This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Pangburn, Pharo, Pharos Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/wQB.2ACE/1078.1.1.1 Message Board Post: sorry--this did not post in the right place. here I go again: yes some do appear to Bible names---however, Catholics did not generally go for that custom at that time. And Pangburns at this time were Catholic. How that happened I don't have a clue either as the early records of Pangburns in NJ indicate they were Quaker(Friends) or other VERY Protestant religions. The Gypsy thing would account for both the names and the Catholic religion. And I have found out anecdotally that southern NJ did have a few Gypsy camps, German Chickeners and Dutch--both of which the last name Pharo was a possibility. Then again the Pharos was Greek Orthodox, and many when they came to this country as immigrants ended up converting to roman because there were no churches here for them. Mary Eva was the first generation I know for sure was Catholic and my grandfather George Oscar was also Catholic(she was his grandmother)--before that I don't really know. And I do know one other thing--Mary eva was noted for her exotic ethnicity---my father remembers seeing he! r when has was very small and she had jet black hair with no gray in it and it dragged the ground--she was less than 5 feet tall--when she died they cut her hair and braided it into a key chain of sorts that mysteriously disappeared around the time of my grandfather's death in 1969. It was rumored she was native American but there is no proof of that and I am not the only who was looking on that score(even years ago in Pangburn, Arkansas the local historian knew of this). I personally knew of and went to school with 'Gypsies' by the last name of Stanley and back in the time of Samuel and Mary Eva, there was still a prejudiced stigma attached--so it would not be uncommon to change some facts.I believe the early Greek settlers came across the same prejudice. Also-another tibit- my Aunt Sharon married another Blizzard and their daughter married a Stiles. Ravyn