On the subject of "Spelling," I think it was primarily PHONETIC in the "old days," until our friend, Noah Webster (maybe one of Ross' "kin") came along to standardize things and make life a lot easier. We should never assume someone is NOT related to us, just because they spell their name slightly different from the way we do. During the Civil War, one of my cousins' families dropped the "a" from Steadman to become Stedman--in protest of the side his family chose to fight on. Makes life very interesting, to say the least!! Patti Jones Schacht

Not only was it often done phonetically but people just were not very good at spelling back then, plus things have been transcribed over and over. Here's an example and I bet it was not only transcribed as written but as it looked, remember their handwriting was quite different than ours. "his wife, mother and all ower friends are well"; "the exr of Hew Brent deced cant discharge his debt if you git ye Coat-of-Arms do send me a seal of it"; "My wife joynes with me in Love to you and my sister, not forgiting our little nease". And always remember folks, we aren't necessarily the best typists in the world or do we proof read and do spell check so be careful what you take as gospel when it comes to spelling and forgive those who can't. lol ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 2:55 PM Subject: [VALOUDOU-L] Re: VALOUDOU-D Digest V05 #187 > On the subject of "Spelling," I think it was primarily PHONETIC in the "old > days," until our friend, Noah Webster (maybe one of Ross' "kin") came along > to standardize things and make life a lot easier. We should never assume > someone is NOT related to us, just because they spell their name slightly > different from the way we do. During the Civil War, one of my cousins' families > dropped the "a" from Steadman to become Stedman--in protest of the side his family > chose to fight on. Makes life very interesting, to say the least!! > > Patti Jones Schacht > > > ==== VALOUDOU Mailing List ==== > The First 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. > >