Name spelling means nothing in the 1800's, very few people could read or even write in the first half of the century, even up to the 1900's. You will notice may documents are signed with the name and then His X Mark, with the X done by the person who would have signed his name if he could write. In many cases the spelling change was made by the person doing the recording, they spelled names by the way they sounded to them. You must remember back years ago, an eighth grade education was in most cases as high as anybody got, many did not go that far in school. Can you imagine sending an eighth grader out to take the census in this day and age? That was basically the education the census takers had back in the 1800's. In my Crain family we have Crain, Crane, and Craine all in the same county, all for the same person in many cases. I know also in the Henson family, within one family of children they grew up to use three variations, Henson, Hanson, Hinson. This was one of the reasons the Soundex system was developed, so that you could find ancestors by the sound of their names, not just the spellings. In most cases it's a waste of time to look for name change documents. ----- Original Message ----- From: Shirley Maul To: ILJACKSO@rootsweb.com Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 10:42 AM Subject: [ILJACKSO] Name change law Friends, It appears that my great grandfather changed his name when he moved from Ohio to Illinois by adding a double letter to his name, Arm to Armm. He was not an immigrant, but born in Ohio in 1848, then married in Illinois in 1873 with the name changed. I do not know why he did this. He was a carpenter, not a theatrical person. All nine of his children spelled their name with two ms as did his grandchildren. His sisters and brothers retained the single m spelling. Does anyone know what the Illinois law governing name changes was in the 1860s? What court or legislative body would have been petitioned? Or would the change just have been accepted in his new state without question? I am assuming he made the change in Illinois, not Ohio, but maybe he changed it in Ohio or even on the way, in Indiana. I will start with Illinois though. The 1984 edition of The Source, pp. 187-190 gives some guidance for some states but not for Illinois or Ohio. Thank you. Shirley Maul shirleymaul@optonline.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Guidelines: http://www.rootsweb.com/~illinois/JacksonCoWelcome.html ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ILJACKSO-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Also, in some cases the name change was because of a family feud. In Jackson county some of the Lindsey and Lindsay are connected. Due to family stories, there was a squabble between two brothers and one changed his name. In my ancestory I have a cousin who was married and had 4 children by the first wife. Surname was BASEDEN. He remarried and had 5 more children. The second five children started out as BASEDEN but ended up as BAYSDEN. I had actually interviewed Rollie, who is now deceased, and he informed me that the teachers made them change their name to what they considered the "American" spelling. My mom's father went from Boening to Benning because of a school teacher! George Basden Photography www.basden.com gebasden@charter.net -----Original Message----- From: iljackso-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:iljackso-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Peg Crain Luthy Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 11:58 AM To: iljackso@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [ILJACKSO] Name change law Name spelling means nothing in the 1800's, very few people could read or even write in the first half of the century, even up to the 1900's. You will notice may documents are signed with the name and then His X Mark, with the X done by the person who would have signed his name if he could write. In many cases the spelling change was made by the person doing the recording, they spelled names by the way they sounded to them. You must remember back years ago, an eighth grade education was in most cases as high as anybody got, many did not go that far in school. Can you imagine sending an eighth grader out to take the census in this day and age? That was basically the education the census takers had back in the 1800's. In my Crain family we have Crain, Crane, and Craine all in the same county, all for the same person in many cases. I know also in the Henson family, within one family of children they grew up to use three variations, Henson, Hanson, Hinson. This was one of the reasons the Soundex system was developed, so that you could find ancestors by the sound of their names, not just the spellings. In most cases it's a waste of time to look for name change documents. ----- Original Message ----- From: Shirley Maul To: ILJACKSO@rootsweb.com Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 10:42 AM Subject: [ILJACKSO] Name change law Friends, It appears that my great grandfather changed his name when he moved from Ohio to Illinois by adding a double letter to his name, Arm to Armm. He was not an immigrant, but born in Ohio in 1848, then married in Illinois in 1873 with the name changed. I do not know why he did this. He was a carpenter, not a theatrical person. All nine of his children spelled their name with two ms as did his grandchildren. His sisters and brothers retained the single m spelling. Does anyone know what the Illinois law governing name changes was in the 1860s? What court or legislative body would have been petitioned? Or would the change just have been accepted in his new state without question? I am assuming he made the change in Illinois, not Ohio, but maybe he changed it in Ohio or even on the way, in Indiana. I will start with Illinois though. The 1984 edition of The Source, pp. 187-190 gives some guidance for some states but not for Illinois or Ohio. Thank you. Shirley Maul shirleymaul@optonline.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Guidelines: http://www.rootsweb.com/~illinois/JacksonCoWelcome.html ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ILJACKSO-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Guidelines: http://www.rootsweb.com/~illinois/JacksonCoWelcome.html ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ILJACKSO-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message