Her Namesake

There's just something about family names that I love. Our baby girl has a rich heritage of lovely names to choose from. Miss "Eliza Kate" is named after her great grandmother on my mom's side of the family. I never got to meet this wonderful, Godly woman, but have heard many a story growing up. She passed away when my brother Clay was just a toddler.

Eliza was born March 12, 1898. Her parents Sarah and Isaac Muxlow came to America from England to Brown City, Michigan. As a girl, she often wore high button laced shoes and formal dresses. Her mother Sarah was a hat maker, so I can only imagine that she made this fancy lace hat for Eliza. She was a very proper young lady. Miss Eliza grew up in a large family of 13 siblings which boasted seven bachelor brothers. They all lived and worked on a dairy farm that's still in existence today. I researched the genealogy online this week as my aunt and cousins were in town and they know a lot about the family.


Eliza married Wilbert Aldridge whose mother coincidentally was named Emma Eliza Shay. To put it in perspective, she shared her name with her mother in-law.

My grandmother Eliza was left a young widow when her husband Wilbert passed away from lung cancer when my mom was only five years old. Eliza was left with three young children to raise on her own. No easy task for one woman to conquer. Her strength of character, resilience and faith in God are all qualities that are to be commended. Despite her hardships, she loved to laugh. This character trait has been passed down throughout the generations as my mom and I like to laugh too! As a woman, she addressed her friends as "Mrs. Kelly" even though they called her by her first name. This reflects the formal standard to which she was raised as a girl. Imagine Jane Austin's "Pride and Prejudice" formal way of speaking and social rules.

Now Eliza thought her name was old fashioned when she was growing up, so her family called her Liza. Her family continued to call her Liza, but when she started her new married life in Detroit, she introduced herself as Elizabeth.

The family tree has a strong thread of Elizabeth running throughout the generations:
Here's how the Elizabeth chain works...

Sarah Rippen Muxlow named her daughter Eliza(no middle name). Eliza then named her daughters Sara Elizabeth and Mara Jane. Mara Jane named her daughter Erica Elizabeth. Erica Elizabeth will now name her daughter Elizabeth Katherine. We have a little trend going on and we didn't even coordinate it:)

On Landon's side of the family, his great grandmother's name was Elizabeth.

Now Miss "Eliza Kate" will only see her formal name on her birth certificate and formal documents. We plan on always using Eliza Kate until she wants to drop the Kate and just be called Eliza. However, she has options with her formal name later in life.