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From: "Holly Timm" <>
Subject: Re: [ADVANRES] Letters that could be misindexed
Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2008 14:19:20 -0400
References: <002c01c8e10a$85c80560$91581020$@net><001b01c8e123$b732e4d0$6501a8c0@Ralphs>
In-Reply-To: <001b01c8e123$b732e4d0$6501a8c0@Ralphs>


Thank you for an excellent description of the Name/spelling issue. Something
else to remember when thinking of the transcriber or indexers ability, it is
much easier to read a name when you know what it probably is.

-----Original Message-----
From:
[mailto:] On Behalf Of Ralph Taylor
Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 1:55 PM
To:
Subject: Re: [ADVANRES] Letters that could be misindexed

Re: ".. letters that V might be misindexed under.."

Teresa's query raises a subject of great interest for those of us who search
for old records.

I have a line of ancestors whose one-syllable surname is "misspelled" more
often than it's spelled "correctly" (according to current usage). The
spelling is so variable that the name's origin is almost impossible to
detect. The sound of the name, however, is almost universally the same --
once one makes allowance for the language conventions.

The experience leads me to question the entire concept of "correctness" vs.
"errors" for name spelling, as it applies to past eras. Standardized
spelling of surnames seems to be a modern idea. I prefer the terms
"variability" and "variant".

Perhaps, we need to think through the possible sources of interpretation
"variants" from the time a record is created until it gets into an index --
especially, a digital index.

1. "I know you believe you understand what you think you heard, but that's
not necessarily what I meant."
- Noise in the record-creating environment may inhibit communication
between writer and speaker.
- Different languages use different letter combinations to produce
similar sounds. Some letters are more common in some languages than others.
- A difference in accents or dialects can cause a spoken name to be
interpreted differently by the writer.
- For example, V can be heard as F or B; Vickery might be rendered
Fickering.

2. The writer may have idiosyncratic spelling practices. This was especially
common before about 1840.

3. The writer may have handwriting that's difficult to read. It may be shaky
or overly ornate.

4. The document may have tears, stains, smudges, mildew or other illegible
parts obscuring the writing. (Computer indexes don't deal well with
"illegible".)

5. The transcriber may misinterpret the writer's intent. I suspect we're
too quick to blame transcribers; they're simply the last human step in the
process.

Is this a complete list of "error" causes? Probably not.

Grantee/grantor indexes for deeds come to mind; they're only loosely
alphabetical. Sometimes, pages get filled and names written on less-filled
pages.

I wish there were a website cataloging errors, as Teresa's asking for. It
would be a great help, but perhaps no one feels competent to develop one.

-rt_/)

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