52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week #24   theme-  Popular Name

I'm squeaking in my contribution at the last minute for this week, as I couldn't find anyone with a popular name. Then it hit me during a restless night of no sleep... my tree is FILLED with the name Elizabeth. So it is popular within the direct ancestry of our family.  I'll just follow one paternal branch, back to France 1642, Elizabeth Beauchamp, possibly named for Elisabeth, Princess of France.  Beauchamp was  mother of immigrant Peter Rucker (b. 1660 Germany).  Peter had a mother, wife,  mother in law,  daughter , and a grand daughter (latter is direct line) named Elizabeth.   The grand daughter, Elizabeth Offill Jackson, (1732 Spotsylvania Co., VA), had a son, Drury Jackson, who married Elizabeth Bryan(t).  Their daughter Elizabeth Jackson married Mr. James Rodgers and became my 3Gt Grandmother.  She died young, leaving many children, among them my 2 Gt. Grandmother Elizabeth M. Rodgers.  James Rodgers brought his family over the mountain range in Virginia to settle in the area of Buckeye, which would become Pocahontas Co, West Virginia. 

At this point, my family members may recognize some of the names, since we are getting closer to our known history.  Elizabeth M. Rodgers married William Griffin and had 12 boys and 2 girls... no Elizabeth !   But after the Civil War, when they again moved west, settling in Kansas, their son Samuel Young Griffin chose an Elizabeth for a bride...  Elizabeth Ann "Lizzie" Terry... my Gt Grandparents. 

This is where the line of "Elizabeths" stops in my family.  Lizzie and Sam had a baby girl who only lived a few months, the twin sister of my Grandpa Charlie. Her name was Mata E. Griffin.  Nowhere is her middle name found... so far.  But I'm going to believe that it is Elizabeth, for her mother and grandmother (and on and on) 💗.  

There are versions which pop up through out our trees... Eliza, Beth, Betsy, Bess, etc.   Reminds me of a Mother Goose rhyme/ riddle.

"Elizabeth, Elspeth, Betsy and Bess, All went together to seek a bird's nest. 

They found a nest with  five eggs in, They all took one and left four in."

😊