I'm not sure if this relates or not but here's an excerpt from "The History of Fairfield County, Connecticut, published 1889" It is possible that this phrase was derived from living near one of these roadside springs. "One of the most fertile roots of nomenclature was the simple road-side cross. The latter old English form, is still found lingering in our crutched or crouched Friars. Langland describes a pilgrim as having many a crouche on his cloak, i.e. many a mark of the cross embroidered thereon. A dweller by the way-side crucifixes, would easily get the soubriquet there from and thus we find atte Crouch to be of early occurrence." {Bardsley's English Surnames). A traveler abroad frequently meets with the wayside crucifix, before which the passer-by kneels in silent prayer to the living Christ in Heaven. It was often the case that these crucifixes were raised on the border of a spring of water, so that the passer-by could refresh himself with a cup of cold water. It was from living near one of these roadside crosses that the Crouch, or Couch family derived their names." Hope this helps, Dave (Connecticut Couch line) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jo Gordon" <JoGordon@webtv.net> To: <COUCH-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, October 22, 2004 12:06 AM Subject: Re: [COUCH] Couch watersops > Could it be these particular Couches were poor and used water instead of > milk to make gravy to "sop" their bread in ?? As I understand it "sop" > is an Old English word - it is used in the King James version of the > Bible in the Book of John. > Jo > > > ============================== > Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration > Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237 >