Today I introduce a new category to the colonial New England naming Olympics: most asymmetrically named couple. Our first nominees are from Groton, MA:
According to Samuel Abbott Green's history of Groton,
Mr. Adams was called "Fib" by his neighbors. The Adams family had
seven children: Susanna, Lucy, Jane, Lydia, Amos, James, and John.
Mephibosheth's parents, John and Mary Adams of Lexington, had a somewhat
erratic naming style. Their children were
- Mephibosheth (b. 1715)
- John (b. 1717)
- Michael or Micah (b. 1718)
- Mary (b. 1721)
- Abijah (b. 1722)
- Prudence (b. 1727)
- Samson (b. 1729)
- George (b. 1733)
As far as I can tell, Mephibosheth was not named for any relatives — his grandfathers were named George and Gershom, his great-grandfathers were George, Thomas, Michael (itself an unusual name for a Puritan), and either John or William (
records disagree). I haven't found many other Mephibosheths in Massachusetts, though there was a
Mephibosheth Cain residing in the town of Canaan in 1797. Others:
- Mephibosheth Bigsbie (or Bixby), b. 1690, Andover, MA
- Mephibosheth Coddington, b. 1799, Taunton, MA
- Mephibosheth Baily, b. 1778
As far as Biblical names go, Mephibosheth does not strike me as a particularly promising appellation. Beyond the spelling and nickname issues, there is the problem of the Bible's two Mephibosheths: one, a son of Saul hanged for his father's crimes in 2 Samuel 21, and the other a son of Saul's son Jonathan who is maimed during the escape from the Gibeonites who lynch his father and uncles and grows up to betray King David.
2 comments:
Thank you for the informationon 'Fib' Adams. He is my husband's 6th g-grandfather.
Thank you for the informationon 'Fib' Adams. He is my husband's 6th g-grandfather.
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