52 Ancestors - WEEK 9 - Changing
Names
By Cynthia K. Patton
Why would someone change their
surname and then every generation for two hundred years here in the United
States continue to us it? That question may never be answered but the story behind the story goes
like this.
My mother was a Mahanna.
Dolores Jean Mahanna[1]
born in 1933 to Donald O. Mahanna and Margaret Emma Robson in Washington,
Pennsylvania. Her lineage descends from a man named John Mahon/McMahon/Mahana
who arrived from County Clare, Ireland sometime before 1750.
Either his son (or grandson) was
John Mahanna, born 1778 in Kent, Delaware.
Later over in Washington,
Pennsylvania a James Behanna is recorded on the 1790 census[2].
He and many generations of his family remain there. Fast forward to 2009 and I
am contacted by a man who is researching the Behanna clan. He is extremely
excited because my male cousin who is a Mahanna showed up as a Y-DNA match for
four of his Behanna test subjects.
Together we were able to decipher
when the name change occurred, but never could arrive at “why” the name change occurred.
This does stand as an example that our relatives names are maybe the least important
identifier when we are conducting research. And that DNA doesn't lie.
[1] Alabama
Department of Public Health, death certificate no. 48252 (2016). Dolores J.
Keefer, Center for Health Statistics, Montgomery.
[2] 1790
US census, Washington County, Pennsylvania, page 197 (penned), column 1, line
70, James Behamm; imaged, “1790 United States Federal Census,” Ancestry
(https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/5058/:
accessed 28 February 2024.
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