On Sat, 10 Aug 2002 15:37:44 +0100 Margaret Young <fam-his@tylehurst.demon.co.uk> wrote: > I am beginning to think that the MILLS family I have been > looking for in Kingsclere is in fact the MILES family! > > Richard BLUNDEN married Elizabeth MILLS - or was it MILES? - at > Wolverton on 22 October 1808. Elizabeth was possibly the > daughter of James and Mary baptised 1783 - did she have a > sister Rebecca baptised Wolverton 1798? > > A James MILLS of Kingsclere was buried at Wolverton on 3 June > 1832. > > Is the family I searching MILLS or MILES? Hi Margaret Sorry I have been a bit tardy in replying to your message to me, but haven't had a chance to look at these Miles names for you. The variants in spelling of Miles (Mials Myhills Myles to list but a few) means researching this family is full of problems. The way the name is spelt seems to depend on the whim of the Parish Clerk or Curate or whoever entered details in the registers, add to this variations in the way the owners of the name pronounced it and you have plenty of scope for errors. In my own research I tend to standardise on the modern variant of the name, in this case Miles but use the surname alias feature of my genie program to note the variations as they arise through the generations or even in children of the same family. So to answer your question those Mills you have been looking for could easily be Miles in early generations but adopted the name Mills when they could sign the registers rather than making a mark. -- John Lewis <jayell@ntlworld.com> from Bournemouth, Dorset, UK using GNU/Linux and Geneweb genealogy software Main Family Names in HAM are: Kingsclere area: BUTLER, COOPER, FISHER, FOSTER, GIRDLER, HAWKINS Hazeley Heath: BARKER, CHANDLER, LEWINGTON, NEVILL(E) Main Family Names in GLA are: Vale of Glamorgan: GRIFFITH Rumney: LEWIS Aberdare: HOPKINS & JENKINS and CMN: HOPKINS & DAVIES