Anyone researching the Pennington family or many other
surnames will run into problems with names.
There is a lot of wonderful research out there by a lot of good
genealogists…but they can’t help you unless you learn a bit about your
ancestor.
Let’s say that someone wrote me and said that they are
descended from Levi Pennington…in my database alone – I have twenty two Levi
Penningtons, seven of those who married Eliza’s or Elizabeth, a few married
Alice’s and Rachel and even an Amanda.
The earliest one in my database was born abt 1767 and the latest born in
1898. My database only includes Group 7,
12, 30, 31, & 32 and usually only if they came out of Ashe County, North
Carolina. If I look further into the
John French Master File – there are fifty Levi Penningtons. So, if you happened to write me looking for
information on Levi Pennington I would probably reply that you needed to be
more specific. What I mean by that is
give me a year range, a location, name of wife if known or children if known…something
more than just a name. If it is a
female it is even more important. While
I have twenty two Levi’s….I also have almost thirty Elizabeth Penningtons.
Two other names that have caused problems mostly because of
their spellings are Micajah and Benajah.
I have seen multiple spellings of each name. I’ve seen Micajah as Mikager, Macajah, MCkaga
and even listed as Mac because they weren’t real sure how to spell the
name. Benajah is mostly listed as
Benagah – but then you get some well-meaning soul who thinks that it is
supposed to be Benjamin – I have four Benajah’s in my database but also six
different Benjamin’s.
No part of the name can really be discounted. If you have the opportunity to get the middle
name – make you make a note of it.
Sometimes middle names were not used in the earlier time periods, but in
the 1800’s, they seem to be quite common.
That middle name is sometimes a clue as to what the mother’s ancestry
might have been. Note the siblings of
your direct ancestors and who they married and their children…don’t be
surprised if you find a marriage between cousins – that is much more common
than one would necessarily want. J
Nicknames can also be very important. You will sometimes find a Polly in one census
and Mary in the next and most times they are the same person. Libby, Eliza, Beth, Lizzie are all common
nicknames for Elizabeth. Peg is a common
name for Margaret, Billy or Bill can sometimes be more commonly used that
William. A John can be a Jonathan in
once census, listed as Jn in another document and Johnny in something
else. Be especially careful with anyone
listed as Jesse or Jessie or Frances and Francis…Jessie is usually a girl
and Frances is also a female name. If you have done enough research through
names using census records, tax records or other types of documents – you will
think you have learned every possible nickname out there…until you find one
that is completely different.
So if you have looked in all the places that you think your
ancestor should be…look again. Consider
misspellings that might be rooted in phonetically spelled names or just someone
who had poor handwriting and spelling skills and the name was transcribed
differently. If you are asking someone
for help…tell them everything you know – don’t just ask if you have a Levi in
your database. One might be the
recipient of a lot more information if you frame the question correctly and if
you are willing to look at other avenues of pursuit. Sometimes the name is not spelled the same…or
anything close to what you think it should be!
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