Joe to Joe

Joe with his 4th grade covered wagon project

A few years before there was a third child at our house, Jim announced if we ever had a son, he would like to name him “Joe“.  Joe was a strong name; a good baseball player name; and Shoeless Joe Jackson was a favorite baseball icon of his.  I tried to offer some other possibilities - maybe a family name would be good. So I suggested selections from both of our families - Richard? Glenn? Clyde? James?… When we eventually learned we were having a boy, Jim was still set on “Joe”.  Because he liked it, I came to like it. After all, Jim had been surrounded by girls in our house for a decade. He had endured years of barbies, fingernail polish, ponytails, sparkles, and all things pink and purple so surely he had earned the right to choose his son‘s name, even if it wasn’t a family name.

Fast forward to May 2010 - Joe is almost 11.
The past couple of weeks, I have been researching the Hilton family tree. I have come to learn:

1. Some interesting names on various Hilton branches include: Glade, Ulysses, Drusilla, Ellis, Inez, Flavilla, and Love (yes, Love!) Some very common names: James, Jane, Nancy, Frank ………… But not a single “Joseph”.

2. There are 30ish Hilton ancestors buried in the little cemetery just a few miles from our home. But not a single “Joseph”.

3. Some of Jim’s ancestors settled down in Rhode Island, Illinois, and South Dakota before making the way to Oregon. But not a single “Joseph”.

4. Jim’s great great great great grandmother came to America from England. Her name was Rebecca Hilton (hmmmm … Now there’s a good name dontcha think?) Jim’s great great great great grandfather did not make the trip to America with his family, but he is the oldest ancestor we can find record of. Imagine our surprise to learn his name was Joseph Hilton!

How about that? A family name after all …..