> About our ancestors' name being Sasser. On January 17, 1841, when my > gggrandmother Malinda "Lindy" and Millington (Milton) B. Jones received > their > marriage license in Laurel County, KY, her name was recorded "Saucer." That > intrigued when I first saw it, because when I was a little girl living on > Beech Creek in Clay County, the old folks used to pour their coffee out of > the cup into the "sasser." They blew on it to cool it down, and then drank > from the sasser. I'm sure those of them who could write would have spelled > that piece of dinnerware "saucer." > > Vietta I haven't studied spelling from previous centuries, but I have noticed in reading old documents that it was not as rigorous as it is today, and it seemed to be phonetic to a certain extent. I have copies of letters, notes, and wills from ancestors as far back as the late 1700's, and I have found all kinds of spelling mistakes by our standards. I don't think they were as concerned about correct spelling as much as we are, and they probably wrote words that were close to what they said. What is interesting is that when you read their writing, I think you pick up some of the dialect that was spoken. For example, in one of the letters I have from the early 1900's, an ancestor wrote "clost" for "close." I'm sure she wrote it that way because that is the way she spoke it. I find that interesting because my pastor is from eastern Tennessee, and I hear him say "clost" every so often. However, he would never write it that way. With regard to "Saucer" and "Sasser," the documents I have that were written by Sassers spell it "Sasser." It seems that other officials (e.g., county clerks and census takers) were the ones who would spell it "Saucer" (a good example is the 1790 Census for Johnston County and Wayne County, NC, where all Sassers are Saucers). This could reflect the way it was pronounced, or it could reflect the officials ability to spell the name. Other fun examples I have in my family tree are Parman (also spelled Permen, Pearmen, Permin), Cheek (also spelled Chick), and Snawder (also spelled Snorder and Snorther). Doug Sherman dougsherma@aol.com ------------------------------