after his military service, he married Gulia Swain and started a family. Train C. McClure died in 1934.
But why did Benjamin and Sarah name this son Train? And what does his middle initial C stand for?
Now I believe I know.
Benjamin had a younger sister named Jane McClure, who married Train Caldwell on April 5, 1831 (above is their marriage document, thanks to Family Search).
So it seems reasonable to think that Benjamin named his third son Train Caldwell McClure after his brother-in-law Train Caldwell.
Just to make it interesting, notice that the clerk of the court on Train's marriage document is William Caldwell and the justice of the peace is (I'm not making this up) Manlove Caldwell.
And even more interesting, Jane McClure's husband Train Caldwell isn't the only man with that name in Indiana during the time period. I'm currently trying to sort out which Train is which without derailing my research :)
Train...what an interesting name. I'm not sure I've ever heard of that before.
ReplyDeleteJana, the "original" Train Caldwell was named before train transportation was even available in America . . . but some earlier meanings of the word "train" relate to "trailing" (such as the train of a bride's dress) or to drag or draw along, on a journey perhaps. Then again, with a family that used names such as "Manlove," naming conventions were rather unconventional, wouldn't you say?
DeleteWhat a great story. I'm sure "train" was used as a verb, but that doesn't make sense either.
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