Quick Note on Surnames

Surnames often have some meaning to them.

From Ireland there are a lot of "Mc" names. The "Mc" means "Son of." So that means somewhere in the family tree there was a man named "Ginty."

Robley is a Norwegian name. The old Norwegian tradition was also to include the name of the father. Knutson, Evenson, etc. would be examples of possible Norwegian surnames. Different from the Irish tradition there was a female version: Knutsdatter, Evensdatter, etc. If we still followed that tradition my last name would be Timothysdatter . . . quite a mouthful. :) Many of the Norwegians chose (or it was chosen for them) to use the name of the farm that they came from when they immigated to the United States. Robole (the 2nd "o" should have a strike through it) was the name of the farm that my ancestors came from and it was Americanized to Robley.

Lindsey . . . I am not sure on the exact origin of this name. Rick thought that the Lindseys were English but I have found that they are actually Irish. [Note: Don't let Rick tell you any different . . . unless his ancestors lied on the census they were born in Ireland :)] However there were a lot of Scottish in Ireland and it is likely that the name could have originated from there. I recently read that there were a lot of Lindsays (the spelling was changed over the years) in the counties of Down and Antrim who were of Scottish origin. Apparently they were from a great Scottish clan so Rick thinks that is cool.

Musical Tradition

Tonight my grandma told me of the dances that my Great Grandma (Ma) would have at the old Love farm. Ma would have candy and pop delivered by truck to a spot away from the house that was set up with bleachers and a stage. The little kids including my Grandma would get to go down early with their pennies to buy candy and then they were sent back to the house. There was quite a crowd that would come . . . Ma charged for admissions and sold the candy and pop to the partygoers.

My grandma doesn't remember all of the performers but my great-great grandfather Treff Deroin was one of them. Treff was a very good violin player. My dad remembers that there was an article in the South Sioux City paper that contained a letter that Treff received from the President of the US. I am still planning on trying to find a copy of that article through the microfilm records at the library but it will take some time since I don't know when it was printed.

Several of my cousins have musical talent . . . perhaps some of it was handed down from Treff. :)