Was It Luroncy or Lurancy? Trying To Sort It Out

My maternal great great grandmother, Luroncy Louisa (Grandy) Lemon, had a very unusual first name.  In fact, I have never seen it anywhere else---except that her own mother was also named Luroncy.  

This is a photo of the author's maternal great great grandmother, Luroncy Louisa (Grandy) Lemon.

On several U. S. Census reports, it appears that her name was "Lurancy."   However I believe that the "a" is really an "o" and that the handwriting is just not easily distinguished.  I have heard several of my cousins talk about what she was commonly called.   Some say they remember "Lucy."   Some say they remember "Louisa."   Almost no one says that they remember her being called Luroncy.  My maternal grandmother, Mildred Mae (McCauley) Corbin-Clark told me that she remembered her grandmother being called Louisa.   She said her mother, Lucy Mae, always called her Louisa.   My grandmother Mildred was born in 1902, so she would have been 16 when Luroncy Louisa passed away, old enough to remember what she was called.

I have a copy of her death certificate from 1918.   She was living with her youngest daughter, my great grandmother, Lucy Mae (Lemon) McCauley-Bonta-Strong at Clements, Marion County, Kansas when she died.   Lucy Mae must have told the doctor who attended her that her name was Luroncy Louisa Lemon, as reported on the certificate.

Since all of Luroncy Louisa's children and grandchildren are all deceased now, it isn't likely that we'll get a definite answer to this question.   However I am certain that her real full name was Luroncy Louisa (Grandy) Lemon and since my grandmother Mildred called her Louisa, that will be my personal preference as well.    Here is the chart of her parents and brothers and sisters:

Ira Grandy - born January 23, 1802 at Waitsfield, Washington County, Vermont
                  - died April 29, 1885 at St. Charles, Kane County, Illinois
Married: Luroncy Silbey - born June 12, 1805 at Farmington, Middlesex, Massachusetts
                                         - died March 20, 1885 at St. Charles, Kane County, Illinois
Their marriage occurred on February 29, 1824 at Warren, Washington County, Vermont.   Note 1824 was a "leap year."   February 29 only occurs every four years, so they could only celebrate their anniversary on the actual day every four years.

Children of Ira and Luroncy (Silbey) Grandy:
Sorrell - (unknown)
John Ira Grandy - 1826 to 1902
Elizabeth Grandy - 1827
John Lewis Grandy - 1830 to 1902
Lorilla Grandy - 1831
Luroncy Louisa Grandy - 1835 to 1918
Kate A. Grandy - 1842


Luroncy Louisa Grandy married Stewart Montgomery Lemon on August 24, 1847 at Lake Geneva, Walworth County, Wisconsin.  There is no record of the Grandy Family living there, since they are in New York State on the 1840 Census and in Illinois for the 1850 Census.   Lake Geneva was a logging area during the 1840s and Stewart Lemon and Ira Grandy may have been working in logging camps but that information is purely speculation.

Stewart M. Lemon was 21-years-old when they were married and Luroncy Louisa Grandy was 13-years-old.  Since Charles Montgomery Lemon is their oldest child and he was born in 1851, Louisa did not have children until she was 17-years-old.

The U. S. Census in 1850, records that Louisa Lemon was either visiting or living with her parents, Ira and Luroncy (Silbey) Grandy at that time.  The census was taken on October 15, 1850 and she and her parents were at Wayne, DuPage County, Illinois at that time.   On that census, her mother's name is given as "Luroncy" and her name is recorded as "Louisa."   Since she is a married adult and provides the census taker the name "Louisa," I consider that another good reason to believe she called herself "Louisa" Lemon.

Happy Trails!