In a message dated 02/02/2000 10:22:46 PM Pacific Standard Time, ILROCKIS-D-request@rootsweb.com writes: > Part of the problem all along has been a transcriptional glitch I had > not forseen that has been in the family since 1899. For some reason > GrtGrandpa Zachariah decided to add, or a clerk did somewhere along the > way, a final "e" to the end of our surname when the marriage took place > between he and Melissa CRAWFORD in 1899. > > That single stroke of the pen, created more stumbling blocks than I'd > have imagined. It sent me on a wild goose chase that has lasted a few > months Let this be a lesson to all novice researchers. There was no common and accepted spelling for ANYTHING until fairly recently. Everyone spelled phonetically, and the receivers' own accent did strange and wondrous things to the way he/she recorded a name. An example: My grandmother's family name is Rowles (or something like that) and the family came from eastern County Limerick in Ireland, where they thought of themselves as Irish and Catholic. But the English official recording thei name for the 1850ish Griffith's Valuation "heard" the English name Rowles and recorded it so. But the Irish priest (who probably spoke Irish, English with a brogue, and Latin) who recorded their children's births heard something else and recorded it as Rouls, Roulds and Rowls. Arriving in America they were recorded variously as Rols, Roles, Rolls, Rolles, Rolless, Roules, and Rowells. That's eleven. There are probably more waiting out there to be found, and the Soundex code is only R420. Treasure those Soundex codes. They are a big help in locating more. But also be aware that the first letter can change. For instance I know a family named Koch who pronounces it Cook. Anne Lamb I have two Cook lines myself, one from Rhode Island and one from Lincolnshire.