My recent posts have focused on letters from Emily Dickinson to her third cousin Perez Dickinson Cowan (and one from Cowan to Mable Loomis Todd), and as I explored all of this, I have to admit – I wondered about “Perez” as a family name within the Dickinson family (there were three Perez Dickinsons).
Turns out that “Perez” as a first name has two distinct origins. Of course, one popular form of “Perez” is a Spanish patronymic name meaning “son of Pedro.” However, there is another form of the name derived from the Hebrew root parats meaning "to breach” or "burst forth. This is a biblical name as “Perez” was the son of Judah and Tamar.
Beyond “Perez” I checked the Dickinson family tree for other unusual names, and I found quite a handful. Here are some of my favorites:
Turns out that “Perez” as a first name has two distinct origins. Of course, one popular form of “Perez” is a Spanish patronymic name meaning “son of Pedro.” However, there is another form of the name derived from the Hebrew root parats meaning "to breach” or "burst forth. This is a biblical name as “Perez” was the son of Judah and Tamar.
Beyond “Perez” I checked the Dickinson family tree for other unusual names, and I found quite a handful. Here are some of my favorites:
Also, in exploring the lineup of Perez Dickinsons, I came across this wide-of-the-mark statement from Google:
“Perez Dickinson Cowan (1842-1925) was a cousin (specifically, a second cousin) to the poet Emily Dickinson. A Presbyterian minister, he was the son of Mary Ann Dickenson Cowan (Emily's first cousin) and was known to correspond with Emily, who referred to him as a ‘grieved cousin’ in letters regarding his personal losses.”
This info lists incorrect dates (the correct dates are 1843 – 1923), states he was a “second cousin” (he was a third cousin), and claims his mother was “Mary Ann Dickenson” (his mother was Lucinda Foster Dickinson). I could not find a “Mary Ann Dickenson” who was a first cousin to Emily Dickinson – and by the way, did you catch the “e” in the name, “Dickenson”?
“Perez Dickinson Cowan (1842-1925) was a cousin (specifically, a second cousin) to the poet Emily Dickinson. A Presbyterian minister, he was the son of Mary Ann Dickenson Cowan (Emily's first cousin) and was known to correspond with Emily, who referred to him as a ‘grieved cousin’ in letters regarding his personal losses.”
This info lists incorrect dates (the correct dates are 1843 – 1923), states he was a “second cousin” (he was a third cousin), and claims his mother was “Mary Ann Dickenson” (his mother was Lucinda Foster Dickinson). I could not find a “Mary Ann Dickenson” who was a first cousin to Emily Dickinson – and by the way, did you catch the “e” in the name, “Dickenson”?
| I did find a Mary Ann Dickinson (with an “i,” not an "e") in the right vintage and area; however, she was actually Mary Ann Walker, daughter of William and Mary Ann Wright Walker, later adopted by family friends Anson Dickinson and his wife Sarah Brown after the death of her parents. Info HERE. I also found this Mary Ann Dickenson (HERE), although no relation (from what I could tell) to Emily Dickinson. Oddly, some family members were “Dickinson” (with an "i") and others were “Dickenson” (with an"e") -- although on another site I found her as Mary Ann Dickinson. Also, the 1860 census has the family listed as “Dickison.” By the way, none of the family members have a checkmark in column 14: “Whether deaf and dumb, blind, insane, idiotic, pauper, or convict.” |  |
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