Duchess of Downtown Tacoma

While following my Patriarchal line, I noticed that my last name evolved over time - the last change I can't yet find but I found some hints. As I explained in my last blog seemed that around 1100 AD we may have been named after a river. Or the river may have been named after us. All I know is that we were both there with the name Jossa around that time. I can't trace the name beyond that point. They were obviously wealthy because they built castles and had "von" in front of the name which indicated Lordship.  I read also that German last names can mean their original occupation but it can also indicate the place where they are from. Several times while reading about the von Jossa's, they also called them "von Jasza" and this confused me.  I also learned that they used to name rivers after their Gods. Was the Jossa river named after an old Pagan God? Probably not. I see no evidence of this. Then I ran across a old map of Europe that had a place named Jas...

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...

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