agriculture tips

In the earliest days of human history people rarely needed more than a few grunts or whistles to call each other in times of danger. But as populations grew, sounds were combined and as language evolved, words or complex combinations of sounds were assigned, or assumed, by individuals to be able to not only call each other, but to be able to tell each other apart. After all, every one in an animal skin with long hair probably looked somewhat alike. We needed to be able to lay claim to property and land, our spouses and children. Names were one of the ways we did this, and one of the ways we kept records that ultimately were supposed to help avoid disputes. How confusing it must have been in those very early days. The first Johan or John, thousands of years ago, may have fathered a male child whom he named John. This child may soon have become known as The son of John or John's son. Perhaps even little john. If your surname ends with 'son' as in Johnson, Jackson, Albertson,...

If we ask ourselves the question that William Shakespeare penned hundreds of years ago -- "So what's in a name?" that which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet... " -- then we are to believe that a name doesn't really mean a lot. What is important is what something is, not what it is called. If that's the case, why then do we spend so much time nowadays trying to figure out the perfect name for our children? The hype for creative names is a fairly recent trend. Leading up to the 20th Century, our American ancestors (comprising a multitude of cultures) followed a fairly simple format. Oldest sons were given their paternal grandfather's name, the next oldest son was given his father's name, and later sons were named for their father's brothers. This worked fine in families with a lot of children, which was usually the case back in the day. While the format was simple for our ancestors, it gives genealogists headaches because they...