Neil, Yes, I know what you mean about fluid spellings. I recorded some tombstones from a family cemetery of my Moser branch, and found the names engraved on the stones as Musser, Moser, and Moses - and these were all members of one immediate family - mother, father, sisters, and brothers. David A. macbd1 wrote: > Hi Becci, David and all, > > Some thoughts concerning your postings from my experiences and studies: > Many English-edgeekated clerics of colonial times and later undoubtedly had > no clue as to their impact on the history of American surnames, or the > resulting good-natured differences (sometimes confrontations?) amongst > 'cousins' of one descendant who currently spell their surnames differently, > with each claiming 'their' name is the correct spelling. Records left by > many ships' captains, census-takers, clerks of various courts (or courts in > different locales) for land deeds, wills, estates, jury lists, court > proceedings, and by different military clerks and commanding officers for > enlistment, pay, discharge records or unit rosters, and by later court > clerks for preparing Rev War pension applications (who needed to use the > original military clerk's 'official' spelling to prevent procedural problems > and possible pension denial), or church clerics' records, and even history > book authors are amongst those that contributed to such differences in > surname spellings. Beyond this, there is the anglization and Americanism of > English spelling and the many clerics who simply 'speld'm the way they > thought they heard'm be'n pernunced,' or how they had seen a certain > sound-like name spelled by another cleric. This may apply to given names as > well: for example, a husband with his two oldest sons is hunting or working > in the field when a 'careful' census-taker asks his wife (back at the house) > for the ages, first and middle names, if any, of all family members, along > with other questions, while the 3-month old baby needs to nurture, three > other young'ns are gathered about the census-taker chattering and the others > are God only knows where. The request for given names would of course apply > only for 1850 or later. > > I believe it was Andrew Jackson who exclaimed, as best I can recall today, > that he didn't trust a man who always spelled a word the same. This helps > to explain how many felt about English education of early times. Beyond > this, many if not most immigrants in frontier areas were English-illiterate. > So...how were such people to finally decide for themselves how their name > should be spelled -- and when descendants migrated to different areas, > differences undoubtedly resulted from their considering different knowledge > sources. My thoughts focus primarily on the 1700's and early 1800's in > America. > > My earliest proved ancestor's surname in 1760 and later was spelled in > various records by many variants of McDaniel, McDonald and McDonell. A Rev > War military enlistment clerk spelled his name McDaniel which 'stuck' for > many descendants. With his Ulster-Scot language and Scots' brogue I am > guessing he pronounced his name with a 'lazy' or 'quiet' > barely-opened-mouthed 'short a,' like saying ' M'Danl,' rather than with > open-mouthed emphasis of 'Don' as in McDonald. At any rate 'McDaniel' was > used for his 'official' military record although within a few weeks he was > recorded as 'McDonald' in his unit's roster, by his Captain who was a > neighbor of the family in Southwestern PA. The names McDaniel and McDonald > were subsequently recorded interchangeably in census and court records, but > McDaniel was prevalent, I believe, especially when considering the county > court-clerk using 'McDaniel' for his Rev War pension application in 1833, in > Ohio -- and county history book authors picking up on this 'military name' > for their accountings of early times when writing about them during the > later 1800's. > > McDaniel (plus variants) and McDonald were used interchangeably for another > generation in my line. A son of the above ancestor moved his family to > Southern Indiana in 1836. His wife died six years later with her tombstone > clearly stating 'Mcdannel.' But when her husband died in 1864 his stone > states McDonald, as do all subsequent ones. I believe literacy and use of > more permanent granite tombstones led to more careful name spelling as time > passed. But in 1853, in contrast, a court clerk interchangeably used > McDaniel and McDonald for the same individual in a single land deed > document! (Possibly he did this intentionally to demonstrate the individual > was known, or recorded elsewhere, by both names???) > > Surnames were first used by the French, I