Spelling... I'm a stickler for that. One of my pet peeves. So it can really bother me when I find names spelled differently. But in the case of names, there are alot of understandable reasons why they can be spelled, not exactly wrong, just differently.
In my great grandfather's case, I have come to the conclusion that it was a language barrier. He was an Italian immigrant who came to America in 1899 and he could not read or write. He worked hard to have his wife and daughter come over a few years later and start their new life here. Everyone has heard or has in their family the story that an ancestor's name was changed at Ellis Island. The truth is that Ellis Island officials got the names from the passenger lists made as the immigrants boarded their ship and that list came along on the trip. My great grandfather is actually proof of that, as his name is spelled correctly on his passenger list and he came thru Ellis Island as well. The misspellings of his name mostly appear on CENSUS lists which are notoriously famous for poor handwriting and poor spelling. In the five census that I have for him, there are four different spellings of his last name. Buonaddio, Bonady, Bonadio, back to Bonady and Bonidy. I believe that Bonady is how the census taker heard it pronounced with Pasquale's thick Italian accent and wrote what he thought he heard. His correct name is Pasquale Bonadio. I picture the two of them sitting there with a puzzled look on the census taker's face and Pasquale repeating the name to him over and over. There is a story in my family that it was my grandfather who discovered the correct spelling and all of Pasquale's children adopted that spelling. Apparently Pasquale's brother had a similar problem but they chose to stick with Bonady. Even Pasquale's probate record is spelled Bonady but not his death certificate which has Bonadio. Also his driver's license and World War 2 Draft Registration card are spelled Bonady. His World War 1 registration card spells it Bonidia. And the oddest one was Paschal Bonadea on a handwritten house payment record. I never did know HOW my grandfather figured it out, but I do have a theory. My theory is that after Pasquale's death, they found his naturalization papers with the Bonadio spelling on them and that was that. Correct name found. And , oh yes, it was spelled correctly on his wife's passenger list as well. I know this because of the daughter who was on the list as Maria Bonadio. His wife, being a traditional Italian woman, used her maiden name, Rosa Dicello. And on the last place his name went, a gravestone, it was spelled Pasquali Bonadio. Every record with his first name spelled it Pasquale unless he used his nickname of Patsy. A spelling mistake in stone after getting the correct last name!
But wait... I have a second name. In my husband's family, his 3rd great grandmother is named Elvira Rosengrants. Then I find her grandfather as Rosenkrantz. Fortunately, this spelling stays consistent until his 21st great grandfather, Erick Iverson. He was said to be the originator of the name Rosenkrantz and his children have that surname. You might wonder then why I use this name in this story. Well, in all of my searching in this family, I have come across 13 different spellings ! All of the individuals in my tree of these 13 spellings do descend from Erick Iverson. Here is the list of spellings.
Rosencrans
Rosecrants
Rosencrance
Rosencrans
Rosencranse
Rosencrants
Rosncrantz
Rosenerance
Rosengrant
Rosengrants
Rosenkrance
Rosenkrans
Rosenkrantz
Except for Rosenerance, who knows how that one came about, when you say them out loud, they all sound the same. Which just goes to show how little spelling mattered in the distant past.
A family group of the name Rosengrant will be back in Week 28 this summer. Just as crazy a story as all of the name variations.
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