Your problem is that you are looking at the 19th century with 21st century eyes. In the 19th century, it simply was not important how your name was spelled. No-one cared. Most people could not read nor write - check out the 1901 Census. Those that could saw no reason to stick with one spelling. It was simply not a concept that entered their consciousness. There was in fact not attempt to standardize English spelling until education became compulsory in 1880 and it obviously took a generation for that to work its way through to adult spelling in documents. All those folk who say, "We are the Grays with an "a" and not that other crowd who spell their name with an "e"" are talking....well, not as lot of sense. This correctness of spelling is a 20th century confection. My McClementses have no less than 13 different spellings from Lamond to McLummints. You can just hear my great grandfather, when asked what his name was for the census saying, "Samule MuLummints" in his broad Ulster twang. Boyd Gray http://familytrees.genopro.com/boydgray26/Boyd/default.htm http://www.westulstergenealogy.com/ http://preview.tinyurl.com/yk7gckr -----Original Message----- From: scotch-irish-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:scotch-irish-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of D H Sent: 15 December 2011 15:41 To: SCOTCH-IRISH@rootsweb.com Subject: [S-I] Surname Spellingssss in Deeds/Wills by Clerks It's not just clerks.... I've a Will signed by a person, a codicil added signed by the same person and both signatures are spelled differently. This man could read and write, so why 2 versions? On the Ulster Covenant I've 5 sisters, 3 spell their name one way and other 2 a different way, they were educated, some were trained teachers. So which name is correct? Both! ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SCOTCH-IRISH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Standardisation of surnames occurred really as a result of the introduction ofcivil registration of births in Ireland from 1864. > From: boydgray26@utvinternet.com > To: scotch-irish@rootsweb.com > Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:18:51 +0000 > Subject: Re: [S-I] Surname Spellingssss in Deeds/Wills by Clerks > > Your problem is that you are looking at the 19th century with 21st century > eyes. In the 19th century, it simply was not important how your name was > spelled. No-one cared. Most people could not read nor write - check out > the 1901 Census. Those that could saw no reason to stick with one spelling. > It was simply not a concept that entered their consciousness. There was in > fact not attempt to standardize English spelling until education became > compulsory in 1880 and it obviously took a generation for that to work its > way through to adult spelling in documents. > > All those folk who say, "We are the Grays with an "a" and not that other > crowd who spell their name with an "e"" are talking....well, not as lot of > sense. This correctness of spelling is a 20th century confection. My > McClementses have no less than 13 different spellings from Lamond to > McLummints. You can just hear my great grandfather, when asked what his > name was for the census saying, "Samule MuLummints" in his broad Ulster > twang. > > Boyd Gray > > http://familytrees.genopro.com/boydgray26/Boyd/default.htm > > http://www.westulstergenealogy.com/ > > http://preview.tinyurl.com/yk7gckr > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: scotch-irish-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:scotch-irish-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of D H > Sent: 15 December 2011 15:41 > To: SCOTCH-IRISH@rootsweb.com > Subject: [S-I] Surname Spellingssss in Deeds/Wills by Clerks > > It's not just clerks.... I've a Will signed by a person, a codicil added > signed by the same person and both signatures are spelled differently. This > man could read and write, so why 2 versions? > > On the Ulster Covenant I've 5 sisters, 3 spell their name one way and other > 2 a different way, they were educated, some were trained teachers. So > which name is correct? Both! > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > SCOTCH-IRISH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SCOTCH-IRISH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message