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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 1996-10 > 0844282639


From: "Paul M. Gifford" <>
Subject: Re: hetherington
Date: Wed, 2 Oct 1996 14:57:19 -0400


In article <> "Todd A. Farmerie" <>
writes:

>WILLIAM TAYLOR wrote:
>>
>> hetherington. it is my paternal grandmothers maiden name. rumor has it
>> that they were twins and were found near a river called heather somewhere
>> in ireland or in england in the area of nottingham, derby, liecester.
>> they were named by the people that found them after the river. and were
>> thought to be illegitamate children of local royalty. they left from
>> northern ireland and arrived in charleston S.C. i dont know the date. one
>> of them stayed in the south [my family] and changed the name to hetherington
>> because he was superstituous and heatherington had 13 letters. while the
>> other went somewhere to the north east and kept the name the same
>> if anybody has any info it would be appriciated!
>>

>This sounds like one of those "Just So Stories" about how a name came
>about. If you look at a good geographical gazeteer of England, I
>suspect you will find a town in Notts. named Hetherington. Your family
>originated in the area of that town. The rest, about the river called
>heather and superstition over the number of letters in the name looks to
>be pure invention.

On the other hand, stories such as these shouldn't be completely disregarded.
The widow of a first cousin of an ancestor married a Hugh Hetherington in
Washington Co., PA, in 1813. I don't have any further information on him, but
an Irish origin is not unlikely, as southwestern PA had many Scotch-Irish
settlers and the name 'Hugh' would suggest that. However, this person's
family probably arrived in Philadelphia or New Castle, DE, rather than
Charleston.

Paul Gifford

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