The Name Game

If there is some confusion regarding Lavinia Young it is to be expected. Over the years there have been many Lavinia Youngs.  But this particular Lavinia Young is by far and away the most well-known Lavinia Young. She was a philanthropist and by all accounts was very well loved and respected by all. When she died there were two half page obituary articles telling of how loved and revered she was. She and her husband Thomas Jones founded Greenwood which was a large plantation with a very large mansion type home which was their base for as long as he was alive and all but a few years while she was alive.

Lavinia Young is Born
William and Mary Henderson Young had ten children. The last was a girl named Lavinia.  She was born on May 14, 1810. Apparently Mary Young died while giving birth to Lavinia (1)  because May 14, 1810 is the date given for Mary’s death. William Young, patriarch of this large well-respected family helped not only settle Georgia from wilderness but was also instrumental in bringing the first constitution to fruition. And somewhere in bertween all of that, fought the British soldiers off and still managed to father at least nine children.
William and Mary Henderson Young were very close to a few large families. Probably the closest was that of the Jones’. The patriarch of that family was James Jones. He and William Young even went so far as to buy land from each other that had been acquired as part of a homestead act.  In this manner they were able to eventually own up to forty thousand acres in Thomas County Georgia. Two very smart patriarchs and yet couldn't seem to extend their naming ability past a few, really common names.


William and Mary Young’s daughter Lavinia  Young married Thomas Jones, son of Francis Jones, and grandson of James Jones.   Thereafter she was named Lavinia Young-Jones. William and Mary Young’s first child was named James Young. He married Thomas Jones’ sister (daughter of Francis Jones) who was named Lavinia Jones.  She was thereafter named, Lavinia Jones-Young.
So far we have Thomas and Lavinia Young-Jones.  We also have James and Lavinia Jones- Young. They had eight children. Their sixth child was a girl named Lavinia Jones Young. 

In the meantime, Michael Young married Sarah Everett. . Their first born child was named James Everett Young. The second Lavinia Jones Young married her first cousin James Everett Young. That gave us another James and Lavinia Young. So now there are two couples named James and Lavinia Young. The first was James Young who married Lavinia Jones who had a daughter named Lavinia Jones Young. That daughter married the first child of Michael Young and Sarah Everett  named James Everett Young which created another James and Lavinia Young. .Yes, James Everett Young and Lavinia Young were first cousins.

 

Also of interest is the fact that James and Lavinia Jones Young had a son named Thomas Jones Young. Apparently it was a sign of respect in those days to give as a first or middle name of your good friends.  Not to be outdone, James and Lavinia Young Jones had a son named   Thomas Young Jones. And just in case there wasn't enough confusion, Thomas and Lavinia Young-Jones had a son and named him, James Young Jones.


Synopsis:
Thomas Jones married Lavinia Young.  She became Lavinia Young-Jones Thomas and Lavinia Young-Jones had a son named James Young Jones and one named Thomas Young Jones
James Young married Lavinia Jones who was Thomas Jones' sister. She became Lavinia Jones-Young. 
James and Lavinia Jones-Young had a son named Thomas Jones Young. They also had a son named James Everett Young.  He married his first cousin Lavinia Jones Young who was the daugter of James and Lavinia Jones-Young..  I guess James Everett and Lavinia Young just couldn’t put everyone through that name nightmare so their names remained the same after and before marriage. I guess that is one solution to breaking the name game.

William and Mary Henderson Young’s son Willis married Mary Carter Everett.  Following suit, Willis’ brother Michael married Mary Carter Everett’s sister Sarah who begat James Everett Young who married his first cousin Lavinia Young


And that’s how you play the Young family’s name game.
..I think.

(1)
I have seen some reports that have Lavinia’s birth at 1809. But I have sourced information in the form of a photograph of Lavinia’s grave in the Jones Young Family Cemetery.  It is clearly marked as May 14 , 1810

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