Our ancestors were NOT as illiterate as we have often thought. The problem is, they read and wrote in their native language!!! Phonetic spelling was used more widely then, than it is now and it was thought to be a sign of high intelligence to be able to spell names and words in more then one manner. Look at Napoleon, he never spelled his name the same way twice. And yes the spelling was often determined by the clerk and whether they were of the same cultural group, i.e. German or English. I have church records from Frederick, MD. in which the family name changed spelling each time the church got a new clerk. And I do know that at least some of the family could read and write German. Another matter that is often over looked when we look at legal records. When you see that an X was used take a good look at it and also, keep in mind the age of the person. If you know someone with arthritis, watch how hard it is for them to use a pen or to write anything. Our ancestors didn't have our modern medicines to help them, think how painful and hard it would have been to write. Jane in Ohio ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jan Curtis" <jcurtis@infowest.com> To: <CLANBOYD-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2005 12:09 AM Subject: Re: [Boyd] BOYDE > Changing spelling of names was common (because most of the people were > illiterate)....my one family spelled their name Gohalston, Golson, Golsan, > Golston, Gholston, Goldstein, Gulston, and I have even more bizarre > spellings of other names. > > JanC > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Harry Boyde" <hboyde@comcast.net> > To: <CLANBOYD-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2005 11:47 AM > Subject: Re: [Boyd] BOYDE > > > > Thanks for asking!! Until my father came along our family name was Boyd. > No > > E.! As a youngster my father was teased by his mother's family and some > > friends about belonging to a black family that lived near him also with > the > > Boyd name. He was very displeased with the teasing and eventially added > the > > E to our name. I forgot to mention his father died when he was 6 yrs. and > > mother died at 12. He was raised by grandparents and an uncle on his > mothers > > side.I was born with the E and have never seen a need to change. As I am a > > world traveler by profession, I can tell you that England, Ireland and > > Scotland have plenty of Boyde's with E listed in their phone books. > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Rich" <richboyd@speednetllc.com> > > To: <CLANBOYD-L@rootsweb.com> > > Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2005 12:32 PM > > Subject: [Boyd] BOYDE > > > > > > > > > > > > > When I type the surname BOYDE in the search engine of my web site I get > > > 100+ hits. > > > Lots of Boyde's in early records in Canada and the U.S. > > > > > > When I type BOYD I get 1475 hits. > > > > > > When I type the BOID I get 60 hits. BOIDE gets only 4 hits. > > > > > > When I type BOYED I get 23 hits. > > > > > > > > > Harry: > > > Where did your name get the "e" on it? I haven't seen that except in > > > medieval docs. My understanding/reading is that it comes from the > Norman > > > French for "beauty" or the Gaelic for "fair" > > > Anna Grace > > > > > > On Jul 5, 2005, at 10:57 PM, Harry Boyde wrote: > > > > > > > > > ==== CLANBOYD Mailing List ==== > > > RING OF BOYDS http://k.webring.com/wrman?ring=clanboydwebring&addsite > > > > > > http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=boyd-trees > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ==== CLANBOYD Mailing List ==== > > RING OF BOYDS http://k.webring.com/wrman?ring=clanboydwebring&addsite > > > > http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=boyd-trees > > > > > > > > > > ==== CLANBOYD Mailing List ==== > RING OF BOYDS http://k.webring.com/wrman?ring=clanboydwebring&addsite > > http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=boyd-trees > >

