Posted on: Nodaway Co Query Forum Reply Here: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Mo/Nodaway/937 Surname: Stephenson ------------------------- My grandmother, Bess O'Rear Stephenson, used the names Stephenson and Stinson when she was growing up in Maryville, Nodaway Co., Missouri. She wrote a little story about her childhood, and at one point she writes that the teacher said "Bess Stinson....." He father was Andrew Stephenson and her mother was Ellen Israel O'Rear. I am not at all familiar with the name Swinford. Jesse Stephenson and two of his children, Andrew and Mary, moved to Nodaway about 1847-49. His wife had been Alsey Blackburn, and there was a Blackburn family living in Nodaway in 1850. My mother thinks the name Stephenson was shortened to Stinson because it was easier to pronounce, but I am curious about why the name was interchangable.