How do i correct wrong names and information
I have seen my tree and some one as put in a whole group of family members , but i know for a fact its wrong . I.e the family name is Brookes always as an E in after the letter K . The names that have been added are spelt Brooks no E . Do i contact the person that as added the names or do i correct it .
yrs Dave
Answers
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The spelling likely varies between different generations and even different branches of the same family. If the name is found predominantly as BROOKES - in official and personal documentation - I would say it would be right to amend the spelling from BROOKS. But, yes, contacting the person who has recorded the spelling the latter way would probably be a good idea, otherwise it is possible you might experience the problem of an "edit war", whereby as fast as you change to one variant they will change it back to the other. The problem basically lies in the justification for your chosen variant. For example, it would not do your case any good if there were, say, ten sources attached to an individual, eight or nine of which had the spelling BROOKS, but you felt BROOKES to be the preferred spelling. Whatever decision you come to, just ensure the other spelling is included as an Alternate Name (under Other Information).
Personally, I do prefer to see consistency within a close family unit, especially among siblings. So, if just one individual has, say, a baptism recorded differently from his siblings, I would not usually record that spelling as their main name. However, there are different examples where it would be appropriate not to stick to a hard and fast rule.
The first I can think of is a person I knew who spelled his name BEAZLEY, whereas his father always used BEASLEY. In the same category, two brothers I knew used FINDLAY and FINLAY as respective spellings - although in this case, they had actually anglicised their east European surname, so neither represented the original family name!
The second example lies with my HARROD family branch, the name eventually coming to be spelled consistently in that manner. However, in previous generations it was commonly spelled as both HEROD and HARWOOD - once, even in both forms within the same document!
Other users will hold their personal views on the general issue, but there is no hard and fast "Family Tree" rule. Make your own choice, but be prepared for another user (say a distant cousin) to have other ideas, whereby you will suddenly find they have reverted the spelling to their own preference!
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Just this week, someone detached a colonial-era source from one of my ancestors "because the spelling is not the same."
Standardized spelling is a very modern concept. I have an 1882 death certificate for a paternal 2nd GGM with her married surname spelled two different ways, neither the usual spelling. I've documented 9 different spellings for that 2nd GGF.
One of maternal ancestors was from France, with the original surname Michel. Some of his descendants use Mikel while others use Michael.
As Paul suggests, document the variants as alternate spellings.
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