Nickname: Townsend Toby Lowell ~ 52 Ancestors #21

My grandfather was born Lowell Townsend Copeland on December 21, 1900, to Lowell Copeland and Ethel May Greeley. This is his Cook County, Illinois, birth certificate.

He was called Townsend, to differentiate himself from his father. He is Townsend in census records, on the back of photographs, and in school yearbooks.

In this labeled photograph, Grandfather was 2 years, 9 months old. His nurse / nanny was Elvira and he was very fond of her. This was likely taken at his home or his maternal grandfather's home in Winnetka, Illinois.

For Aunt Ruth [Ruth Lyman Wells, 1862-1943]
Townsend and his Elvira
Sept 1902

1910 US Census, New Trier, Illinois

Copeland, Lowell, Head [of household]
Copeland, Ethel, Wife
Copeland, Townsend, Son
Copeland, Betty, Daughter
Copeland, Ruth, Daughter
Greeley, Samuel S., Boarder [actually, Ethel's father]

I don't know why no other information was reported for the family; perhaps they weren't home and a neighbor reported their names?

1920 US Census, New Trier, Illinois

Copeland, Lowell, Brother-in-law, Male, White, age 57, Married
Copeland, Ethel M., Sister-in-law, Female, White, age 44, Married
Copeland, Townsend, Cousin, Male, White, age 19, Single
Copeland, Elizabeth, Cousin, Female, White, age 16, Single
Copeland, Ruth, Cousin, Female, White, age 12, Single

In 1920, the family was living with a family member of Ethel's which is why they're listed as Brother-in-law, Sister-in-law, and Cousin. (Note that Grandfather's sister is Betty in 1910 and Elizabeth in 1920.)

Grandfather graduated from Northwestern University in 1925 and is listed as L. Townsend Copeland in the yearbook. (I wrote about what I found in his college yearbook at Grandfather at Northwestern.)

1925 Northwestern University Yearbook

My mother tells me that he had the nickname Toug for a few years in school, but at some point in his college years or soon after college, he acquired the nickname Toby. There was a character in a play named Toby; his friends thought Grandfather resembled this character and started calling him by this nickname. It stuck.

I have never had luck finding Grandfather in the 1930 census when he was living in New York City. By 1940, he was living in Pittsburgh, married with three daughters and reported his name as Lowell Copeland. (His father had died in 1935.)

1940 US Census, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

1950 US Census, Hampton Township, Allegheny, Pennsylvania
(The rest of the family is on the next census page.)

He is indexed in the Social Security Death Index as "Lit" Copeland. One of these days, I need to order his SS-5 Social Security application, which will probably have the same signature as what is found on his World War II Draft Registration Card and is probably what was indexed for the SSDI: L. T. Copeland.

Although his name is reported in all these records as Lowell or L. T., he was known as Toby to family and close friends throughout his life.

I descend from Lowell Townsend Copeland:

Lowell Townsend Copeland

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My mother

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Me

This week's theme is Nickname.