Sunday, August 28, 2011

The Beverly Mystery Solved

The name Beverly in our family has long been a mystery because our oldest relative, William Beverly Young, the son of John Colby Young and Mary E. Edwards, was an orphan at a young age and no one that we know of ever asked him why his middle name was Beverly.  Uncle Bill died in 1987 and for all we knew, that mystery died with him.
Recently, after finding out who the parents of Mary E. Edwards were, the mystery was soon to be solved.  Mary Edwards was the daughter of William Martin Edwards and Sarah Caldwell.  Sarah Caldwell was the daughter of Beverly Caldwell and Phoebe Hatcher.  There it was, right before me, the key to the mystery!  I just sat and looked at the record holding my excitement while silently smiling at my computer screen.  I didn't understand the meaning of naming a boy Beverly but for the family who originated from Ireland, it was tradition.  Sarah Caldwell the daughter of Beverly Caldwell, married William Martin Edwards and had several children, one of which she named a son Beverly Bernard Edwards.  Beverly Bernard Edwards was a brother of Mary E. Edwards, so it all makes sense that she named her son William Beverly Young.
The name Beverly shows up several times as Beverly Bernard Edwards went on to name one of his sons Henry Beverly Edwards.  Finally the youngest of the Beverly name went to Beverly Young, daughter born to Robert Martin Young, grandson of Mary E. Edwards.  Beverly Young is the only female to have the name.
This information probably means nothing to most people, but to our family it means the world.

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