Thinking about this further, I guess there's no single right answer. It depends on the circumstances. Also people do change their names over time. In my case, my ancestors anglicised their German names e.g. Adolf became Adolph. Deciphering it is all part of the fun! I'm thankful that Legacy is flexible enough to record all these complexities.
Rob On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 16:46:56 -0600, Gordon Small <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I have one marriage certificate that has the bride's last name spelled three > different ways and none of the three ways is clear enough to make any > assumption which is correct. Even the bride's signature is ambiguous. > > Gordon > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Rob Weiss" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 4:26 PM > Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] various spellings of names > > Where there are inconsistencies, I believe the names on a marriage > certificate ahead of any others. This is because the people concerned > were present and witnessed the way their name was spelt and also often > signed their name which can be used as a check. Still not infallible > though. Obviously doesn't apply if they were illiterate either. What > do others think? > > Rob > > On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 07:46:16 -0600, Ruth Nerud > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > So how do you decide which is the "true" name? I've found the recorder of > > the document may not have been the best judge of the true spelling of the > > surname. And since many of the people didn't know how to write, they > > didn't > > know if the name was spelled correctly or incorrectly. I know spellings > > change over the years, but I'm thinking the changes are inconsistencies in > > the persons writing the documents. > > > > Ruth A. Nerud > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Legacy User Group Etiquette guidelines can be found at: > http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp > > To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ > > To unsubscribe please visit: > http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp > > Legacy User Group Etiquette guidelines can be found at: > http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp > > To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ > > To unsubscribe please visit: > http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp > Legacy User Group Etiquette guidelines can be found at: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp
