Hi David - there are so many variations and I expect that what we will eventually find is that all these lines are connected back when they either first came to the States or earlier. My personal experience has been that names were "Americanized" for various purposes - sometimes to distinguish one brothers family from another ... I know in one case I have an English family that started out with "Del" in front of the name and when one brother came to the US and became distinguished in the Union Army as well as in government, he changed the name and deleted the Del ... Please keep us informed as you find any information linking your family to the "Blankenship" family ... Thanks, Kay