On This Day in Family History - March 2

 Pearl Sylvester Stoner was born 02 March 1904

Pearl was the son of Esther Alice Parker and John Wesley Stoner

Alice Parker was a sister of my great-grandmother Massie Parker Treat

John and Alice had two children, son Pearl and daughter Fairy Jane

Fairy and Pearl Stoner

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It seems unusual now for Pearl to be a boy's name. But it doesn't seem to have been that rare 'back in the day'. There is another Pearl in the Parker branch of the family tree -- Pearl Elsworth Parker

Pearl Parker was a brother of Alice Parker (so I assume her son was named after her brother).

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There are at least two more examples of boys named Pearl from other branches of the family tree, with alternate spellings:

There is a Perl Gibson and a Pearlie Barnett (in the Burford and Arnold ancestries)

Pearl Parker had a brother named Earl

Pearlie Barnett had a twin brother named Earl

Perl Gibson had a twin brother named Verl

Well, those kinds of little tidbits are interesting to me.