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Archiver > GEN-NEWBIE > 2000-12 > 0975891925
From: <>
Subject: Re: Ellis Island name change myth
Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2000 20:05:25 EST
In a message dated 12/01/2000 12:47:10 PM Central Standard Time,
writes:
> The name went from ROOT to RUTH. This was in Indiana, where the German
> community was large. I've wondered if perhaps the feelings were heating up
> about Germans with the oncoming of WWI. But will probably never know why
> the family changed the spelling.
>
>
According to my grandmother, my grandfather changed the spelling of his name
from Von Korn to Van Korn during WWI because he was being harrassed for
having such a blatantly German sounding name. On their marriage license from
1912, the name is spelled Von Korn, but by the time my father was born in
1920, they were spelling it Van Korn. This was in Illinois. I don't know if
it was every officially changed, or if he just started spelling differently
on his own.
Ellen
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