in other news

[derien]

My terminally ill first cousin once removed on my father's side has sent me his login for Ancestry, so I can download all the genealogical research he's been doing for years. I'm pretty excited. And he sent me Woodward's new book about Trump, "Fear." Damned good, I'm on chapter 4 already.

We had dinner a few weeks ago and he told me that when our great-grandfather's family crossed the border illegally from Canada they changed their name to "Better," and then some of them changed it back, later, but some didn't, so some people named Better are probably distantly related. And a few days after that I heard some police spokesman or something quoted in the news, and his name was Better. So that was fun. :)

Comments

[duskpeterson]

My family had a name change too: my Great-Grandfather Petersen changed his name to Peterson some time after he moved to the US. My father and stepmother visited some of our Petersen relations in Norway this summer.

[derien]

Norway, eh? Funny - I worked with a Petersen, and I think her husband's family were from Sweden. And my aunt's husband's family of Peterson's were also from Sweden. I guess I should have realized that it would also be a name prevalent in Norway.