Brad Haubert
Genealogists love a good mystery – especially when their own family folklore is involved. Never sure when (or if) the mystery will be solved, the family historian eats up any information that may help to shed light on the situation.
My own family mystery is a changing of the spelling of my last name (Haubert) to another spelling (Hubbert). Interestingly enough, the change happened among brothers and sisters. Part are buried with “Haubert” on their tombstones. The other part – you guessed it – have “Hubbert.”
I’ve heard two separate stories about why the name change occurred. The more plausible story involves a family feud – though I never heard what that entailed.
The more interesting story goes like this: the wife (Mrs. Haubert) was a bit, let’s say, stuffy. It was told to me that a new pastor came to her church who had a stuttering problem. At one point, he was addressing Mrs. Haubert (either directly OR while introducing her to someone else) and said, “……Mrs. Ha-Ha-Ha Haubert…”
I was told she was so distraught – thinking the pastor was making fun of her name – that she changed the spelling.
Now, that’s a fun story! I don’t know how real it is – since the pronunciation ends up being the same (at least the way my immediate family pronounces “Haubert”). Maybe, she changed it since no one could spell it the way her family pronounced it. Even today, I find people wanting to spell it Hubbert when writing down my last name.
Wouldn’t it be interesting, though, to find out the pastor at the church that family attended and find that family’s genealogist to see if there is any record of a stuttering problem? Hmmm…. maybe that is my next task.
Anyone else have a fun and/or interesting mystery to share?
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