In an earlier message Bill McMahon wrote: > My ancestor, William Friend McMahon, Sr. was born in Frederick Co Va > in 1749. His Father and Grandfather were of Scot ancestory. This > leads me to wonder if he adopted his middle name (Friend) later in > life. He m 1774 Nancy Ann Co x who who had an Uncle named Friend > Cox. They spent the latter part of their lives in Ohio County, VA > (Wellsburg). > Is it reasonable to suppose that he might have added the middle name > Friend to his name as a tribute to his wife's Uncle? I have looked > through the McMahon family names extensively and found no source for > the name Friend. However, his wife 's Cox family used the name > Friend extensively as a given name and a surname. (These Coxes and > Friends were Swedes.) William, his father Richard and his wife's > family were all very active participants in the American Revolution > and it might be possible he added the middle name as an act of > defiance to the Engli sh law? > Thoughts anyone? Or am I "whistling in the wind"? It is perhaps more likely that William Friend McMahon was also a Friend descendant, although if he adopted the name after the Revolution he may have been honoring someone (was his wife's uncle a patriot of note?). I doubt that he would have been defying English law, as the law against two forenames was rarely enforced even in England. Just a side note: Nancy Ann is almost certainly a confusion of a name and a nickname. She was probably christened Ann and called Nancy. The use of the name Nancy alone (as a baptismal name) dates considerably later than your relative. Kathleen Much [log in to unmask] To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html