Zechariah Foulser NICHOLAS - Middle Name Mystery

[kristasis]

Hi there, My name is Krista NICHOLAS and I am interested in information about my GGG grandfather Zechariah Foulser NICHOLAS.

Zechariah Foulser NICHOLAS was born 1818 in Deal, Kent, England to Zechariah NICHOLAS and Hannah (Hannah's maiden name was ASHINGTON and her parents were Thomas ASHINGTON and Rebecca REDMAN. She was a widow when she married Zechariah and her surname at the time was GARDNER).

The thing I am interested in though is as to WHY Zechariah and Hannah named their child Zechariah Foulser NICHOLAS. Zechariah Foulser NICHOLAS was born in the December 1818 and Hannah and Zechariah married in the May of 1818 which means she was already pregnant with him when they were married. I am interested if anyone has any ideas about why Foulser could have been his middle name.

I had thought of the far fetched possibility that his father may not have been Zechariah NICHOLAS and that his biological father may have been a FOULSER hence why his middle name was Foulser (considering his mother was pregnant with him when she got married to Zechariah). does any one else have any other ideas or information?

Zechariah Foulser NICHOLAS moved to Ireland and was married to Anne GRIFFITHS in 1853 in Galway.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what I can do to find information regarding this Foulser link? I find it strange that his middle name would have just been Foulser without reason (although his grandmother was Fowler)., I feel as though there must be some link somewhere.

Any help or ideas would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,
Krista.

[charlotteCH]

Hi Krista and welcome to rootschat

There could be a simple unexpected answer to that middle name- I had the same situation with the use of "Flavel" as a middle name.  I googled and discovered that Flavel was the surname of a Puritan writer.   This fitted as  the father of the boy was a nonconformist clergyman and I think he was a fan of Flavel's books.

Why not G**gle   FOULSER... just on the off chance you find something that looks a possibilty.

charlotte

[Siamese Girl]

I see on the IGI another son born to the couple in 1820 was baptised George Gardner Nicholass - it's more likely that Foulser will be a surname in the Nicholas family - possibly his mother's maiden name?

I think it very unlikely if Hannah was pregnant by someone else when she married that Zachariah would want to acknowledge the fact so publically.

Carole

[kristasis]

Thank you both for your replies.

When Hannah and Zechariah were married Hannah's name was Gardner (she was a widow and her late husbands name was George Gardner). There are no maiden names that we can find that reflect the Foulser name... Except possibly his grandmother who was Fowler. Hannahs maiden name was Ashington. I found it strange also that she named her son with Zechariah after the surname of her late husband (George Gardner Nicholas, b 1820) ... this is why I had thought of the other possibility.

Thank you Charlotte also for your message. That is an interesting idea and I will definitely look into it.

Thanks again,
Krista

[nigelo]

"Except possibly his grandmother who was Fowler."

I would have said that is the most likely answer. Its not hard to see how FOWLER cold be misrepresented as FOULSER.

The mistake might have been made by whoever wrote the original details in the parish register; it might have been done by whoever transcribed it later; or it might have been done when the IGI transcription was digitised for their web database. I would recommend you find a way to view the original parish register page to see what was actually written there, and how legible it is.

[charlotteCH]

Agree with Nigelo that that is the ost likely answer to the mystery of that middle name- mistranscription.

charlotte

[rogee]

Hi Krista I have been a Foulser for 59 years, my name is Roger, I have traced my name back to 1752 to John who married Mary Lamborn, I think we originate from Diss Norfolk. Getting back to your mystery, one of my ancestors name was Zachariah Corneluis Foulser, he was born 23/7/1806, could he be connected? He would have been around eighteen at the time of the birth, seems strange that Hannah married a guy with a similar christian name that was spelt slightly different? you can check out my Zac on familysearch.org. I can also tell you that around three hundred years back the maiden name of a wife was given to the first born child whether it be male or female, I found another Roger Foulser who married  a Mary Moore  the first born was called Moore Foulser, I cannot find the link to me yet, this may have something to do with your case. Just to add a few more coincidents, my daughters first husband's name was Stuart Gardner, the name Gardner originates from slave traders allegedly, she married a second time and had a baby boy, she has called him Zak, small world eh. keep me posted. Roger

[kristasis]

Hi  Roger, thank you very much for your story and suggestions. This will definitely have to be something that I will look into... especially after Christmas. There are a lot of coincidences there though, it sure is a small world. We think that Foulser probably came from Zachariah's mother, sarah fowler (with mispellings and pronounciations etc), our Foulsers are probably still linked though (and the Zachariah is definitely a coincidence - do you know where Cornelius came from?). Thank you also for the information about the mothers maiden name... that is definitely an interesting concept to keep in mind for further research. I will definitely keep you posted on further findings. Thanks again, Krista.

[rogee]

Hi Krista you are more than welcome, it is very strange to have Foulser as a middle name, as you have suggested there must be a link somewhere. Regards the name Cornelius, I have not seen it mentioned anywhere with past Foulsers that I have traced, it was mentioned in one of the Planet of the ape movie's lol, apart from that, no idea. There are so many variations of Foulser,Folser,foudlesier, fowler ect, from what I have picked up, some of the errors were caused by the scribe who filled in the forms, many people were illiterate, in the case of my family name I have found that most of the men could read and write, however the woman were treated as second class citizens and did not get a good education, I have found old documents where the men could sign there name, but the woman signed with an X. You often see a ff at the start of some names starting with F, this was how a scribe did a capital letter F and it was sometimes mistaken for two ff's, I found that out on Steven Fry's QI show. You will recall in my last email I mentioned that I had traced my name back to John Foulser who married Mary Lamborn at St Georges church Hanover Square Westminster in 1752, I feel sure that he made his way down to London from Norfolk, but I cannot make the connection which is very frustrating, if there is anybody that could get me back a bit further, I would be more than willing to donate to there favorite charity. Krista hope you have a great Christmas. Keep in touch. Roger