Name Origins

 Name Origins

by Julie Helen Otto, Staff Genealogist of NEHGS

NUSS (m): Nuss S. Butterfield (d. 1839) of Stockbridge, Vt. (Hartford Probate District, Vt.; with thanks to Scott Andrew Bartley, who brought this name to my attention many years ago). Mr. Butterfield’s first name is probably a truncated form of some name with –nus as an element, perhaps the final syllable (e.g. Oceanus), a construction that abounds in both Latin and Greek. NUSS might also be a derivative of Celtic NAOISE (pronounced something like NEE-sheh), a name borne in ancient Ireland by the lover of Deirdre. I rather suspect a classical, or commemorative, derivation in this case.

Name Time from NEHGS Weekly Genealogist newletter

You all know by now how much I love different names.

So for a delight here is one so unique I really think the author made it up.

Name Origins

by Julie Helen Otto, Staff Genealogist

BRITOMART (f): A virgin heroine of Edmund Spenser’s allegorical epic The Faerie Queene (1590, 1596), modeled on Elizabeth I, Queen of England. Britomart L. Fassett (b. ca. 1866), daughter of Charles and Emma (____) Fassett of Rochester, Vermont, m. there 19 Aug. 1886 Hambie C. Martin [VT VRs]; the 1900 census finds them living at 45 Cross St., Gardner, Mass., with son Claude.

From the NEHGS Newsletter dated 20 June 2012

In your New England research this can help when your stuck on some details.
“NEHGS Database News
by Sam Sturgis, Digital Collections Administrator, and Ryan Woods, Director of Internet Technology
Historical Data Relating to Counties, Cities, and Towns in Massachusetts, 5th edition, 1997

This week’s featured database, launched several years ago, is a hidden gem. Essential for Massachusetts researchers, Historical Data provides summary information for counties and municipalities in the Bay State. The first edition of this book was published in 1920; the 1997 version was prepared by William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth, and published by NEHGS.

This database may be searched by the name of the municipality to find related section, village, or archaic names. Or searches of section, village, or archaic names can determine the name of the associated municipality. Pages of the original book may be viewed from the search results page. These pages include information on the dates of incorporation of the municipality and any legislated changes in territorial limits.

A useful map of Massachusetts, with county and town boundaries marked, was created by the Secretary of the Commonwealth and is reproduced on page 4 of Historical Data. Two versions of the map are available online on the Secretary’s website: cities and towns and counties, cities, and towns. “
As well there is also, when searching dates of Birth Marriage & Death, Vital records Project.  Its for Massachusetts.  Not yet totally complete it is a start in the right direction.  It is not from the orginal book.  So if your like me and have a birth or such missing you might need to go and look at the original book.

Changes at NEHGS over the past decade.

Since I joined NEHGS a few years ago I have been enjoying the magazine American Ancestors.  Unknown to me however is that the magazine had a predecessors for it the" New England Ancestors".

I was flipping through a pile given to me recently of New England Ancestors.  I chuckled to my self of how times have changed so quickly.  There is a full page ad for the NEHGS Circulating Library.  It has the offer for you to borrow and research in your own home.

Now here in 2012 we can turn on the computer use the internet to research our ancestors.

Lucky Us.  Do you wonder what could be next in genealogy research ?

Name Orgins from Julie Helen Otto NEHGS Newletter

"Name Origins
by Julie Helen Otto, Staff Genealogist
ARAMANTHA/ARAMINTA (f): The exquisitely lovely heroine of Aramantha: A Pastorall (1649) by the Cavalier poet Richard Lovelace (1618–1657). The element –nth- in Greek personal or place names (e.g. Aramantha, Corinth, etc.) is an indication of pre-Greek origin. ARAMINTA was the slave name of the great abolitionist Harriet Tubman (1820–1913). In the rough-and-ready spelling of colonial and Federal America, the name is often seen as EMERANSY or variants, even occasionally as EMERGENCY.

Thomas and Jedidah (Cleveland) Mayhew named two daughters Araminta Mayhew, b. Edgartown 7 Jan. 1820 (d. 22 Dec. 1821) and 26 Feb. 1822 (Edgartown VRs, p. 47); the second Araminta m. Edgartown 31 Oct. 1844 Robert S. Coleman, a tin worker from Nantucket (Edgartown VRs, p. 147)."