ZERUIAH / ZERVIAH: (Zeruiah is the original name but in earlier centuries U and V - if not pronounce…

Shared note	ZERUIAH / ZERVIAH: (Zeruiah is the original name but in earlier centuries U and V - if not pronounced alike - were often written with the same letter, thus ZERVIAH [zer-VYE-ah or zer-VEE-ah] is also seen.) A ZERUAH was the mother of King Jeroboa m I, but the American colonial name seems to be derived from an earlier woman, King David's sister ZERUIAH, mother of Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Jeroboam's mother's name is derived from the Hebrew for "having a skin disease" (which, one would thin k, might limit its popularity), while David's sister's name means "YHWH [God] has let flow" (Carol Meyers, Toni Craven and Ross S. Kraemer, eds., Women and Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible, the Apocryphal/Deut erocanonical Books, and the New Testament (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2000), p. 168). Zerviah Gould, born 15 April 1780, recorded in Cumberland, R.I., was the eighth child of Jabez Gould and Esther Sweetland who were married in Attleboro, 2 September 1766. Zerviah was likely named for her mother's sister, Zerviah Sweetland. Jabez , who was of Wrentham, Mass., at the time of the Revolution, removed to Hallowell, Maine, in 1787, and later settled in Belgrade, Maine. "Sophia" Gould married (intention) 26 April 1808, Fayette, Maine, Aaron Bachelder. In the 1850 census for Faye tte, Sophia Bacheller is listed as age 69, born Massachusetts. A wider context of circumstantial evidence points to her being one and the same as Zerviah. SOPHIA can be pronounced with either long or short "I," depending on the time and the person, so one can see how the name Zerviah might have evolved into Sophia. "Sophia" [Greek for 'wisdom' and very popular from the middle/late eighteenth century ] may have struck an individual Zerviah's ear and seemed more fashionable than her own (phonetically somewhat similar) Biblical name. Context (how time, place, wider cultural, social and/or religious currents, and individual quirks combine) is eve rything with names. Ultimately, it hinges on that most mysterious factor, individual personal taste of long ago. From NEGHS Weekly June 27, 2012

Shared note

ZERUIAH / ZERVIAH: (Zeruiah is the original name but in earlier centuries U and V - if not pronounced alike - were often written with the same letter, thus ZERVIAH [zer-VYE-ah or zer-VEE-ah] is also seen.) A ZERUAH was the mother of King Jeroboa m I, but the American colonial name seems to be derived from an earlier woman, King David's sister ZERUIAH, mother of Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Jeroboam's mother's name is derived from the Hebrew for "having a skin disease" (which, one would thin k, might limit its popularity), while David's sister's name means "YHWH [God] has let flow" (Carol Meyers, Toni Craven and Ross S. Kraemer, eds., Women and Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible, the Apocryphal/Deut erocanonical Books, and the New Testament (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2000), p. 168).

Zerviah Gould, born 15 April 1780, recorded in Cumberland, R.I., was the eighth child of Jabez Gould and Esther Sweetland who were married in Attleboro, 2 September 1766. Zerviah was likely named for her mother's sister, Zerviah Sweetland. Jabez , who was of Wrentham, Mass., at the time of the Revolution, removed to Hallowell, Maine, in 1787, and later settled in Belgrade, Maine. "Sophia" Gould married (intention) 26 April 1808, Fayette, Maine, Aaron Bachelder. In the 1850 census for Faye tte, Sophia Bacheller is listed as age 69, born Massachusetts. A wider context of circumstantial evidence points to her being one and the same as Zerviah.
SOPHIA can be pronounced with either long or short "I," depending on the time and the person, so one can see how the name Zerviah might have evolved into Sophia. "Sophia" [Greek for 'wisdom' and very popular from the middle/late eighteenth century ] may have struck an individual Zerviah's ear and seemed more fashionable than her own (phonetically somewhat similar) Biblical name. Context (how time, place, wider cultural, social and/or religious currents, and individual quirks combine) is eve rything with names. Ultimately, it hinges on that most mysterious factor, individual personal taste of long ago. From NEGHS Weekly June 27, 2012

Alive Dead Death>100 Death<=100 Birth>100 Birth<=100 Roots Leaves
Given names	Surname	Sosa	Birth		Place		Death	Age	Place	Last change
Zeruah Alford Father: Asahel ALFORD Mother: Lydia Brewster				December 10, 1797	226	Becket, Berkshire, Massachusetts, USA	0			Columbia, Herkimer, New York, USA	Never	F	YES	YES
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Both alive Widower Widow Both dead Roots Leaves Not married Marriage>100 Marriage<=100 Divorce Multiple marriages
Given names	Surname	Age	Given names	Surname	Age	Marriage		Place		Last change
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