Bill, I use the AKA for a very simple reason. People are known by different names and spellings, and other researchers may have not yet discovered what I know. So, by adding the AKA variants, I'm providing information to other researchers that may help them.
As an example, my great-grandfather was Weinberger. My grandfather went by Wineberg, and his half-siblings are going by the name Swinburg. While Weinberger to Swinburg may seem like quite a stretch, it really isn't when you trace it through the years. In almost every census their name changed a little, and the main change came after Great Grandpa died. But how would someone researching the name Swinburg ever know to look for Weinberger? I prefer to start with their legal name at birth. Since my g-grandfather changed his name to Schweinberger when he got married, I'm showing his children as Schweinberger simply because I haven't found any documents to show what their actual birth names were. That's just the way I prefer to do it. I guess it really comes down to a matter of personal choice, and what you intend to do with your genealogy. -- Jim Walton "...probe the past carefully and report it as it was, not as I wish it were" From Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
