Thank you for the information. There appears to be no connection between Abston and Obston. One of the ten top mistakes made by genealogists is uttering the phrase "but we didn't spell our name that way." ?I would not be too quick to discard that spelling, particularly as I think I recall the ABSTON appeared in a census, which is probably a second or even third-generation copy, and not written by? a family member. Have you seen many original records for this family?? You may be surprised at the spelling variations evident in surnames? in records, especially before the 20th century when many people were illiterate and standardized spelling was not widespread.? Some families I work on have three or four variations in the surname spelling and sometimes siblings in the same family used more than one variation in their lifetimes. ?A will I have dated 1838 spells the surname four different ways within the same document. ? The one rule that seems consistent is that the number of syllables rarely changed, just the arrangement of letters.? Formal court-based "name changes" were rare; it just evolved.? Jan Hall - I ________________________________________________________________________ More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! - http://webmail.aol.com