The Name Game

 I spent the first couple of years of my research just trying to find my 3x and 4x grandparents and their families – what was with changing their names?  

Once I realized how common it was for a person to be named, christened or baptized as John William but live as Bill, the flood gates opened!!  I have an uncle named Jack, but his legal name is Harold – heaven help us researchers!!

Case in point, my 4x grandfather’s family, John William Vincent born abt 1835 in Nova Scotia and was a shoemaker and one time shipwright.  

John William married a Mary Ann Rogers and went on to have 12 children.  Mary Ann indicated on the 1900 US census in Boston that she had 12 children, 8 living – I have been able to find 10.

Of them, Harriet went by Amelia or Millie; David, well why he became Robert is still a mystery; Hannah went by Olive, James was Burton, and Charles lived as Edward. 

What?      What?       What?  

It took a while but I learned to be creative but I still get frustrated at times...ugg

The most difficult to search – the spelling and transcription errors combined with name variations!  

Visent, Vison, Vicent; Rosekrans, Rosecrans, Rosekrantz; Phebe, Phoebe; Elizabeth, Eliza, Bessie, Betty, Betsy, Lizzie........the list goes on, and on, and on.

In our family, Charles, John, William, Phebe, Mary, Elizabeth and other names couldn’t be more repetitive!

Considering I had nothing more than my grandfather’s name when I started, I have come a long way baby!

Happy Hunting!