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Mine is named Samuel. You would think by searching for Sam or Samuel he would pop up, right? WRONG "Saml"!!!
Saml is shorthand for Samuel. You'll see this a lot on censuses - I have a lot of censuses that list names like "Wm" for William, "Chas" for Charles or "Geo" for George. It is not a nickname, just an abbreviation for enumerators who do so much writing and sometimes have to fit a lot of text into a small space.
You may also sometimes find them in church records. I was confused by this at first too but you get used to it and even start looking for them.
Come to think of it, my most frustrating thing with names is Norwegian names - before they had surnames and just went by "Simon Gregorsen" whose father was "Gregor Larsen". It's good in the sense that you always know what the first name of someone's father was - but without a common surname to link them, it's very difficult to find the right records. I may know that Gregor's father was Lars but there were a lot of Gregors with a Lars as a father. So frustrating...
Well, that and all the records are in Norwegian... that makes it difficult too.
I like when they use middle names because then one knows what it stands for. Some people only ever had their first initials on documents. Almost seems like: why report the name or marriage, etc. at all if it's A.R Smith? Why not tell us it's Albert R. Smith, etc. People just didn't realize they were setting down records for all times apparently.
women were usually listed by their husbands name---Mrs. John Smith, not Mary Smith. I had an uncle married 3x, try researching him! It took awhile until he was married multiple times---I was marvelling at the lady who bore 34 kids
Hey, all of this is what makes genealogy fun, right?
My dh is now hooked as well. Far be it from him to connect to an inappropriate link. He's an engineer, very precise, etc.
For me, I've found a straight line back via my m-grandmother that's indisputable, even according to dh. Its like getting on the express train, as opposed to the bus that stops in every town. I am simply amazed at what I've found, little old Grandma was a direct decendant of a guy kicked out of Germany for poaching on the king's lands! Way to go, Grandma!
True but I find swapping names or nicknames easier to find than names which are simply slaughtered in spelling. I have one census where Godshall is spelled Gutnoll. That one flew under the radar for a while. I always keep nicknames and middle names in mind while searching - Behind the Name: Meaning of Names, Baby Name Meanings can be of help with linking nicknames to formal names.
Ahh yes, the phonetic misspelling of a mis-pronunciation. I love those
Childress > Childers> Chambers
Bolen > Bowlin > Bolling
Or my own family name where a second T was added to end of name.
And then some search sites let you set "Exact Spelling" , or not. Others force you to look at every possible phonetic possibility
Last edited by reed303; 03-05-2012 at 04:55 PM..
Reason: bolding
Isn't it sad that those people in the olden days were so busy trying to make ends meet working 14, 16 hour days didn't have the time to go to school learn to read and write and keep accurate records for future generations that they didn't even know or care about. It probably wasn't their #1 priority. Census recording in those days were strictly for purposes other than genealogy research. Don't get mad at them, you should feel sorry for them. We're actually lucky to even have what info we can get. If you go back 1000 years ago you have to deal with names like ADVKL or VROHL or even OVEHY carved in stone born in MCLII or such.
All I can say is 100 years from now, our descendents will be sifting through a whole bunch of Kaitlyns, Briannas, Conners, Bookers, etc. No one I know in my age group ever named their kid after a parent or grandparent.
They'll see "Misty Jones" on the census, and later find that she went by Misty but her given name was Reece Brooke Jones.
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