>From what I have been told the correct spelling of a name was not considered important until Social Security was enacted. Therefore people frequently changed the spelling of their names just because they could. Almost all the lines I have use various name spellings, and many of them were not connected to Salem. Today we must legally change the spelling or call it an alias. I don't think that writing was of great importance in the 1600 to 1800s otherwise we would have an easier time finding our grandparents. An example in my family is Speegle, Spiegel, Spiegle all the same surname. Carol