I wrote about Idawalley Zoradia Lewis a few years ago, but didn’t mention the source of her unusual name: her mother.
The original Idawalley was born in the early 1800s to Dr. Aaron C. Willey and his second wife, Lydia. She was raised in Rhode Island alongside several unusually named siblings and half-siblings.
Dr. Willey and his first wife, Joanna, had two daughters:
- Alzada Roslyn (b. 1804)
- Cordelia Joanna (b. 1806)
After Joanna’s death, the doctor married Lydia and had four more children:
- Erasmus Darwin
- He was evidently named after Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles Darwin.
- Octavia Lodiska (b. 1811)
- Idawalley Zoradia (b. 1815)
- Laura E. (b. 1820)
- Her middle name was likely Effigenia, as she went on to have a daughter named “Laura Effigenia.”
Sources:
- Bailey, James and Norman Dodge. Dodge Family of New Shoreham, Rhode Island: A Genealogy of the Descendants of Tristram Dodge. Vol. 1. Lakewood, CO: Dodge Family Association, 2008.
- FamilySearch.org
Image: Adapted from Ida Lewis (public domain)
