Carolyn, Fresh out of college, I spent about 8 months traveling throughout the south, which for me was anything south of Morgantown. When I found myself waaayyy back in "deep" Appalachia, the accents and dialects were sometimes almost a foreign language to me. The "a" or "ah" at the end of a word frequently became "er", as in Eliza or Liza becoming Lizer. Isaiah is stretching it a bit, but if you say it quickly....Isaiah becomes Iza-er. Zar, with a long A, or Zer could have been a nickname or abbreviated form of the name. Incidently, if you ever go to a deli in the Bronx and order some of that Starkist product with a little mayo, celery and onion on a bagel....The guy behind the counter will tell you you're eating a "tuner" sandwich. I'll only go back there with an interpreter! Marc ----- Original Message ----- From: <SHUPE@citcom.net> To: <WVPRESTO-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: January 03, 2002 10:39 AM Subject: [WV Preston County] Zar/Zer | We have a real mystery going <g>. The quote, below, came in on another | List this | morning. Fate???? I can also see the nickname coming from | Ebene"zer"--but don't | understand Zer connection to Isiah. <g> This is intriguing!!!!! | =;o) | Carolyn | | > Does anyone know this family from the 1870 berks | > County, Pa. census? | > Zerr Catherine age 57 keeping house | > Zerr William age 27 farmer | > | | | ==== WVPRESTO Mailing List ==== | Preston County West Virginia Genealogy Junction | http://rootsweb.com/~wvpresto/ | | ============================== | To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: | http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 | |