In doing genealogy, we often come across some great-sounding names that we think are unusual enough to hopefully be a family surname, leading to finding an ancestor. I must caution you from my own jumping to conclusions.
One ancestor was named Littleberry Kinnebrew Willis (1812-1880) in Columbus. I spent years researching the Kinnebrew family only to learn his mother was Isabel Frazer from Lincoln County, Georgia, with no link to anyone named Kinnebrew.
So why the name? Never figured it out.
Among my Thomas first cousins, their descendants are passing on three different names of doctors who assisted the family branches over the years, and now these non-family names are becoming “family names.” Everyone has overlooked the real family surnames.
I know of people who were named for important figures in the family’s life, but were not kin, like the sheriff, the governor, and we all know plenty of ancestors named for presidents. My dad’s ancestor from Charlotte, William P. Christenberry, named his first two sons for Methodist preachers in the early 1820s, Daniel Asbury, and Eli Askew, and then became, at least briefly, a Presbyterian.
So, some folks opted out of using a family surname, perhaps the mother’s maiden name, for community figures important to them, or whose names they just liked better. For your own immediate family’s sake, write a memo and put it in a safe place as to how and why family members got their first and middle names. The most interesting name I have come across lately is Civil War Gen. States Rights Gist.
NGS going virtual
The National Genealogical Society (NGS) recently announced that its 2024 Conference in the States/annual meeting would be going back to being held virtually, as it was during the Pandemic. See ngsgenealogy.org for details. That really puts a damper for folks to gather, exchange ideas, visit local archives, and meet vendors and book dealers to learn about new things. It’s an important group to belong to.
Belgian national archives site
If you have roots in Belgium, the Belgium State Archives has a new website genealogie.arch.be that contains 42 million names, with parish records digitized therein, and other records before Belgium became a separate nation in 1830.
Contact Kenneth H. Thomas Jr., P. O. Box 901, Decatur, GA 30031 or kenthomasongenealogy.com.
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