I have a theoretical question and since you folks are so good at sharing opinions, I would like to throw it out to everyone because I am at a loss on how to handle it. The HARBIN lines mostly go back to southern MD and were originally from Dorset and Somerset, England. However, there were families about the same time in Berks County, PA, whose name was originally HERBEIN or HARBEIN or HERBINE or HARBINE., and they hailed from Germany & pretty much stayed right in Berks, or went to OH via Washington Co., MD. They varied their spellings at will and in some cases the final "e" of the HARBINE got dropped which made it HARBIN, so I of necessity have had to pursue them to some extent. Generally, if I see a HARBIN with ancestors from PA, I drop them. I am wondering how I should enter these German guys in my program though so that they will all appear under one name regardless of how they are in censuses, etc. I've entered many of them with the original spelling (e.g. HERBEIN) but a note in one of the elective fields that the name appears in records as (e.g. HARBINE), but that almost seems to be doing it backwards to me. But if I enter them the way I find them in records (with a note of their true origins in an elective field) , I am going to wind up with several alpha listings instead of one grouping. Will someone please clear my confused thinking once and for all? Thank you. Joan Marie

Harbine is the phonetic spelling of the German name Harbein. The 2nd letter of an ei combination is the syllable that is pronounced. dwayne Joan Marie Meyering <nidotoni@ipns.com> wrote: I have a theoretical question and since you folks are so good at sharing opinions, I would like to throw it out to everyone because I am at a loss on how to handle it. The HARBIN lines mostly go back to southern MD and were originally from Dorset and Somerset, England. However, there were families about the same time in Berks County, PA, whose name was originally HERBEIN or HARBEIN or HERBINE or HARBINE., and they hailed from Germany & pretty much stayed right in Berks, or went to OH via Washington Co., MD. They varied their spellings at will and in some cases the final "e" of the HARBINE got dropped which made it HARBIN, so I of necessity have had to pursue them to some extent. Generally, if I see a HARBIN with ancestors from PA, I drop them. I am wondering how I should enter these German guys in my program though so that they will all appear under one name regardless of how they are in censuses, etc. I've entered many of them with the original spelling (e.g. HERBEIN) but a note in one of the elective fields that the name appears in records as (e.g. HARBINE), but that almost seems to be doing it backwards to me. But if I enter them the way I find them in records (with a note of their true origins in an elective field) , I am going to wind up with several alpha listings instead of one grouping. Will someone please clear my confused thinking once and for all? Thank you. Joan Marie ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ROWANROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message