This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/FO.2ADI/159.1.1.1 Message Board Post: You wrote: "Do you think "Else" for Alice [Alden] Paddock reflects the Pilgrims' casual orthography or some lingering regional pronunciation from England?" My guess is both, or at least that it is a phonetic spelling. I have seen this elsewhere (oops)--I have one in my own family (b. 1762 in East Haddam, Middlesex, CT) spelled "Else" in the town records, but Alice in the father's will, and I've seen it a few times while looking through VR. Few people realize it, but the expression "close enough for government work" originated with the New England town clerks.