"The Fort Brothers" and Other Family Names

Over the past week I have dedicated one blog to each of my sons.  For Sumter, Pink, Green, & Southern commented that he had a great name.  A huge public thank you goes out to you PG&S!  Actually, I absolutely LOVE my boys' names.  I belong to one of those crazy South Carolina families where everyone is named after everyone else.  NO ONE has an original name.   (Well, almost no one.  Keep reading!)

My sister's name is the most beautiful in the family:  Anne Stuart.  It's a double name and, of course was taken from some dead great, great, etc. grandmother.  Not Anne.  Not Stuart.  It's Anne Stuart.  And don't mess with her on that because she'll just ignore you.  She and I went to summer camp on the shores of Lake Michigan when we were younger, and those Midwestern girls just couldn't grasp the concept.  They called her "Stuart".  We didn't correct them after a while, because... well, we just guessed they just didn't know any better.  :)

I am named after my mother, Beverly.  My given middle name is Mason.  Mason is her mother's maiden name.  My grandmother's family was from Virginia, and she was always fond of saying, "We were the Masons... of Virginia."  Never knew exactly what that meant.  It must have meant something as it is through her line that we are all members of the NSCDA.

My sons are known throughout parts of South Carolina as "The Fort Brothers" as in two forts in South Carolina:  Fort Sumter and Fort Jackson.  NO!  I didn't plan that.  On my side of the family every first-born son for the past five generations have been named "James Sumter".  They have all been called Sumter.  My "however many greats" grandfather was the personal physician to General Thomas Sumter of the Revolutionary War.   Our youngest, Jackson Elliott, was named for his paternal great-grandmother's maiden name (Jackson).  The Elliott is from my father's side.  Our ancestor, William Elliott, owned a large plantation that much later became Sea Pines (of Hilton Head Island).  Legend has it that he was forced to hand over the deed to a Union soldier at gunpoint. 

My sister has two beautiful daughters, Mary Stephens (double name, of course) and Caroline.  My family was absolutely thrilled with Mary Stephens' name.  Not only was she named after people from her father's side, but my mother discovered that we actually have a Mary Stephens on our side all the way from the 1600's!   But Anne Stuart really made a social familial gaff with poor Caroline.  When she told my mother what she was going to name her second daughter, my mother sniffed, "Oh. We don't have any Carolines in our family."  To which Anne Stuart replied, "Well, we do now!"

Mimi with Sumter, Jackson, Mary Stephens, and Caroline

Kanuga, 2008

So here's to all of you out there with crazy family names!  I'd love to hear your stories!

AKA Beverly Mason