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Archiver > GERMAN-SURNAMES > 2004-01 > 1073325230


From: "Gerry Parchman" <>
Subject: Re: [Ger-Sur] Re: How to pronounce surnames
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 12:53:53 -0500
References: <057a01c3d307$58e2b470$1888cbcf@Hercamer> <002701c3d312$98522c20$6c9c0c44@ok.cox.net> <067001c3d3ac$275f2b90$1888cbcf@Hercamer>


My experience (and also what I've read) is that the scribes and enumerators
in the census and at the ports just wrote down the nearest English to what
they thought they heard. Since many of the aliens and early citizens were
barely (or not) literate, they didn't know how their name was so butchered.
Later generations kept the wrong spelling and even changed the
pronunciation.

For my ancestor Parchmann (approximately Paarccchhh maaan), the first
spelling in a record is Parchman, but it is also spelled Parchment,
Parchmon, Percham, and Perchment. The last name is how the descendants of
one branch were called, largely since that's how it was spelled on a pension
record.

Gerry Parchman


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