#52Ancestors - Unusual Name

                In over twenty-five years of working on the family genealogy, I have stumbled upon some mighty interesting names.

                There was William and Catherine (Hisem) McVey who had nine children.  Some had nice normal names.  Some had unusual names and others were obviously named after famous folk.  The normal and slightly different were Alcy, David, Mary Ann, Ardenia, William and Elizabeth.  Then there was Benjamin Franklin, Andrew Coleman and last, but certainly not least, Commodore Perry McVey.  The name always has made me chuckle.  I could understand them naming him Perry, but Commodore Perry was pretty unusual.  Benjamin Franklin McVey had several children, most with fairly normal names.  However he had two sons that were not normal: Marion Elijah and Vincilius F. McVey. 

                Another unusual name in the family tree was a boy, born on the 11^th of May 1901 in Ada, Oklahoma Territory.  His daddy named him Terry Tory Bland in reference to the fact that he was born on Oklahoma Territory. 

                There are the old New England names as well: Grizzell Coleman, Mehitable Dickinson, Patience Job and Experience Church.

                My husband’s great-great grandfather had an unusual name.  When I first started tracking down the family history this man was a mystery.  All I had for a name was M. E. Mitchell.  I checked census records and all kinds of important documents.  All said M. E. Mitchell.  Newspaper clippings?  M. E. Mitchell.  Once in a while they would put in Erv.  Finally, I stumbled on to it, and I understood completely why he used his initials.  His full name was Mordecai Erwin Mitchell.  His granddaughter told me he hated the name and never used it.  He was named after his father’s brother.  M.E. Mitchell is in the photo below.

 

                Out of all of these names, the most unusual has to be Halfhide. It’s one of those names that is incredibly simple to say and spell, however it is often mispronounced.  I grew up in the small town of Horton, Kansas, which is next to the Kickapoo Indian Reservation.  When my folks were asked who I was marrying, they would tell the person and the first thing they were asked was “Is he Native American?”    The name is actually English and we think it comes from one of the early ancestors owning half a hide of land (a hide is a land measurement in England).  There was one Halfhide family to come to the US and every Halfhide that is here is related somehow.  The name is very rare and easy to research.  Sometimes unusual is better!