Sunday, February 17, 2013

Origin of the name Mehitable

People are wondering about the origin of the name Mehitable. I believe it is biblical,
from Genesis 36:39, "Balalhanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in this stead, the name of his city being Pau; his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab."

I imagine there have been many spellings. The name was fairly common in Puritan New England and I have nine other Mehitables in my family tree. One of them, Mehitable Spencer (abt 1640-1691) married our original Cone immigrant, Daniel in 1661. She was the daughter of Gerard Spencer and his wife Hannah Hills. Born in Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts; she moved with her family to East Haddam, Connecticut where her father was one of the original proprietors along with Daniel Cone. Mehitable and Daniel raised a family of nine.

Some believe that women named Mehitable were often given the nickname "Hettie". I don't have any information to substantiate this.

1 comment:

  1. My relative's name was hettie in nickname anyway it being

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