Andrew Boyd made his X the first time he voted in Frederick but wrote his name the next year. I have wondered whether that "autograph" still exists or whether it was just notated that he wrote it. There is something about seeing handwriting that is such a personal connection. And yes, people did suffer from disease without Celebrex. But the Boyds (mine at least) seem to have lived to a pretty healthy old age. Anna Grace On Jul 7, 2005, at 11:59 AM, Jane C. Grezlik wrote: > Our ancestors were NOT as illiterate as we have often thought. The > problem > is, they read and wrote in their native language!!! Phonetic spelling > was > used more widely then, than it is now and it was thought to be a sign > of > high intelligence to be able to spell names and words in more then one > manner. Look at Napoleon, he never spelled his name the same way > twice. > > And yes the spelling was often determined by the clerk and whether > they were > of the same cultural group, i.e. German or English. > I have church records from Frederick, MD. in which the family name > changed > spelling each time the church got a new clerk. And I do know that at > least > some of the family could read and write German. > > Another matter that is often over looked when we look at legal records. > When you see that an X was used take a good look at it and also, keep > in > mind the age of the person. If you know someone with arthritis, watch > how > hard it is for them to use a pen or to write anything. Our ancestors > didn't > have our modern medicines to help them, think how painful and hard it > would > have been to write. > Jane in Ohio > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jan Curtis" <jcurtis@infowest.com> > To: <CLANBOYD-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2005 12:09 AM > Subject: Re: [Boyd] BOYDE > > >> Changing spelling of names was common (because most of the people were >> illiterate)....my one family spelled their name Gohalston, Golson, >> Golsan, >> Golston, Gholston, Goldstein, Gulston, and I have even more bizarre >> spellings of other names. >> >> JanC >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Harry Boyde" <hboyde@comcast.net> >> To: <CLANBOYD-L@rootsweb.com> >> Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2005 11:47 AM >> Subject: Re: [Boyd] BOYDE >> >> >>> Thanks for asking!! Until my father came along our family name was >>> Boyd. >> No >>> E.! As a youngster my father was teased by his mother's family and >>> some >>> friends about belonging to a black family that lived near him also >>> with >> the >>> Boyd name. He was very displeased with the teasing and eventially >>> added >> the >>> E to our name. I forgot to mention his father died when he was 6 yrs. > and >>> mother died at 12. He was raised by grandparents and an uncle on his >> mothers >>> side.I was born with the E and have never seen a need to change. As >>> I am > a >>> world traveler by profession, I can tell you that England, Ireland >>> and >>> Scotland have plenty of Boyde's with E listed in their phone books. >>> ----- Original Message ----- >>> From: "Rich" <richboyd@speednetllc.com> >>> To: <CLANBOYD-L@rootsweb.com> >>> Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2005 12:32 PM >>> Subject: [Boyd] BOYDE >>> >>> >>>> >>>> >>>> When I type the surname BOYDE in the search engine of my web site I > get >>>> 100+ hits. >>>> Lots of Boyde's in early records in Canada and the U.S. >>>> >>>> When I type BOYD I get 1475 hits. >>>> >>>> When I type the BOID I get 60 hits. BOIDE gets only 4 hits. >>>> >>>> When I type BOYED I get 23 hits. >>>> >>>> >>>> Harry: >>>> Where did your name get the "e" on it? I haven't seen that except in >>>> medieval docs. My understanding/reading is that it comes from the >> Norman >>>> French for "beauty" or the Gaelic for "fair" >>>> Anna Grace >>>> >>>> On Jul 5, 2005, at 10:57 PM, Harry Boyde wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>> ==== CLANBOYD Mailing List ==== >>>> RING OF BOYDS >>>> http://k.webring.com/wrman?ring=clanboydwebring&addsite >>>> >>>> > http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=boyd- > trees >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> ==== CLANBOYD Mailing List ==== >>> RING OF BOYDS http://k.webring.com/wrman?ring=clanboydwebring&addsite >>> >>> http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=boyd- >>> trees >>> >>> >>> >> >> >> >> ==== CLANBOYD Mailing List ==== >> RING OF BOYDS http://k.webring.com/wrman?ring=clanboydwebring&addsite >> >> http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=boyd- >> trees >> >> > > > > ==== CLANBOYD Mailing List ==== > RING OF BOYDS http://k.webring.com/wrman?ring=clanboydwebring&addsite > > http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=boyd- > trees >