What's in a name? Who are the Jossy's and where did they come from?
I decided to research my Jossy Patriarchal line as far back as I could. I made it all the way back to the 1300s and along the way I learned some things. For one thing my last name has evolved over time. My father spelled his last name Jossy but a few generations back they spelled it Jossi. Go back a few more and it becomes von Jossa. This journey took me from Washington State to Oregon to Switzerland and eventually Germany. I also learned that the "von" represents nobility. I also noticed that they repeated the same first names a lot. There were a lot of Peter's for example. Peter is a very old name. The people of ancient Greece used it and its said to mean "rock." Of course Peter was also one of the disciples of Jesus which is probably where most people know it from but Peter the disciple was nick-named that by Jesus. He was born with the name Simon and I found that name in my Patriarchal line too. Simon is also an ancient name. It means " hearkening or...