Mary, I think all the Gillenwaters, of whatever spelling, in the Floyd Co. area were probably related. As for why the different spellings, it was probably a little of both. Many of our ancestors were not the best spellers. That includes the clerks who recorded the court records. They wrote down what they think they heard. I see the same thing in my McMillan family. In the case of my McMillans, I can imagine my g-g-g-g-grandfather, with a heavy Scots accent, giving his name to a clerk of English descent. Dave ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mary C Williams" <marycwms@verizon.net> Dave, I note John Bennett's father's surname was spelled Gillinwalters in the marriage record (Sparrel Gillinwalters m. Eliza Hutcherson). Do you think all the Gillenwater(s), Gillenwalter(s), or Gillinwalter(s) in Floyd County were of the same family? If so, did they actually spell their surname these different ways or were they errors in recording marriages, wills and deeds, etc.? Mary

Mary and Dave, I have Jarrells in my family lines and even though they are brothers, all spell their name differently(Jarels,Jarrells and even Jearls). Dorraine ----- Original Message ----- From: "David" <dmcduke@comcast.net> To: <vafloyd@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2008 12:57 PM Subject: Re: [VAFLOYD] Gillenwater > Mary, > > I think all the Gillenwaters, of whatever spelling, in the Floyd Co. area > were probably related. As for why the different spellings, it was probably > a > little of both. Many of our ancestors were not the best spellers. That > includes the clerks who recorded the court records. They wrote down what > they think they heard. I see the same thing in my McMillan family. > > In the case of my McMillans, I can imagine my g-g-g-g-grandfather, with a > heavy Scots accent, giving his name to a clerk of English descent. > > Dave > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Mary C Williams" <marycwms@verizon.net> > > > Dave, > I note John Bennett's father's surname was spelled Gillinwalters in the > marriage record (Sparrel Gillinwalters m. Eliza Hutcherson). Do you think > all the Gillenwater(s), Gillenwalter(s), or Gillinwalter(s) in Floyd > County > were of the same family? > If so, did they actually spell their surname these different ways or were > they errors in recording marriages, wills and deeds, etc.? > Mary > > > ********************************** > Note from List Administrator!!! > The Second Sunday in each month will set aside for a "Brick Wall" Roll > Call. Please always put the surname you seek in the subject and tell us > something about your Brick Wall person. > To contact Listowner: > Rena Worthen doreatr@rbnet.com > ********************************** > Search this list's archived messages! > http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > View the Floyd County Virginia Website at: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~vafloyd/floyd.htm > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > VAFLOYD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message