This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: blandford Surnames: SIMS, FUSTON, WARREN MOSELEY, MOSLEY, CLANTON, DOWNS Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.georgia.counties.emanuel/1730.1.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Dee, Thanks for the help you have given me over the years. I only started genealogy in 1996. I started with Family Tree Maker Ver. 3 by Broderbund Software. I took a magazine pamphlet called MY Family Tree I think. I no longer have the booklets. Antway one of the articles stated that when researching names don't get hooked up on the spelling. That is wasn't until 1875 that a law was passed stating that peoples surnames could legally be spelled one way. Before that the citzens were at the mercy of the census tanker and how much educationm that they had received. The person who wrote the names when a man enlested into the armed services if the fellow could not read and write the recorder wrote the name in the ledger the way he felt it should have been spelled. Sometimes a family disagreement developed in a name change. Sometimes a river dividing families changed the spelling because of different courthouse recorders. My G-G-G-grandfather Jacob Simms and his children! spelled their names both ways so records indicate. My Great-grandfather and hyis siblings spelled the name with one "M". So now my name is only Sims and not Simms. I have come across a Simms family where each son had their name recorded differently. Such as Syms, Sims, Simmes, Symms, Simms and they were all brothers. During my research and finding my cousin Claude Bird's family I have run across where the researched has interningled the Byrd/Bird names. It get confusing at times because another researcher may stick with only one spelling. Not that this has answered your question. It is just my 3 cents due to inflation could be higher. I want to thank you agin Dee for your help in the past. andy Sims StillmoreBoy@cox.net Overlook misspelled words. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.