Friday, June 30, 2023

Unusual names from Orange County's past

Ulysses Goates, Knott's Berry Farm employee, 1950s.
Twenty years ago, I started keeping a list of some of the curious, colorful or unusual names I stumble across in directories, newspapers, etc, while researching Orange County history. Doing so has been purely for my own amusement, but I figure I might as well share a few of them here...

  • W. H. Tinklepaugh (Robbed the Fox Fullerton Theatre in 1929. Pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity)
  • Eltha Mustard, Geneva Mustard, and Biney Mustard (Family lived in Santa Ana, 1930s-'40s)
  • Carbon Petroleum Dubbs (Lived on Easter Hill, North Tustin)
  • Girtha Edith Ostrander (Mother of Sondra Myracle of Orange)
  • Euphrates Hare (Westminster pioneer)
  • Thelma Blackbeard (Lived in Newport Heights)
  • Gertie Gurney (Property owner in La Habra)
  • Noah Counts (La Habra resident)
  • Beaver Goodykoontz (WWI veteran from Villa Park area)
  • Ulysses S. Lemon (Longtime local newspaper publisher. Died in Fullerton in 1929)
  • Floddie Moan (Los Angeles resident and sister of Melchi W. Hart and Stella Organ)
  • Stella Organ (Daughter of Santa Ana's Harris Hart)
  • Dummer Kiah Trask (Lived 1860-1914. Trask Avenue is named for him.) 
  • Melvin C. Roach (Married in O.C. around 1928)
  • Rev. Myrna C. Cronic (Preached in Anaheim in 1939)
  • Dick Biggins (Acting Clerk of West Orange County Municipal Court, 1981)
  • Stephen A. Rumps (O.C. Sheriff's Deputy until Jan. 1983)
  • Farnum Phipps 
  • Minnie Clynick (Santa Ana resident, circa 1930s-1960s)
  • Delbert & Dimple Kerley (married couple, lived in Santa Ana in 1930s)
  • Thomas Twaddle (San Bernardino resident, as of 1890)
  • Noah Cheatum (Contractor working on San Clemente in 1962)
  • Fanny Sparks (Phil Brigandi observed, "That's one of the side effects of Olestra.")

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