My dad loves to be heard saying in a raspy, low voice Nothing changes but the names.
He is, of course, talking about stories of people, especially within families (and such observations generally hold true). But the same thought could be applied to the spelling of names, especially when dealing with genealogy. Nothing is more frustrating than the various spelling of both surnames and given names.
However, this is more a part of our own preconditioning than anything else.
We are all now "young" enough to have grown up in a society that records your birth on a certificate with a name, that insists your name is spelled the correct way and oftentimes written the same way on everything from your college admission papers to the purchase or sale of a home. In fact, I have signed documents attesting to the fact I had signed my name in different ways on varying documents.
The advent for specific spellings of names (and later signatures) is in part due to registration of people at the state and national levels. While it is possible to find registrations of births in the mid-1850s or back in isolated areas, it wasn't until the 1902 Act of Congress established the Bureau of Census as a permanent agency to develop and create a standard registration system of births that such was recorded nationwide. Even then, it would be 1919 before all states were recording births, and a standardized version was not adopted until the 1930s.
The creation of the Social Security Administration in 1936, which created social security numbers to track the earning of US workers and to determine benefit eligiblity, further solidified the need for specific spellings of names.
With the lack of standardized spelling, which still is not foolproof (more on that in a moment), what does that mean for records in the 19th century and before?
Keep the following in mind when working with records.
Most records relied heavily on phonetic spelling: Individuals, from census takers to transcribers, often recorded names as they sounded. This, of course, led to diverse spellings of the same name, oftentimes within the same record(s).
Names evolved over time: Names would, and often did, change over time due to such things as migrations, cultural shifts, and simple human error. More than one family has a tale of their name changing, such as dropping vans and de to modernizing an ethnic sounding name.
Varying levels of literacy: The fact of the matter is, that before the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenburg about 1440, most of the world was illiterate. Books of any kind were not publicly available. People did not sign contracts and such as we do today. Even today, according to The National Literacy Institute, 21% of US adults are illiterate. With such various levels over the years, its no wonder phonetic spellings were used and people relied on others to write for them.
Regional Dialects: Pronunciation and spelling varied significantly across regions and social classes worldwide. This is especially problematic when immigrants moved to regionally different areas. Oftentimes, their dialect was hard to understand, and this led to deeeper phonetic spellings and guesswork on the part of the recorder or transcriber.
Focus on Identification: Genealogy prioritizes identifying individuals across records. Spelling takes a second seat to evidence otherwise found. When searching in records, tools like Soundex can help you overcome spelling inconsistencies and find your ancestors. Search engines oftenimes allow you to do so with certain variations outside of the norm. When looking at books with indexes, be sure to search for name variations.
Even now, names are oftentimes misspelled even in official documents. My mother's birth certificate is in error. Her parents were clear her name was to be spelled Jo Ann, but her birth certficate gives her names as Joan.. Subsequent records, of course, do not match her birth certificate.
My maiden name, Hechler, is German. In records it is seen as Hickler, Huckler, and on and one. My great-grandparents were full blooded German and spoke such upon their arrival here. Later, the Crosby branch, as opposed to the Baytown branch, had an error in the records and their name was spelled Heckler. The name stuck, and so their spelling was changed.
And the Crews family cannot fail to be mentioned here. David Crews, born in 1740 in New Kent County, Virginia, was the son of David Crews and the grandson of John Crew. Yes, the s was later added. In the next generation, the sons of David Crews (born in 1740) had a falling out with their father after his second marriage to a very young widow. Supposedly the children of both marriages were to equally share in their father's vast estate at his death, but the older sons came to believe they were not being dealt a fair hand. Jeremiah and Elijah were said to have changed their name, on purpose, to Cruse. That spelling is seen in further records and generations.
Yup, sometimes nothing changes but the names . . .
A life-long educator and writer, Donna has always had stories in her head. When they were not swirling and gnawing, she had her head in a history book - both fiction and non-fiction. While in junior college, her grandfather gave her a family notebook with McQueen documents and family group sheets. Thus, her love of genealogy was born, and she has not stopped hunting down all the ancestors she can. She graduated from Texas A & M University with a teaching degree, and has since published five historical novels based on her family history, five books on her genealogy, and a few smallish books. Donna teaches middle-school English Language Arts and tutors privately. She dreams of life in a log cabin the woods, even as she is addicted to antique and thrift shopping.
Need a guest speaker for a club or event?
If you live in southeast Texas and would like Donna to come speak at your reading, genealogy, history club, or other kind of group, contact her at donnahechlerporterbooks@gmail.com. She will very likely say yes!
Want to stay in touch with Donna on all her latest writing and project news?
Be sure to scroll to the top of the page and sign up for Donna's newsletter, A Petticoat & A Pen, for all the latest writing and project news. Best of all, a free gift is waiting for you when you do!
Comments