At 06:42 AM 8/3/99 -0500, James wrote: >James Stone wrote: > >> To complicate matters for ya'll, think of this. >> Although this may not pertain to your Douglas(s), it did to >> several. Frederick Douglass, black abolitionist and newspaper editor, >> became a role model for several individuals. Some of those, whose >> surname was Douglas, started adding the second s to their name to be >> like Frederick. I like to think that abolitionists of all races whose >> surname was Douglas practiced this 'variation.' To which William responded: >While you information may be correct, I do not feel its applies to most >Douglass. Some time its simply as miss spelling entered into the records. >However, the two s Douglas could show my forefathers came from Scotland by >way of Ireland. In any case thats why I subscribe to this mailing list to >find information on my releative John Douglass in NC where he was born and >not this type of useless information. For one thing it has nothing to do >with Scotts of NC. At the risk of fanning a few flames, I thought I would offer a little bit of clarification on this. Douglass is the way my family spelled the name, although records show some entries with a single "s" and others with two. I think it is important to remember that people were not as particular about spelling in days when fewer people were literate. Frederick Douglass, by the way, took on the name of a writer when he ran away from his "owners" in Maryland and wanted to lose his slave name. This may seem like a departure from our topic -- NC SCOTS -- but it is important to know what we can about the surnames we are researching. You never know when having information like this will help shed some light on your research. For instance, as difficult as black genealogical research can be at times, black researchers of the name of Douglass might appreciate knowing that Frederick was not the progeny of a slave owner named Douglass. Angela Hunter Rakes Great granddaughter of Alice Ann Douglass and descendant of Daniel Douglass born circa 1734, Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland