Genealogy Chat

Tony Lindley. I may be preaching to the converted, but my tip is not to put too much emphasis on spelling. What I found on a recent visit to Scunthorpe Central Library, was that the people we were researching couldn't read or write. After scrolling through hundreds of marriage certificates, none of them were actually signed by the people involved. They just made their mark, usually a cross. The spelling, therefore was purely down to the person that kept the records. The records, in our case were kept by the Curate of St. Andrews church, Epworth. A Mr J. Gibson was Curate up until the Mid to Late 18th C. He spelt the name, LINLEY. When his successor, Mr Thomas Nelson took over, he spelt it LINDLEY. Up until this time, I had discounted all references to Linley, but not any more.

Can't emphasise your point enough Tony. There was no standardised spelling of ANY word, let alone Surnames, before the Education Act of 1875. It is likely therefore that the modern spelling of your name was fixed about that time However, people wrote what they heard, and if you said, in a broad Lancashire accent that your name was James Holding, that's what the clerk wrote, even though your name was really James Holden. If someone was literate enough to spot a mistake, they usually didnt bother to correct it because it was rude to correct your 'betters' and anyway, it didnt matter, it was just a bit of beaurocracy - you knew who you were and that was all that mattered. The other point to remember is that Church Registers, apart from Marriage Regs, werent kept for, or even intended to be seen by, the Parishioners - they wouldnt have known whether their name was spelled right or wrong, and wouldnt have cared anyway. One of my ancestors was Hugh Holden. He was Parish Clerk for 8 years and signed the registers each year to say they were correct. He spells his surname 5 different ways in that 8 years! Finally, A Tip LOL! For names beginning with L, look for S - the two letters are frequently confused by transcribers and your missing Lindleys may turn up as Sindleys! OC

Spot on, OC - my Sangers are forever being mistranscribed as Langers! Oh, and Fangers! LOL

I am lucky in that (by and large) my direct line uses the same spelling since about 1840. HAKIN. Prior to that it appears in parish registers (same parish) as Haykin, Haken, Hauken, Haukenes, Hackin, Hawkin, Hawken and Hawkins. The spelling changed every time the imcumbent did - but even the same chap doesn't seem to be consistent when dealing with different members of the same family. Other rellies have Victorian BMD registrations such as Hakin, Haken, Hakins, Hakein - all perfectly reasonable I suppose - but how do you also get Hagan/Hagen, Hoggin and Higgin? and there's another shed-load of variations on the censuses!

my hubby has some Attleburys - Atelbury/Atelberry and variants. He reckons its all but died out cos no-one could spell it LOL. We think its become Atterbury in some areas, and may also be Attleborough.

Vicky Its all down to regional accents I suppose - and how familiar the clerk/registrar was with the local accent. I can quite see how Hakin becomes Hagin - a heavy head cold would explain that! OC

OC, that family must have all had bad colds for decades (living in a coal mining area doesn't help!) ... a North Yorkshire accent on someone who is living in Northumberland... add a hangover and a surly attitude to officialdom... My gt uncle who researched the origins of the name reckoned that the Irish Hagan & English Hakin were both Norse in origin.