Just so everyone is prepared, once you get over the hurdle of the Ellis Island (or any US Immigration Record) then you have the challenge of finding your ancestors in the Czech Republic. Every line I have searched has a name change between now and the late 1600's. How about Zajchowski to Cejkovsky for starters. Or Cermak to Czermak. You not only have regional dialects, but you also have records kept by Latin, German, and Czech priests. Then add the accent marks and you will be toatlly confused. Your Frank may be Frantisek or Franz depending on who recorded it. My cousin, who worked in the Brno Archives while attending college, said that Americans are obsessed with "properly" spelled names. The Czechs expect it and understand it with no problems whatsoever; they have lived with the "system' for over 500 years. Ron Mlejnek At 12:51 PM 03/30/2004 -0500, you wrote: >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 > > > >==== CZECH Mailing List ==== >All matters pertaining to list administration are exclusively >handled by the List Administrator. If you have personal >problems, questions or suggestions about list mail send an >email to the administrator. The subject is not appropriate >for list discussion.