RHEA-L Archives

From: Robert Barnes <>
Subject: Re: [RHEA-L] Reagh [French]
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1998 22:29:41 -0500

I am fascinated by this french connection. My mother sang mountain songs to me
a s child and one of them was about the dome of Notre Dam in Paris. There are
no french connections in ancestral lines that i am aware of. Could this be my
line and a clue to my ancestor John Rea/Rhea/Ray

wrote:

> I'm not hung on the origin of the name so much as I was trying to solve an
> old family mystery or disprove bad documentation. We have one document
> written by another family member 4 generations ago that claims John W.
> Rea's father (name unknown) was French and was a stowaway on a vessel
> (don't know which one) when he came to America. John W. was born 1809
> somewhere in or around Greenville, SC. I've not been able to find any
> birth records about John W. in SC nor do I know who his father was. My
> inquiry was simply to find out if any Rea's may have originated in France?
> My father and grandfather always thought we were Scotch/Irish and we
> presumed that until we recently heard the French story. It's certainly
> conceivable that the story is wrong or it's also possible he came to
> America by way of France and wasn't really of French decent.
>
> The name "Reagh" or "Reaugh" is a new twist for me but an interesting one.
> Since I'm not familiar with French or Gaelic I don't have an opinion
> regarding the name origin or it's legitmacy as a French name.
>
> ==== RHEA Mailing List ====
>
>
> RHEA MAILING LIST
>
> Genealogy and History of the Rhea name
>

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• Re: [RHEA-L] Reagh [French] by Robert Barnes <>