I am curious as to why your` Research Centre is named Austin-Austen when alphabetical correctness would make it Austen-Austin, is it that the Austens were only added as an afterthought, also what research facilities do you offer to those of English origin who have no American links whatsoever. Regards Joe Austen in OZ

At 11:22 AM 1/17/2006, Joe Austen wrote: >I am curious as to why your` Research Centre is named Austin-Austen when >alphabetical correctness would make it Austen-Austin, is it that the >Austens were only added as an afterthought, also what research facilities >do you offer to those of English origin who have no American links >whatsoever. Regards Joe Austen in OZ Joe... Austen was not added as an after-thought, it has been part of the AARC from the very beginning. My own line has seen changes in spelling from Austen to Austin to Asten and back to Austin. In fact in one document my gggg-grandfather "Peter Asten" deeded land to my ggg-grandfather "Amos Mozart Austin." They used different spellings of their surname in the same sentence! Old records in Kent, England also have both "en" and "in" for the same people, depending upon who was recording the birth, marriage, etc. The order of "Austin-Austen" was chosen because there are more people seeking their Austin roots than seeking Austen roots. For example, of 4115 visitors to the <http://www.austins.org/ResearchCenter>Austin-Austen Research Center 948 of them have the "Austin" surname, only 23 have the "Austen" surname, although there are no doubt other "Austen" descendants among the other 3144 AARC visitors who have neither surname. There are parts of England where "Austen" is more common than "Austin," but AFGS Vice President Roger B. Austin of Sherborne, Dorset found that the "Austin" is more common in England today. I believe he used phone directories and also 1890 birth records, he can give you more details. From 1694-1850 in the UK there was a ratio of about 3.65 to 1 of Austins to Austens. In the US in 1990 the ratio of Austin to Austen was greater than 104 to 1. The research facilities AFGS offers non-Americans are the same offered Americans. The <http://www.austins.org/ResearchCenter>AARC contains a growing number of English records, and we are actively concentrating on putting more English records into the AARC, because they benefit Austin-Austen descendants everywhere, not just Americans. You may have seen the Baptisms from Kent in your September 2005 AFGS newsletter. We held our 2005 International Austin Convention in Kent and gathered many new records (courtesy of the Kent Families History Society) while there that we expect to publish and to place into the AARC to benefit Austin-Austen researchers. Many of these - in fact most of them - have the Austen surname, as you can see, for example, on page 24 of the AFGS September 2005 newsletter. I recommend that you consider writing it up your Austen line for inclusion at the AARC, or even for publication in The Austin Families Register (the AFGS newsletter). Publishing your line is one of the best ways to meet your "cousins." We include your contact information (name & e-mail) at the bottom of each page in AARC documents, so anyone sharing your Austen line can contact you with additions and corrections, etc. I hope this answers your question to some extent, and I look forward to hearing from you again. Best Regards... Mike Austin Dr. Michael Edward Austin, President Austin Families Genealogical Society 23 Allen Farm Lane, Concord, MA 01742 http://www.austins.org