User:Clutterbug51/Sandbox

I have been doing family history research in the United States from colonial times through the Civil War, immigration from England and France into Canada, and English and French ancestry from the eleventh century up through the twentieth centuries.

NAME CHANGES
When teaching others to do their research, I find people have a difficult time understanding the fact spelling was inconsequential to the populous until the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. Family names with slight variations made no difference. For instance, the names  Alcock, Alcok, Allcock, Allcocke, and Alcocke  were understood to be the same; likewise, Eleanor, Eleanore, Elenor, and Elenore  were interchangeable.

Immigration was also a name-changer. The Americanizing of names was common. To better fit in to society, find suitable employment, and/or hide from hate groups; our ancestors sometimes altered their names. Examples are: a French family changing their name from Boullier to the English translation of Butler, or an Eastern European family changing their surname from Sobieski to Sobi.

ENGLISH SHIRES

Searching in the shires of 19th century England.