Christopher Columbus Whitmire was born in 1794 to Michael Whitmire, the son of Michael Christopher Whitmire, who was the son of Christopher Widmyer. The name stands out to me! In all my years of research, I have run across some very interesting names. Some are lovely names. Some names were trendy for their time. Some names are exotically ethnic. Many names come from the Bible and from forefathers. Some names have been downright humorous and left me wondering what the baby's mother was thinking! Quite a few names appear in the family history of famous men, and I often wonder why the man was so admired by the parents who bestowed his name on their son.
It appears that Christopher was a common name among the Whitmire family. Michael Christopher is the first one that I know of who chose the name Christopher Columbus for his son. This first Christopher Columbus was an uncle to the Christopher Columbus born in 1794. Perhaps the younger was named for the elder. But the elder, no doubt was named for the famous Portuguese explorer.
Our ancestors who lived at the birth of this nation admired Christopher Columbus for his role in opening up the newfound continent to the eastern hemisphere. It was after his arrival that "the masses yearning to be free" began to come. Michael Christopher Whitmire was himself an immigrant from Wurtemberg who arrived here before 1762. In choosing the name Christopher Columbus for his son, he honored both his father and the man who found this land that became his new home.
The younger Christopher Columbus Whitmire had sons upon whom he bestowed some thoughtful names:
William Monteith. Monteith is a name found in Georgia and North Carolina. Many of the first settlers here were Scots-Irish. Indeed, Montieth is a place found in both Scotland and Ireland. As there are no other known Monteiths in Christopher's family, this son may have been named so to represent the ancestry of Christopher's wife Sarah Galloway.
George Washington. This famous man was very much beloved by his contemporaries and for several more generations. He was admired for his intelligence, for his role in securing American independence, and for his demeanor.
James Marion. Many men of this time period who bore the name Marion were so named for Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox, who outsmarted the British soldiers in the southern colonies during the Revolutionary War. He was another man much admired and honored for contributing to the Colonies' separation from tyrannical England.
Henry Declave. This name stumps me because I cannot find reference to the name anywhere--in the family history or American history. Perhaps a reader of this article will know where it comes from.
Image By Kenneth C. Zirkel - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21434861
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