According to the birth records for Pensacola, Florida, a baby girl born on April 1, 1908, was named April Fool.
The digitized version of the record is hard to read, but her father’s name is either “M. Harris” or “W. Harris,” and her mother’s name appears to be “Millie Condle” or “Millie Coudle.” Both were 19 years old and originally from Tennessee.
(Here’s the full page in the Pensacola Births, 1899-1910 register, if you’d like to see it for yourself.)
So…is the name legit?
I had no reason to doubt it. Then again, I was also unable to find any other evidence of this family in order to verify it. Until — about a decade after discovering the name — I finally spotted the Harris family at Find a Grave.
The father’s name was McAdoo Harris. The mother’s was Willie Harris (née Caudle). They were both born in Tennessee in 1888, and they welcomed a baby girl in Pensacola, Florida, in 1908.
Everything checks out so far, right?
Except, their daughter was born on July 15, and she was named Helen Cecilia.
So the entry in Pensacola Births was clearly incorrect — and jokey, making me think it was some sort of prank. Now I’m wondering who put it there, and why…
Sources: April Fool Harris – FamilySearch.org, Helen Cecilia Harris Spitznas – Find a Grave
[Latest update: March 2023]
