What's in a name: African Roots to American Fruits

My Grandmother is a wonderful storyteller.  She weaves stories that put you on the edge of your seat, and that make you stop to think.  She holds a huge library of fiction and non-fiction in her head, and you never know what story she'll choose from the annals to entertain you with.  Here's a recent one that tells the story of my family's Surname, "Tarter".

Gustav Tata grew up in South Africa to Indian ex-patriots.  It was in Africa that he was educated and became an educator himself.  He became well known on the island of Zanzibar, where he lived, off the coast of Tanzania.

Zanzibar

He became a leader in education, eventually throughout an entire district of Tanzania.  Through his close ties to England, and by virtue of being educator to some of the British who were in Tanzania, he fell in love with a British lady, I think her name was Penny.  They had 3 children in Zanzibar, but she was not interested in staying.  She took the children to live in England despite the fact that Gustav would not come to England.  It was a multi-cultural marriage, but it seems neither of them were ready to start a family outside their own culture.  It came to pass that Penny legally changed her family name to the more British-sounding "Tate" instead of enduring the questioning glances and ill repute of having a very Indian surname.  

Gustav visited his wife and children in England very seldom, and much legend and story grew up around him in his absence.  They told stories of Gustav's exploits as a big game hunter on the plains of the Tanzanian savannah and the jungles of the African continent.  They called him "Bowana the Hunter", and passed the tales of daring and danger on to their friends and later, their children.  The middle child, Peter, who is my Grandfather, was rather individualistic, funny, and inventive.  Over the course of time he decided to change his name once again.  For some reason, he legally changed his surname to "Tarter". He met his wife, Patsy, in London, had 3 boys, and moved to the US in 1956.  The three boys grew up to marry, and have children of their own.  Peter Thurston, the middle child, had two boys.  One of those boys is me.  

I had no clue of my Tata heritage, spanning from India to South Africa to Tanzania to England, only to be changed twice in one generation.  The strangest thing is that when I went to college and started using on-line identities for chat groups and AIM, the screen name I chose was "Nate Tata".  It seems that unwittingly I went back to my roots and dug up the old family name without knowing a thing about it.  My actual idea was that "tata" is close to how you'd say the word "Tarter" in Massachusetts, with the typical New England accent.  Further, I had no idea I would marry my wife, starting my own multi-cultural family.  I am confident we will not have the same difficulty my great grandfather experienced as his family was split across continents and oceans.  My wife and I are solidly "in it together", wherever the Lord may lead us. 

Now Cecilia and I travel to Africa on an adventure of our own.  We will be in a completely different part of the continent, but who knows? I will certainly be on the look-out for some long lost Tata relative as we traverse the landscape and seek our place in the world.  If I find them, they will probably look much more Indian, or African than me.  I imagine what a family picture might look like, going back just 3 generations.  We'd look African, Indian, Scandinavian, and South American.  Blood from all over the world runs through our veins.  I have no "homeland", and I am thrilled by the opportunity to work internationally with countless others from all over the globe.  

Learn more about our work with Mercy Ships: Click Here

If you'd like to donate financially toward our work with Mercy Ships: Click Here