One-Name Study

I discovered one-name studies shortly after I became involved in genealogy. After reviewing the Guild of One-Name Studies website and thinking about it, I decided I wanted to do a study.

I started looking at my surnames to see which one to use for my study. Alexander, Allen, Campbell, and Harrison were immediately discarded as they were too common. I wanted one that was unique and that I did not know much about. I decided on Stoops, the maiden name of a paternal 3rd great-grandmother, Elizabeth (Betsy) Stoops who married Benjamin Campbell in Highland County, Ohio, in 1819. I knew her father, Philip Stoops, was a veteran of the Revolutionary War. From his pension file, I discovered he was born in New Castle County, Delaware, had resided in Rockbridge County, Virginia, and moved to Highland County, Ohio.

I registered the surname (and its spelling variations of Stoop, Stope, Stopes, Stoup, and Stoups) with the Guild and began my research looking for Stoops in Delaware, Virginia, and Ohio. It did not take too many searches to discover I was going to have a problem. I had never heard of the play She Stoops to Conquer and it was not long before I began to filter my searches.

I registered a Y-DNA project with Family Tree DNA to help determine who was my immigrant ancestor. Was it Christopher Stope who arrived in Virginia in 1635 on the ship Safety, Henry Stope who appears in early court records of Kent County, Maryland, or another individual? Unfortunately, I have not had much interest from Stoops males to participate.

I was feeling guilty about spending more time researching my paternal lines versus my maternal lines, so I registered the surname Tidwell. A maternal 3rd great-grandmother was Cynthia Caroline Tidwell who married William Jackson Harrison in Fayette County, Alabama, in 1868.

I have added a third one-name study. My husband’s paternal great-grandparents arrived in Worcester County, Massachusetts about 1890 from Finland. They changed their surname from Nostaja to Lifter when they settled in the United States. There are some sources that state the surname Nostaja means "the one who raises" or "the one who lifts."

The best part of having my one-name studies is I always have something to research at any repository I visit. Friends who know I research those surnames also alert me when they come across the names in their own research. One friend notified me about a Stoops Bible on eBay and I have now set up eBay alerts for all three surnames.

Which of your surnames would you use for a one-name study?