I think you must look at all kinds of spellings -- as an example, my father's name which is listed on the Ellis Island database is spelled "Josef Salon" and I understand that "Salon" is the correct spelling (needs a hacek over the S) while on his naturalization documents and in two of the three federal census records, it is spelled "Shallon" -- now I think that the phonetic spelling came when he went to begin his naturalization process. Only on the 1920 federal census records is his name spelled: "Shawlon" and I believe it must have been the way the person spelling the name for the census taker said "double L" which must have come out "W L" -- or at least sounded like that to the census taker!! I have the same problem with my husband's Chenault ancestors -- three of four different spellings on that one -- some with the CH and some with the SH and they are the same family -- by all of the information for them from one census to the other. Just my thoughts Lorraine Shallon/Salon Moore Baton Rouge, LA At 11:57 AM 3/30/2004 -0500, you wrote: >I suspect it is the old handwriting more than the >pronunciations making transcription difficult. There have >I am well aware that by 1870 my family already had adopted >an Americanization of their Bohemian surnames (incredibly, >my paternal and maternal lines BOTH changed their names to >American versions/translations of the Czech "words"). Those >names stuck but it was strictly their own doing. > >Elaine >Researching Slepicka a/k/a Chicken and Hruska a/k/a Pear > > > >Hello Mrbkdb112 > >On Tuesday, March 30, 2004, you wrote > > > > > Woody, the biggest reason for information being wrong on the passenger > lists > > is that our ancestors did not speak English, so even if they were asked to > > spell the name it didn't help. Also, the pronunciation would sound > different, so > > I can understand why there were mistakes. I'm amazed that the surname > stayed > > the same in my case. > > > Millie > > > > >==== CZECH Mailing List ==== >Czech Message Boards are at >http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=topics.ethnic

Oh, yes, by all means, Lorraine. NEVER ignore any possibility, even those that seem almost bizarre, when searching for family. I have seen people here and elsewhere lock out possibilities because they simply will not consider other spellings. It is a serious mistake. The demand for accuracy in surnames is a very new thing. Our grandparents and great-grandparents did not much care how records were completed or what someone put down on a form. Those of us who have located forms, newspaper obits, entries in the census, etc. are well aware of that. Elaine A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers. --Mencken Hello Lorraine On Tuesday, March 30, 2004, you wrote > I think you must look at all kinds of spellings -- as an example, my > father's name which is listed on the Ellis Island database is spelled > "Josef Salon" and I understand that "Salon" is the correct spelling (needs > a hacek over the S) while on his naturalization > documents and in two of the > three federal census records, it is spelled "Shallon" -- now I think that > the phonetic spelling came when he went to begin his naturalization > process. Only on the 1920 federal census records is his name > spelled: "Shawlon" and I believe it must have been the way the person > spelling the name for the census taker said "double L" which must have come > out "W L" -- or at least sounded like that to the census taker!! > I have the same problem with my husband's Chenault ancestors -- three of > four different spellings on that one -- some with the CH and some with the > SH and they are the same family -- by all of the information for them from > one census to the other. > Just my thoughts > Lorraine Shallon/Salon Moore > Baton Rouge, LA