"The origin of the Irish surname
Fortune and it's variants O"'Fortune, Fortin and Forty are
of English origin, having been brought to Ireland by English
settlers. Here the name is of nickname origin;, derived from
the Latin "fortuna", meaning "chance, fate, fortune"
and indicating "a fortunate or lucky person". |
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Information from Ruth Armstrong: So, if the surname Fortune is really a place name, it appears that there was no early common ancestor and therefore no early blood relatives. *Ruth Arnstrong is the great-granddaughter of James and Harriet (Royce) Fortune, oldest son of John and Catherine (Younger) Fortune of Scotland and Essex Co. NYH. |
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John Fortune born in 1773 in England. He married Katherine (Kate) Young (Younger). Kate was born 1780 in Fishwick Mains, Hutton Parish, Berwickshire, Scotland and was christened 6 Aug 1780 in Hutton Parish, Berwickshire, Scotland. John and Kate had nine sons. James, born in England, Archibald, John, Chirnside Parish, Berwickshire, George, Thomas, Alexander, Robert, William/Carr?, David, were born and baptized in Buncle & Preston Parish, Berwickshire. I have no record of a Carr b. June 16, 1819, who shows up in several genealogy charts. The family came to America in 1788 and lived in the Essex-Westport area of New York State from 1818/19 until about 1841. During this time apparently Kate died. They moved to Nicholville, St., Lawrence County, New York, and according to the 1850 census, John was believed to have died between 1854-56. There is no cemetery record in Nicholville for him, even though others in the family are buried there. John Fortune group sheet Katherine (Kate) Younger Map of: Berwickshire County Map of Scotland: Scotland GENUKI: County Map of Scotland http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/sct/sct_cmap.html GENUKI: Berwickshire http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/sct/BEW/ |
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Alexander Robert Fortune was born in New York state in 1814. On Jan 1, 1838 he married Abigail Emry Royce, who was born June 24, 1817 in New York. See: The Royce family They had ten children all born on the farm in the township of Ely, Lake Zurich, Illinois. Their children were: William, Marion, John, Robert, Abigail, Lenore, Franklin and Fanny (twins), George, and Cornelia. Alexander's oldest brother Will, was a soldier in the Civil war and was taken prisoner and on his return to Illinois he was a sick man and never seemed to get well after that. Alexander was also in the Civil war but he and Will were not in the same Colorado company Alexander died on March 28, 1866 in Ely, Illinois and Abigail died on August 13, 1894 in Bauers, Grundy County, Iowa. Alexander Robert Fortune |
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Fred Fortune was born on May 19, 1862 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He was the first of eight children born of the second wife of John Fortune 1843. During his young years he had many jobs. The picture at the left shows him doing carpentery work with his Uncle Roll in Oregon. He worked as a conductor on the RR, was a cowboy on his father's ranch in South Dakot and had the Fortune Taxi there on the Circle by the SP depot in Palo Alto, CA. He met his wife Lillian Petty, through the telephone. She was a switchboard operator in the days of "number please", and since he was a pretty good talker and he finally made a date to meet her. She loved to ride in the rain and he would pick her up when things were slow and out they would go for a ride. They were married at the courthouse in San Jose and spent their wedding night in Morgan Hill on their way to Yosemite. They loved Yosemite dearly and went there whenever they could all through the years. Fred's brother George was a practical joker first class so when the folks got home to Grandma Fortune's from their honeymoon, George fixed their feather bed with a pan of cold water in the middle and covered it with a sheet. There were lots of yells and threats made after they got into bed! So we were told in later years. |
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Fred married Lillian Petty in 1919. Lillian was born in Hoisington, Kansas. See: The Petty family and had one son. In 1925 Fred was sent to mine on the Klamath river. Fred's mining experiences resulting in a bad injury That experience lasted one year and in 1926 they bought a home in Menlo Park where he lived the rest of his life In 1931 Fred worked in a garage, then helped build Sequoia high school, Menlo School & Junior college while Lillian worked at the Home Food Shop which was owned by Fred's sister Marie Wilson. In 1939 Fred began selling cars for Mark Tuban in Mountain View. Fred had a service station in Mt. View and in 1942 began working for his brother in law, George Petty at his Palo Alto furniture store. His wife Lillian worked for Wightmans a gift shop. Fred A. Fortune died at age 63 in April 1, 1945 and is buried in the Alta Mesa Cemetery in Menlo Park. |
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The formal name is Scotland, the local
name Alba |
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my Dreambook! Sign my Dreambook! |
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Genforum postings The Fortune posting list Dana's
index Dana Awuisdi's
Fortune page or: Fortunes from Wexford Frankie's Irish Fortunes Fortune genealogy JoAnne http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/3722/josfamgen/fortune/ Murrah's: Brewsters |
