One down, 51 to go. My name is Linda

Marie challenged me to answer 52 questions in 52 weeks as part of keeping my family history.  The questions came from this post on the LDS church's "Family Search" blog.

The questions are basic, but they're good prompts and a good way to get me started writing on my blog again.  Question #1?

1. What is your full name? Why did your parents give you that name?

I was born Linda Nuffer.  No middle name.  My mother doesn't have a middle name, either.  She was born Margaret McGregor.  The theory, as I understood it, is that if I were to marry, my maiden name would become my middle name, and it has. My next older sister was born Peggy, a nickname for Margaret.  I kind of love that.  No middle name, though.  Our oldest sister, Barbara, was born Barbara Ruth.  She was the lucky one to get two names that were very dear to our mother - mom's beloved younger sister Barbara, and mom's even more beloved mother Ruth. Mom can't be blamed, though, for giving out both names at once. After four boys in a row, who knew if she'd ever get another girl?  I'm not sure where "Linda" came from, but it was the third most popular baby girl name in 1959, so there's that.

It's interesting to note that I was born Linda Nuffer, but am known as Linda Neuffer on every form of identification besides my birth certificate and church blessing certificate.

John or Johannes Nuffer

My great-grandfather, John (or Johannes) Nuffer, was born in Neuffen, Wuerttemburg, Germany in 1862.  A brief autobiography of John Nuffer is available on the Family Search website.  His family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1880 and, facing great persecution for their baptism, quickly sold their belongings at a loss at auction and emigrated to the United States in 1880, arriving in New York and traveling across the country to Ogden, Utah, eventually settling in Cache Valley in Northern Utah.  John married Louisa Zollinger in 1884, and they built their home in Logan, Utah, where he was a stone mason and a fruit tree grower. 

There is some disagreement as to why the family changed the spelling of their last name from Nuffer to Neuffer.  Some say it was because of erroneous genealogical searches that mistakenly led family members to believe that the original spelling had actually been Neuffer, while others claim that the change was spurred by a dislike for having their last name mispronounced (NEW-fur, not NUFF-er, please!) There are several spellings of branches of this family, including Nuffer, Nufer, Neufer, and Neuffer.  We are more likely to be related to Nufers than to Neuffers, when all is said and done.

On another interesting side-note, John Nuffer was the supervisor of construction for the building of the Oneida Stake Academy in Preston, donating stone for the project from his own homestead northeast of Logan.  That building was eventually moved from its location in what had become the parking lot for the local high school which was built up around the old building.  It now sits in Benson Park in Preston. The move of the building in 2003 was a million-dollar production, and a story for another blog post!

Oneida Stake Academy building in Benson Park, Preston Idaho, 2010

John and Louisa Zollinger Nuffer and their children, about 1911
Myron David is seated on the left

In 1960, Myron David Nuffer (John's son) filed documentation to change the spelling of his family's name to Neuffer (Court order #14366, Gallatin County, Montana, June 27, 1960).  On June 15, 1963, when I was four years old, my father, Myron Gerald Nuffer, son of Myron David and grandson of John/Johannes Nuffer, filed an affadavit before a notary public in Boone County, Missouri to declare

"... that since the court order of June 27, 1960 my father, mother, brothers and sisters changed the family name from Nuffer to Neuffer I have in fact used the name Neuffer in my transactions and am known to my associates by that name."

The affadavit is signed by Cecil and Edna Stull, family friends.  On all of my school documents, social security card, and church records (except my blessing certificate), I am identified as Linda Neuffer.  My oldest brother David was in the Navy in 1963, and so his name (and that of his children) remains Nuffer, since you don't change your name when you're in the military!

I never wished for a different name, although I used to wish I had been given a middle name.  My older brother (Lewis Dale) had outgrown a t-shirt that I wore sometimes, with L. D. Neuffer printed on it with that old stenciled lettering.  I used to pretend that my middle name was Diane, so that the initials were mine. Silly girl. I like my name fine, just as it is. I have loved using Ellen C (LNC) and Elsie (LC) as my pen names. Mom and Dad's plan worked out perfectly!