Just need to vent about ancestors and their names! (German, find, search)
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Don't you just "love" when you have ancestors who used their middle names instead of their first names? If they did it consistently that would be one thing, but my ancestors seemed to just like to switch their names around more often than they changed their socks.
Ugh! I have a branch of my family where it appears half the people alternated between using their first names and their middle names. In some cases, you can't even tell which was the first name and which was the middle name.
So for example, you have a guy named Charles Franklin Whipple.
Each time there was a census, he would change how he presented his name. Also did this in marriage records and in birth records for his children.
He appears as: Charles Franklin Whipple Charles Whipple Charles F. Whipple Frank C. Whipple Frank Whipple Frank Charles Whipple Franklin Whipple FC Whipple CF Whipple
Problem is, there are lots of other Charles Whipples and Frank Whipples who lived around the same time, in the same vicinity, who I can get him mixed up with!
I also have this problem with a lady named Mary Margaret ---. she couldn't decide which name she liked better. Sometimes she's Mary, sometimes she's Margaret, and one time she's even listed as "May." Come on Mary, flip a coin or something!
Then we have a Lydia Ann ---, who seemed to go by "Annie," which was just great, since there were at least 3 cousins in her generation named Ann or Anne with the same last name, as well as other Anns and Annies not related, but with the same last name.
Oh, and when a census worker comes to your home, would it be too much to ask to give them the actual first name of the person, and not the middle name or nickname? So if your son is named Charles Henry Stuart, please tell the census worker "Charles" and not "Harry."
I'm not complaining about the errors made by Census workers--I know they spell things wrong and get dates wrong all the time. But these are the actual ancestors who change what name they go by, or what name they call their kid that month, and it just TICKS me off!
My favorites are the darned Germans, who had a christening name tacked on to the front of their names, that they probably never used, but that's how they're listed in the baptismal registers. Argh!
My German immigrant was a William. I knew where he was buried. The local cemetery abstracted the tombstones (this was long ago, before the internet). Fortunately, I one day traveled half-way across the country and visited his grave. And there was a very faint "F." before the William. Which helped me find his baptism ... as Ferdinand.
My dad's family is of German origin and it seems like ALL the men are named Johann, Wilhem, Freidrich or Heinrich or some combination of those names. The last name isn't common, but when there are large families who stay in the same area it can get confusing. Fortunately, the churches kept good records with the names of parents for baptisms, marriages and deaths. It still can get confusing though.
Well, the information provided on certain documents, especially censuses, were often provided by someone who did not have full or accurate details of every individual in the household. So it was not necessarily Charles himself who changed how his name was presented, it could very well have been other people who mistakenly thought it was accurate. Or, the census enumerator simply recorded it incorrectly.
I find this is common with people who did consistently go by their middle names, which is why even the people in his family may have confused which name was first and which was middle. I have a John Henry who I'm pretty sure went by Harry his whole life but some documents say John Henry, Harry, Henry, John, etc. So I'll bet Charles Franklin normally went by Frank. I like when records use nicknames, it makes me feel like I'm learning something personal about them rather than just facts and stats.
My other pet peeve is people that post family trees on sites like Ancestry.com and GUESS on people. I have found so many errors. And other users seem to piggy-back on those errors, so you see the same ones over and over again, just due to laziness. I mean, come on people, based on your assertion, he fathered this child when he was 7 yrs old??!!!
Yeah, but I need to be able to find the "facts and stats" BEFORE I can then work on learning something more personal about them.
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.
Book Lover, At least that's close!
I have a Samuel who I had as Samuel J. ----. Later I found this John ----. I was like, who is he? He was born the same year as Samuel. Are they twins?
Turns out it was Samuel John ---. Same guy.
My other pet peeve is people that post family trees on sites like Ancestry.com and GUESS on people. I have found so many errors. And other users seem to piggy-back on those errors, so you see the same ones over and over again, just due to laziness. I mean, come on people, based on your assertion, he fathered this child when he was 7 yrs old??!!!
When I was brand-spanking-new to Ancestry.com, I did link my tree to a few people's trees, and I only learned later that they were totally incorrect. For me, though, it wasn't out of laziness, it was about deferring to someone I thought had superior knowledge to me. I had never done ancestry research, so figured these people who had all this info were "experts" and they must know more than me. So a few times, I "corrected" info I had been given by family members based on what I saw in someone's ancestry tree. It was after about a year that I realized most people are full of crap, and if they can't attach any primary sources to their info, I'm better off rejecting it.
And not a coincidence at all, a lot of those errors other people have are on those same people I found who used more than one name.
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