If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots Where Does the Name Covin Come From? My husband’s last name, Covin, is an Anglicized version of the original French name, Couvain. Apparently, a sailor, Jean-Pierre, from Marseilles, sailed with General Lafayette to serve in the American Revolutionary War. After the war, he asked permission to return from France and settle here. It is a very unusual name, except in South Carolina, where he first settled, Georgia, where my husband’s family has lived for five generations, and Texas,... (Read More ...)

Abraham Lincoln My mother chose my first name, Carol, so there would be no derivatives. Perhaps, it was because her name, Elizabeth, had so many derivatives – Liz, Liza, Beth, Ellie, Bett, Betsy, and the one she settled on, Betty. She took a lie detector test once and the technician, to get a baseline reading, asked her, “Is your name Betty.” “No.” He turned off the machine. She explained, “My name is Elizabeth. People call me Betty. So, for me no cute or teasing playground names. No annoying rhyming names. I was not born near Christmas, so it was not related... (Read More ...)

General Electric Research Laboratory in Schenectady, New York My uncle, who, for reasons I did not understand until I was in my 40s, never met his father, was fascinated by genealogy. Because of his interest and diligent research, including several trips to Ireland, I learned chilling and historically fascinating stories about our ancestors. My cousin has consolidated his father’s papers and taken up the research. In just one example, my mother’s ancestors, Scottish textile merchants, were approached by the British to resettle in Ireland, which they did. Some years later, textile exports... (Read More ...)

I know my first cousins. Second Cousin. Once Removed. Genealogy at the Family Christmas Party. We saw them about every five years when I was growing up. Each time, it was as though we lived across the street. Beyond that, however, my parents did not go. When I got to college, a boy called me and asked if I wanted to meet my Michigan cousins. “I don’t have any Michigan cousins.” As it turned out, he was right and I was wrong.  My grandfather had sisters who lived in Ohio and Michigan. My college roommate eventually introduced me to one of my great-aunts when she discovered the family connection... (Read More ...)