Tom Robison wrote: (snip) Imagine the conversation: > Recorder: What's your last name? > > Mr. B/P: "Beckelshymer" (or Bechtelhymer or Pickleshimer or whatever) > > Recorder: How do you spell that? > > [Bear in mind here that Mr. B/P, though fairly well-educated, may not be > sure how to spell his native name in English] I'm sure we would like to believe that our ancestors were well-educated, but I don't really believe that this family was. They were farmers and millwrights. My ancestor Jacob B'Hymer signed his will with an X. I doubt if many of his family in the 1700s could read or write. Jacob couldn't even write his own name. I usually correct people who misspell my name and am annoyed when it is misspronounced. Do you think our early ancestors just got tired of correcting other people, or could it be they didn't know how to spell? MY $0.02 worth. Twila