What's in a Name?

Edward's middle name was passed down to him from his grandparents, Charles F. Sherriff and Elizabeth Loxley Sherriff They were married on a farm in White Water, Wisconsin in 1841. One of the eleven offspring from this union was Ellen Sherriff Curtis, who married Johnson Asahel Curtis. It was common back then to use a mother's maiden name as a middle name, and Edward was named in this manner.

So you might ask yourself; why would they change the spelling of Edward’s middle name then? The answer is they didn’t! Somewhere along the line someone made a typo in a book, and now his middle name is often incorrectly spelled like a law enforcement officer's title instead of the true family name.

All of Edward’s ancestors have properly spelled their name “Sherriff with” two “r’s” and two “f’s.”