In a message dated 01/23/2004 8:19:26 AM Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] writes: > Just wanted to pass on something I learned yesterday in searching thru > census records, or any database I guess. I found that my 4th gr > grandfathers first name was abbreviated to Saml. rather than Samuel (or > Samuel S. or even S.S.) and each person listed in the household only had the > 1st initial of their name written. The whole page was like that, guess the > enumerator took shortcuts that day. I know on a late nite or "foggy" day I > wouldn't have thought of that. > Luckily I had decided to search for the surname for all in the state and > this was how I found them. > Just thought I'd pass this on. > This is a good point, and something that I've run into myself. I'm sure many veterans know this, but it's still worth mentioning. Another issue I've found is that in certain periods of history, many men (but not usually women) used their first and middle initials in business life rather than their full names. Thus almost all public records in the late 19th and early 20th century for my great grandfathers on both sides show them as "T. J. Cook, OD" and "H. M. Lee." I always try these designations in search engines. Finally, I've found regularly that people of all eras sometimes go by their middle names instead of their first names. And sometimes this changes. Thus my grandfather, Fleming Edward Miller, was known as "Fleming Miller" in 1930, but "Edward Miller" in 1920. His grandfather, Fleming Mitchell Miller, was known as "Fleming Miller" in some census records, "Mitchell Miller" in others, and "Mitch Miller" in some church records and newspaper accounts. Forgive me if I am restating the obvious, but these issues have caught me up more than once in the past.