Spelling. The bugbear of all genealogists. The lack of consistency in spelling by our ancestors (and by those many clerks, enumerators, priests and officials who actually wrote their names down) is something that causes researchers endless frustration.
Misspeld knames are a commun probblem
for reeserchors. In times when literacy levels were low,
how a name sounded was often more important than how it was spelled, and many officials who created records simply wrote names down as they heard them. Generally your ancestor was not the person who actually
recorded
their name, and they had little opportunity to correct a misspelled or misheard name. This means that spelling variations and incorrectly recorded names abound in records. No one stopped to ask 'how do you spell that?'
It is something we hear time and time again as researchers - always consider possible alternate spelling of any name. Consider Anglicization of names – especially non-British names. First names as well as surnames often changed. Local dialects and foreign accents often made a significant difference, and many first names were truncated or written in short form. William recorded as Wm, Patrick as Pat or Patk, James as Js and so on. You also have common shortened names – William as Bill, James as Jimmy, Elizabeth as Eliza or Liz or Beth or Betty.
Consider how well the search engine of any database might cope with alternate spelling, truncation and so on. Several searches may be necessary to ensure you don’t miss potential matches. In my family database I have exactly no surnames that are spelled the same way - including Green (Greene, Greyne), Hart (Harte, Heart, Hearte) and Pike (Pyke, Peak, Peake).
So when you are researching, always stop and ask - How do you spell that? And more importantly - how did THEY spell that?
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