Using Randy Seaver's genealogy fun, I wanted to do some
research on my daughter's name: Atalissa. It is an unusual name, and we got it
from the town in Iowa. So I researched people in Iowa with the name Atalissa on
Ancestry.com. Thankfully Ancestry does not MAKE you put in a surname;
Findagrave does make you put in at least a few letters of a surname.
I found some census results, but then I thought I should concentrate on one person. So then I searched for girls named Atalissa born or lived in
Atalissa, Muscatine county, Iowa.
The most interesting result: Atalissa M. (Davis) Worrall born
in November 1856 in Muscatine county, Iowa. According to some of the history of
Muscatine county, Iowa, a Mr. William Lundy came to the county in 1847. While
mining in California, Mr. Lundy was near a small village named Atalissa, named
for an Indian queen of one of the tribes. Being pleased with the name he
adopted it for the town in Muscatine county, Iowa. He also remarked that the
first female child being born there and named Atalissa should be presented with
a corner lot. That recipient was this Miss Atalissa Davis.
We find Atalissa (Davis) Worrall in the 1900 census in
Muscatine County, Iowa, a divorced woman living as a boarder. From Iowa birth
index and marriage index, I can tell Atalissa Davis married Jerome Worrall on
April 21, 1881 in Muscatine county, Iowa, and they had a couple children: a
John Lee Worrall born in May 1882, and an unnamed baby born in June 1884. In
the 1885 Iowa state census we find Jerome and Atalissa Worrall living in
Muscatine county, Iowa with a baby (unnamed) of approximately 1 year old.
I can't find much else on what happens to Ms. Atalissa
(Davis) Worrall after 1900, with what time I spent on it researching on Ancestry.com and Findagrave.com (my 2 favorite sites). Maybe I'll keep searching for fun. It's good
experience for me. I know there are several sites I didn't try. Not really wanting to spend any money on this since it's not my relative and no one else is reimbursing me. Just not certain how much other time I want to spend on it. What I found was interesting to me and maybe some day my daughter will be interested, too.
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