PRUITT-D-request@rootsweb.com wrote: > > Subject: > > PRUITT-D Digest Volume 01 : Issue 23 > > Today's Topics: > #1 [PRUITT] Various Pruitt spellings [Kimberly Fawn <kimfawn@relia.net>] > #2 Re: [PRUITT] Various Pruitt spelli [MasCps@aol.com] > > Administrivia: > To unsubscribe from PRUITT-D, send a message to > > PRUITT-D-request@rootsweb.com > > that contains in the body of the message the command > > unsubscribe > > and no other text. No subject line is necessary, but if your software > requires one, just use unsubscribe in the subject, too. > > ______________________________ > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Subject: [PRUITT] Various Pruitt spellings > Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 11:15:16 -0700 > From: Kimberly Fawn <kimfawn@relia.net> > To: PRUITT-L@rootsweb.com > > Does anyone know where the name "Pruitt" in all it's various spellings originated > and where did the various spellings come from? > > Kimberly Fawn > Lehi, UT > > Researching Mariah Pruett born born abt 1845 Missouri, married Stanford Elledge. > > ______________________________ > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Subject: Re: [PRUITT] Various Pruitt spellings > Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 23:26:56 EST > From: MasCps@aol.com > To: PRUITT-L@rootsweb.com > > My understanding is that many/most folks in early America were illiterate. > They would go to the courthouse to have their land records documented, record > a marriage bond, record a will. They could say their name, but the court > recorder spelled them as well as he could sound out the name. That is why I > have been able to track some of my Virginia ancestors through 3 different > spellings: Pruitt, Pruett, Prewitt. All the same family, just recorded by > the court recorded of the day. I used to get upset that my Pruitts were only > spelled "Pruitt," but certainly found out that looking at spelling would have > ended my Pruitts many generations too soon. > Cindy Pruitt Spencer The material below was excerpted from Richard Prewitt's "Records of Virginia, copyrighted 1988: "The name PREWITT is spelled variously PRUITT, PRUET, PREWET,(et al) all thought to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon word "pryte", meaning "justly proud, self respect, etc". Bardsley's book gives the etymology of PREWET as coming from Anglo-Saxon "prut", meaning haughty or arrogant." Carole Hedger

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