Hello list, I just wanted members to be aware that when they check the Census records for Stevens, to look under Stephans, Stephens, and Stefans as well. I have found many family members listed with those spellings.

It's not just census records as I found out. My grandfather, Avery Bert STEPHENS, died in 1924, leaving my grandmother and five children 5 to 13 years old. Apparently, he did not get along with his parents when he left home. All my father and his siblings knew was that he was supposed to be from Tabor City, NC, which sits on the state line across from Horry County, SC. My aunts had talked about going to Tabor City to see if they could find nay relatives and information about their father's family, but they never did. When I got a computer, I tried to find what info I could about my grandfather, but always hit a brick wall. Then, I found a web site for the McIntosh Cemetery in McIntosh, FL, where my grand parents are buried. I searched the records for his name, but came up with a blank. I searched with my grandmother's name and found her listed. I knew they were buried in the same plot as I had visited the graves with my aunt many years before and had seen the marker with their names on it. The marker had been erected in 1961 when my grandmother died, 37 years after my grandfather. Thinking there may have been a clerical error in the records, I did a search for Avery Bert STEVENS, and there he was. Then, I thought maybe it might not be a clerical error. I did a Google search for Avery Bert STEVENS, and BINGO, I got several hits, two on family trees on Rootsweb, posted by distant relatives. One of the family trees was very comprehensive, going back to my gggrandfather, and what was real interesting concerning the STEVENS/STEPHENS spelling is that one of my ggrandfather's brothers (who spelled his name STEVENS) had five children, two of whom spelled theirs STEPHENS, as did their descendants. I contacted the poster of the family tree, W.S. Hardee, who grew up in the area, and asked him about the different spellings. He said that in that area the spellings were used interchangably. From the other distant relative, who still lives in the area, I got directions to the family cemetery where my great grandparents are buried, and on a trip through the area, went by. What was really intersting, was that my ggrandmother's maker showed her as the wife of W.F. STEPHENS. She died in 1893, 18 years before my ggrandfather, while his marker has him as William Francis STEVENS, the spelling that appears on census records. Was there a period when he used the PH spelling and then reverted back to the V? Did the carver of my ggrandmother's marker make a mistake, but offer my ggrandfather such a good price deal on the marker that he couldn't refuse? Who knows? I guess my point is, it is just not official records that have different spellings of names, especially STEVENS/STEPHENS, but any source, including STEVENS/STEPHENS themselves. Woody Stephens ----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott, Brenda" <Brenda.Scott@mncppc-mc.org> To: <STEVENS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, March 10, 2006 1:38 PM Subject: [STEVENS] Spelling on census records > Hello list, > I just wanted members to be aware that when they check the Census > records for Stevens, to look under Stephans, Stephens, and Stefans as > well. > I have found many family members listed with those spellings. > > >