believe, in about 1000AD; much > later in many other countries, originally recorded in the mother-language of > earliest times. Can there therefore be a 'correct' English or American > spelling for all names in the US? Does it really matter so long as > researchers can decipher who was who, or at least live with what we find as > not being purely factual? > > Neil McDonald > PS - In the large settlement of Amish in my area having so many common > names, the middle name(s) or initial(s) must be used to obtain a longer > name-combination that distinguishes between the many having the same first > and last names. At least land deeds are recorded and the US mail gets > delivered properly so long as the correct 911 rural address is used for an > individual -- I don't know how the rural mail carriers do their job in areas > where the old delivery system is still used, with only a rural route number > listed as the 'street address.' This situation may be similar to earlier > times. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Catbite" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2002 7:54 AM > Subject: Re: [WVHAMPSH-L] Name Transitions > > > Hi David, > > My HARTSOCK name has went through Hertzog, Herzog, Hartsook. My STECKMAN > > line has been Stockman when they came over from Germany. My 2nd Great > > Grandfather, Espy L. Steckman, also went by his middle name of Levi in the > > Washington County census, but when he moved up to Allegany, you see him as > > Espy, which is on his tombstone. > > > > On my SLIDER side, there were so many Joseph's & William's that sometimes > > they went by their middle names so as not to confuse people. They should > > have just named them something else, huh? :) > > Becci > > > > David Athey wrote: > > > > > Hi Listers, > > > > > > I have recently been pondering over my many years of research notes, and > > > one thing that struck me early on was how name transitions came about. > > > > > > With my Athey side the men had the odd habit of switching their first > > > and middle names. The first noted for the practice was my great > > > grandfather. He used the name Thomas Brant Athey. When I started > > > locating the family in censuses, I discovered that his given name was > > > David Thomas Athey, after his grandfathers David Ray and Thomas Athey. > > > So why Thomas Brant? I knew that his aunt, Mary Athey had married Levi > > > Brant, but I couldn't imagine a close relationship, because Thomas Athey > > > lived in Hampshire County and Levi and Mary Brant lived in Cumberland, > > > Maryland. But later an elderly aunt told me that she remembered that > > > Thomas had told her that the Brants had taken him in during the Civil > > > War when his father, William N. Athey was away with McNeill's Rangers > > > and times were tough. Afterwards, Thomas dropped the David and was > > > known as Thomas Brant Athey. Mystery solved! > > > > > > My grandfather always used the name Harry Athey, but when I found his > > > birth record in Mineral County, WV he is named as James H. I asked my > > > Uncle Gerald about this and he said that he thought that Harry didn't > > > know his birth name was James, but later I found him in the 1910 and > > > 1920 census and he lists himself as James H. > > > > > > My father always used the name Earl David, but his birth certificate > > > says David Earl, same as mine. So far, I haven't flipped my name. ;-) > > > > > > With my German names, transitions can be explained by Americanization: > > > > > > Wilhelm Heinrich Schneider becomes William Henry Snyder > > > Hardten becomes Harden > > > Koch becomes Cook > > > Burkhardt becomes Burkett > > > Muller becomes Miller > > > Fuchs becomes Fox > > > > > > What is the point of this posting? Never accept anything as fact until > > > you have sufficient documentation to assure you that it is a fact. > > > > > > Anybody else have any interesting names transitions?

Hi David - sorry to intrude here, but the Moser name caught my eye. I have Moser in my Harpole family, also from WV into TN. I would have to go dig it up now, but I have Moser's as witnesses, securities, etc. on Harpole legal doc's, and I believe I saw that an Adam Moser married a Susannah? Harpole. I believe this was in early Wilson or Sumner TN. Doesn't appear that the Moser's went traveling with the Harpole's out of TN. Bonnie Schwarz David Athey wrote: >Neil, > >Yes, I know what you mean about fluid spellings. I recorded some tombstones >from a family cemetery of my Moser branch, and found the names engraved on the >stones as Musser, Moser, and Moses - and these were all members of one immediate >family - mother, father, sisters, and brothers. > >David A. > > >