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Latest comment: 1 year ago3 comments3 people in discussion
In Sweden the king Gustaf Vasa founded a royal dynasty. Then in Sweden and later in Poland kings had the name Vasa. It would be relevant to know whether this American was a relative to these royal families. If you know it, please add. --Smallchanges07:49, 25 March 2007 (UTC)Reply
More likely, given his home states' Abolitionist reputation, is that he was named after Olaudah Equiano (also known as "Gustavus Vassa"), a former slave, whose influential autobiography was published in 1789. Can anyone confirm? dawkeye (talk) 17:42, 24 January 2009 (UTC)Reply
I've added an explanation for his name to the article (you may check the citation I added, if you wish). According to Ari Hoogenboom's biography of Fox, his parents weren't of Swedish descent, so they weren't related to Gustav I, but they did name their son after him. Hoogenboom says his parents might have seen or read a then-popular play about Gustav Vasa. Good guess with the Equiano theory, but it doesn't appear to be accurate, or at least, I've found to evidence of it yet. ThaddeusOrlando55 (talk) 05:44, 24 August 2023 (UTC)Reply