Friday, July 11, 2014

Names. Places, and a Grain of Salt

Names

When researching this history I found that try as I might there is no way to get this information completely correct.  Starting with the spelling of Phillip Willems name I find at least four different spellings on census, land, and other official documents--Phillip, Philip, Philipp, and Phillp (the last variation is on his tombstone).  Some documents spell his name two different ways on the same document, so apparently spelling wasn't terribly important at the time.  If there were a document or letter bearing his signature it would be less of a guessing game.

Katherina has variations too, but which is correct I do not know.  Katrina, Kate, Catherine, etc. 


Places

Documents, such as censuses that ask for where someone was born were usually generalized.  Remember at the time Phillip and Katherina lived there European boundaries were different than they are today.  Prussia covered much of Europe.  Alsace-Lorraine was a territory annexed by the German Empire in 1871.  It reverted back to France after the Germans lost WWI.


A Grain of Salt

Many documents and family histories have points that contradict each other.  Keep in mind that information conveyed on documents is more valuable if the subject themselves filled it out usually making the information accurate. 

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