Re: Baltimore,MD-Beachams
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In reply to:
Re: Baltimore,MD-Beachams
Celeste Bishop 12/27/02
Celeste: You spelled the name a couple of different ways today.My more ancient relatives
always pronounced the name Beacham, and came from England.Legend has it that the
originals went from France to England with William the Conquerer and were rewarded with land
and castles.Because they did not want to be considered French they mispronounced their
name to Beacham.In early census' here most people could not spell and the census taker
spelled it like it sounded.My grandfather told my father that the Episcopal Methodist Bishop,
William Benjaman Beauchamp was his cousin.Bishop Beauchamp went to Europe in the
1890s, and about the time of his return our whole family suddenly changed the spelling of
the name from Beacham to Beauchamp, however continued to call it Beacham.Growing up
in the Washington DC area I went by Bo-shaw-um, but after retiring the Virginia Northern Neck
where there were more Beauchamp's than I'd ever seen in one place, I went with the flow and
began to call the name Beacham.