Elkan Elkan Everywhere

   Today, I had my renal ultrasound, a procedure much nicer than any other scans.  There were no food or drink restrictions, the process was quick, and I got the results right away.  There did not appear to be any liver obstructions or problems, which is what Littman wanted to know.  I walked both ways to the ultrasound place but did have two incidents of mild nausea at home.
   Since I'm now Grandpa Elkan, I thought I'd give a little history of Elkans and other unusual names from an  8 generation Ries family tree that was prepared I believe in 1991 for a family reunion.  The first Elkan is Elkan Ries from the 3rd generation 1827 to 1886 and my great, great grandfather.  He had 10 siblings and one half sibling.  The family tree takes off from just  Elkan's 6 children, one of whom  Eva Ries, married David Myers my great grandfather who died in 1934.  If all 11 of Elkan's children had similar family trees, the size would be enormous.  David Myers had three children: my grandfather Grandpa Elkan and two others who died in their 20's.  Grandpa Elkan had my mother Ann Myers and my uncle Ries Myers who often went by E. Ries Myers but was really Elkan Ries Myers, Jr.  My Grandpa Elkan had a first cousin Elkan Ries who had a son Elkan Ries, Jr.  Another of my grandfather's siblings had a daughter who married an Emanuel Daniel.  They had two sons: Daniel Daniel and Ries Daniel.  My Uncle Ries has two daughters, One of whom was Cathy Elkan Myers until she got married and dropped the Elkan part.
   Perhaps one of the more unusual changes was my daughter who was born Rachel Abigail Katz and called Abby until the 7th grade when she switched to Rachel.  And then at her wedding last year, she and her husband Dave Smith changed their last names to Darwin.
   I can remember at the 1991 reunion being surprised at how often I heard the name Elkan being used.  Sorry if this Elkan dissertation is confusing or boring but at least I got it down on paper.  I'm not bringing out my Elkan folder which lists many unrelated Elkan's but the name does come from the bible from Elkanah.  In fact there used to be an Elkanah Dean shop at Williamsburg, VA.
   Tomorrow I see radiation oncologist Bar-ad.

Elkan - Wednesday night