Susan, Deyo is a surname--Christian and Pierre Deyo, father and son, were two of the original 12 patentees of the settlement of New Paltz, NY. They signed the patent along with the other 10 men, on 29 Sep 1677. Your Deyo Davis may have been given the name to perpetuate a maternal line surname--a good clue, that you probably have a line going back to those original patentees. Julie, IBSSG Susan Seifert wrote: > My question is this: Could the name Deyo be a shortened name for > Cornelius, or perhaps even a nickname?