Names You'll Be Glad Your Mother Didn't Give You. A Humorous Look At Some Interesting Names in My Files.

 This is the post that put us in the top five for Crestleaf Surname Scavenger Hunt Contest.  You can still vote for us - Crestleaf , click on Blog, Surname Scavenger Hunt and vote for Humorous Surnames Genealogy Frame of mind.  If you've voted, Thanks! 


Many years ago when we were expecting we were discussing names. I was convinced that we were having a girl (I was right).  One of the names on our list was Amanda.  My husband wanted to use the middle name Lynn.  I said nope.  Are you kidding me?  Amanda Lynn...  yep, say it quickly.  You get it right?  A mandolin..  Although it was a girl, and we did name her Amanda we didn't use the middle name Lynn.

But as I look thru my data base I find myself going "what were they thinking?" when I look at these couple of names that I came across.

1. My first one was Frances C. Jones aka Fanny.  She was born in Hopkins County, Kentucky in 1835.  Well she was okay until on 25 OCT 1882 when she married Dr. Adolphus F. RASH.  She became Mrs. Fanny Rash.  Really?  Is there anything more I need to say?

2. I just couldn't pass this one up either.  I mean, really?  Prior/ Pryor L. Breeding born in 1843 in Claiborne County, Tennessee.  Being the eighth of 11 children of John Breeding and Betsy Stone maybe had something to do with it, but really Prior/Pryor?  Does make you wonder what were they thinking?

3. This one I just never understood. I mean, his father's name was John, I'm sure there were lots of other options out there but, no, they named their son, George P. George.  I mean really? 

4. Another that I never really understood, sort of made me shake my head, was America Indiana?  I thought maybe they liked Indiana or something.  Turns out to my knowledge they were never even in Indiana.  Kansas yes, but Indiana no.  Hmmm?

5. I have to wonder who came up with the Given name of Green?  I have 32 men in my data base named Green.  A few are farmers - okay maybe they have green thumbs?  One or two are Doctors? The rest are just varying occupations.
Some names I see and I just wonder and marvel at the creativity expressed in the names...  Names like Centennial Nix,  Columbus George Washington Nix, and then the ever popular Littlebury?  I've got quite a few of those with the spelling varying but Littlebury?  Where did that come from?


How about you?  Got any strange name combinations in your files?

Monday Musings

Here we are yet another Monday!  It was a busy weekend here.  We drove about two hours or so north of here and went to the Bala (Canada) Cranberry festival.  It was all about the tasty cranberry! And they did indeed have it all.  One of the highlights of the Cranberry Festival was seeing the Canadian Golden Helmets perform.  The Golden Helmets is a precision motorcycle group made up of officers from different towns here in the province of Ontario.  You can read more on them and see a pic here.  Be sure to click on the photo, they are a fine looking group.  They did a great job and we totally enjoyed watching them.  We brought some cranberries, so I'll be putting those to good use. 

Mr. Brown Eyes did a bunch of census work on Sunday.  He enjoys doing that and I'm not going to argue with him.  I love the thrill of the hunt, chasing our ancestors down but truthfully typing in the census stuff just bores me tears.  Somehow after talking to others who do genealogy I'm not alone.  I love finding them, learning what they offer up in the census but somehow I just can't get into that typing stuff on it the way MBE can.  Thankfully he enjoys it and doesn't mind.

Today, after the small amount of housework is done I'm hoping to get some more images cropped, named & linked.  I've figured out how to do editing in iPhoto.  I must say I love it!  It's simple and does the job without tons of techincal difficulty. 

Speaking this Friday night at the Brighton District Library (Michigan).  So we are going back to the states for a few days.  Will be good to hopefully see the grandkids, family & friends.  How much can we squeeze into a weekend?  Dunno but going to find out eh?

Happy Researching!
Karen

Fearless Friday - Google Alerts

This week I started using Google Alerts. Maybe I'm a bit late getting on the band wagon but hey, better late than never!  I had heard of this before but was hesitant to try them.  This past week I decided to jump right out there and give them a try! So glad I did!

You can access Google Alerts by going here .  You simply put in terms or search words, or in my case, the basic surnames I am researching.  You tell google how often you want to be notified when something is found.  Google emails you a list of results that you can then follow up on.

I was a bit leary at first but decided nothing ventured, nothing gained right?  You can have up to 10 alerts active at one time.  Be warned if you choose to be notified when they are found the mail can be rather "active".

Suprisingly enought I was surprised at the things that have come up.  I've made a few new contacts and even better in the five days I've had the alerts active I've gotten seven obits! 

Google Alerts - Its a good thing!

Happy Researching!
Karen

Relatively Speaking - Monday Madness

Okay, Its Monday and this week I'm running with Monday Madness. What's with all the ancestors using the same names over & over? I mean isn't anyone original anymore?

Looking at my Johnson's - Do I really need five Isreal Johnson's to contend with? Isn't one enough? Seriously the Johnson thing is bad enough, but add in Isreal... you get the picture. And then lets toss in the fact that there are even some Isreal Johnson's in the state of Georgia that aren't part of that particular line at all. I guess they just decided that they liked the name or something?

And what's with the Ligon's down in Virginia with the name William Ligon? So every family has a William and that William of course has a son William who also has a son William... and with a little luck they could all three be alive & living in the same county at the same time!

Just in case you think the females are safe forget it. Can't we be more original than Elizabeth, Eliza, Sarah, Sally & Susan.

Next time a relative of mine gives birth, I think I'll suggest something like Oscar or Ophelia...

Today Anne is up at Relatively Speaking - you can check her out over at Gene Notes. She always has something up her sleeve. Stop by for a read!

Happy Researching!
Karen

Introduction

Wow! I can't believe it! ME! Joining the bloggers of the world... Welcome to my blog! My blog is all about genealogy - my passion.

My blog will be about things I've discovered, challenges in my research, trips we take just for genealogy, my prep for the trips, just plain ole genealogy!

I'm not a rocket scientist but I am passionate about what I do and I love to do genealogy! So stop by anytime, grab a tall glass of sweet tea and sit a spell. We can chat about genealogy - I may even sneak a couple of lines in about my three grandsons or my husband Mark! My research mainly focuses on research in the following states: GA, KY, NC, SC, VA, TN, IN, NJ, MD, WV & OH.

I'm working right now on some research trip to do lists... I'm going to be researching in Ft Wayne at their awesome library on May 12th, then Mark & I will be off an a neat genealogy adventure on May 22-23 to Elkhart County, Indiana where some of the Boomershine family migrated to after leaving Montgomery County, Ohio. Neat thing about going to Elkhart is I recently discovered that they have an obituary index online. WOWSERS! http://www.elkhart.lib.in.us/cgi-bin/index5.pl?&file=genealogy.html Going to make this trip a big success already. After leaving Elkhart we'll be headed down to see my sister for a bit then to Nashville to the Archives & library to research there for four days.

The main surnames I'll be researching on this trip will be Boomershine, Hurst, Ligon & Phillips. I'll be blogging a bit along the way so stay tuned. So for now I'm off to work some more on the to do list.

Karen