An Ancestor By Any Other Name
I don't know if it counts as a bizarre misspelling, and I didn't have to do a lot of digging to figure this out, but my last name--Hilvers-- would often get comments from school teachers and the like about how different it was. That was a comment that always confused me, it was easy enough to pronounce, and I'd heard some very strange surnames in my day, so why did I always get comments like that?
Finally I asked someone after they made that comment and they said I had a plural last name, and that it just wasn't something you came across very often. When my dad informed me that my ancestors had founded Hilversom in Holland, I realized at some point for some reason my name had been shortened to what it is now. I know in the US immigrants names would get shortened a lot because whoever was recording them didn't want to write that much, or changed all together because it was too hard to understand, so maybe that has something to do with it.
I don't actually know much else about my paternal lineage, but I have a book that an aunt put together, which just has so much information about my family lineage from my mom's side of the family. I know I have a lot of Oakie in me, I'm apparently part Indian (Cherokee I think? I have to recheck). I'm related to Meriwether Lewis of the 'Lewis and Clark Expedition.' I also have photocopies of the journals, some newspaper clippings, various records, receipts, etc. from family who were pioneering the West. This book is probably one of the coolest things I own. I want one for my dad's side of the family.
Ember, Jan 21, 2012
