“a.k.a.”, although perhaps not as ubiquitous as “LOL” or “OMG” in our increasingly emoji and acronym-driven world, is commonly used today. While there exists more than one interpretation of the well-known acronym, the most common usage, “also known as”, is a legal one in terms of identifying either a legal or, in the case of one (or more) of our elusive ancestors, a nefarious name change.
As an adverb the term “alias” means “otherwise”, “also known as” or “also called”. As a noun the term might range in meaning for any number of reasons – “assumed name”, “nom de plume”, “pen name”, “nickname”, “stage name” and so on. By 1935 the acronym had become a common legal term. However, for years the term “alias” was more commonly used when noting someone might otherwise be known by another name.
Anyone who has spent time researching ancestors – especially the “disappearing” kind – has mulled over whether their kin had, for some reason or another, changed their name. Human nature being what it is, one of the first questions we often ask ourselves is “were they running from the law?”. Of course, that was sometimes the case, and finding them is exponentially more difficult because they obviously didn’t want to be found.
There are any number of reasons why someone might have changed their name, although not always via proper legal channels:
● Immigrants with difficult to spell or pronounce names
● Political reasons, such as immigrants dealing with prejudice and social isolation in wartime
● Running from the law, or leaving behind an otherwise unfortunate past
● Adoptee or foster child changing to surname of legal guardian
● Slaves changing their name to distance themselves from a painful past
● Victims of abuse
● Joining a religious order (monastery or convent)
● Celebrities, or other famous people, who change their otherwise common name
Probably the hardest to track down, of course, is the nefarious use of an alias (or aliases) involving a criminal act.
On the Lam
Obviously, there’s a reason the most difficult name change to trace is the felonious/nefarious kind since the individual likely wouldn’t have pursued any type of legal instrument. In the case of one client’s ancestor, he was born John Adam Boozer, the son of George Henry and Mary Jane (Wilson) Boozer, on April 24, 1852 in Newberry County, South Carolina. John appears to have been their first child and in 1860 and 1870 was enumerated in their household.
While family historians aren’t certain as to his whereabouts for the next five years, evidence suggests he was a drifter and may have been fleeing the law. I haven’t found any specific family story which points to the crime, but around the time he may have run into trouble with the law I found this news item in 1872:
John Boozer, alias Charley Mason, Watson and Wilson, and hailing from Newberry, suspected of horse-stealing, was arrested in White County, Ga., On the 29th ultimo, and committed to jail in Abbeville County.1
Horse-thieving was quite a serious crime at the time. If this is the same John Boozer as my client’s second great grandfather, it’s certainly possible he escaped from jail and headed west to begin a new life. By all accounts, John ended up in Clark County, Arkansas working for Hezekiah “Ki” Cash. In January 1874 he married Mary Amanda McCollum, Hezekiah’s seventeen year-old niece.
It’s entirely possible Mary Amanda was living with her uncle at the time, since her father, John Webster McCollum, died in 1862 while serving in the Confederate Army. Her mother, Alley Banks (Cash) McCollum, died after the 1870 census, perhaps around 1871.
Should the news clipping refer to my client’s ancestor John Boozer, he had already become adept at evading the law by utilizing various aliases. However, if this is one and the same person, he was not using an alias at the time of his marriage.
Exactly when it happened is unclear, but one fateful day John Adam Boozer took the name of John Adam Cash, packed his family off to Texas, never to be heard from again. It was the day his past caught up with him, compelling him to choose his mother-in-law’s maiden name as his new surname. As the family story goes:
They had been married a few short months when a stranger, presumed to be a lawman came to Caddo valley looking for a man who fit John Boozer’s description. John and Mary left the community one night, taking with them only what household items that could be loaded into a wagon. They left chickens, hogs, cattle, a garden and a crop in the field. No one in the family ever heard from them again. Some of the family members thought that John was a wanted man for some crime he had committed before moving into the community and that the man who came asking questions was a law officer.2
After the mid-1870s there are no more references to John Adam Boozer. However, there is an 1880 census record for John A. Cash, his wife Mary A. and their two children in Goliad County, Texas. According to the 1880 Non-Population Agricultural Schedule, John Cash owned 100 acres of land. As one researcher remarked, “not bad, for someone described as a ‘drifter’!”3
These theories seem plausible based on solid deduction of known facts and family lore passed down through the years. However, without these theories carefully pieced together, it would be difficult for anyone to have picked up on the reasons Ancestry.com shows John Boozer in South Carolina, while in 1880 he (known then as John A. Cash) is living prosperously in Goliad County, Texas.
I’m not a big fan of so-called “family lore” because I’ve often found it to be nowhere near the truth. Although I’m always up for the challenge, it’s difficult to prove when someone asks me to prove so-and-so, rumored to be related to them, is a direct ancestor. In the case of John Adam Boozer, without this particular piece of the puzzle (family lore) it would be difficult for a researcher to take John A. Cash any farther back than the 1880 census. The worst case scenario would involve a fruitless search for someone surnamed Cash born in South Carolina around 1851. It would have led a researcher straight down a rabbit hole of unsubstantiated (and wasteful) research.
In this case family lore is, I believe, correct even if some facts are assumed. The great thing about John Adam Boozer, a.k.a. John Adam Cash, is his birth family of Swiss heritage. Several books have been written about this family and its illustrious history. In fact, the original name was variously Booser, Busser or Buser, changed to Boozer upon arrival in South Carolina. Why the family used Boozer with a “z” has yet to be uncovered in my research, however.
Other than family stories, what might be alternative strategies to find an ancestor suspected of a felonious past? It might take awhile to track down anything at all useful, but newspaper research would be one avenue, especially if your ancestor was a known felon who often used aliases. In that case, record all the known aliases reported in newspaper accounts – and good luck!
This is an excerpt from an extensive article published in the March-April 2020 issue of Digging History Magazine. The remainder of the article provides a number of examples of aliases and name changes, some legal, some nefarious and some for one quirky reason or another. These may provide some inspiration for finding your difficult-to-locate ancestors. Purchase the issue here.
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Footnotes:
- The Charleston Daily Courier, June 12, 1872, accessed at www.newspapers.com on April 13, 2020, 2.
- “McCallum Family History”, accessed on April 13, 2020 at https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/tree/74698009/person/48338366183/media/b3cc11bb-092c-450c-add3-3640e3f1b9e3?estTreeId=118330326&destPersonId=340174098948
&_phsrc=UET3658&_phstart=default - “Research Notes John Boozer”, accessed on April 13, 2020 at https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/tree/74698009/person/48338366183/media/089d8b85-9c58-42b7-8669-c7589472ed45?destTreeId=118330326&destPersonId=340174098948&_phsrc=UET3662&_phstart=default