Hi Frank, I have the same situation with a few surnames. Might not be the best way, but I started adopting one "official" spelling for a surname, in order to have them sort together in my database index. I list other spellings (found for any individual) as a/k/a, or in fields I created called "Name variant 1" "Name variant 2" etc. etc. (For each variant, I show the source. Could be a dozen or more versions just in the Old Dutch Church of Kingston baptism & marriage registers.) I'll be interested to read what others do. Cheers, Peggy On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 1:44 PM, Frank Hotaling <[email protected]>wrote: > Tracing back my genealogy of Hotaling I have found it to be spelled > numerous ways on census records, church records, court records and other > records so it is an impossibility to know what the correct spelling is. > > When I enter all the variations in my data base it becomes an impossibility > to identify correct individuals, since my ancestors used the same given > names over and over and with variations on the spelling of the surname > mistakes are easy for me to make. > > I have made a quick count of the spelling of the surname variations and I > have over 30 and some of them are not even close to some of the others. > They range from simple differences to major changes. > > > How is someone who does not know how or what to do (me) suppose to do? > > I would appreciate any suggestions anyone can offer me. > > Frank Hotaling [email protected] > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Sometimes it helps to break things up into time periods. In the 1600's and 1700's?I see alot of Hoogteeling's and Hooghtaling's (The Dutch version). In the 1800's it's been "Americanized" into Hotaling or Houghtaling. I tend to standardize the spelling also, but keep the original spelling in my notes just in case. -----Original Message----- From: PD <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 2:07 pm Subject: Re: [NYGREENE] Genealogy question Hi Frank, I have the same situation with a few surnames. Might not be the best way, but I started adopting one "official" spelling for a surname, in order to have them sort together in my database index. I list other spellings (found for any individual) as a/k/a, or in fields I created called "Name variant 1" "Name variant 2" etc. etc. (For each variant, I show the source. Could be a dozen or more versions just in the Old Dutch Church of Kingston baptism & marriage registers.) I'll be interested to read what others do. Cheers, Peggy On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 1:44 PM, Frank Hotaling <[email protected]>wrote: > Tracing back my genealogy of Hotaling I have found it to be spelled > numerous ways on census records, church records, court records and other > records so it is an impossibility to know what the correct spelling is. > > When I enter all the variations in my data base it becomes an impossibility > to identify correct individuals, since my ancestors used the same given > names over and over and with variations on the spelling of the surname > mistakes are easy for me to make. > > I have made a quick count of the spelling of the surname variations and I > have over 30 and some of them are not even close to some of the others. > They range from simple differences to major changes. > > > How is someone who does not know how or what to do (me) suppose to do? > > I would appreciate any suggestions anyone can offer me. > > Frank Hotaling [email protected] > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message