Genealogy Chat

A lot of this is down to the ability to write your own name or how someone thinks/ hears it.

I had to do a spread sheet to work out a name change. Baptisms, registrations and census were all over the place. The eldest two children married under their new name, the youngest with a late marriage used the original name, which I am not sure she ever had :-S

One of my ancestral names can be spelt in several different ways, and particularly in censuses is often misspelt. I spell it correctly on my tree and make a note if it is listed otherwise.
If you have used the Lost Cousins site, you always list as the censuses spelling, as that is the name that others will be looking for.

Another ancestral name did change over the years, but as it is found on ancient documents, I have used that spelling in my tree then corrected it in the descendents, as the name is found in the records.
Funnily enough, a contact on here from that family had a completely differently spelt name, we traced the family back several hundred years to 2 brothers, one my ancestor spelt one way, his the other.

Thanks AG.

It was Florence’s query that bought this to mind. I have a family ( not Smith/Smythe) that on the early days used an i in the middle of their surnames later family in my direct line changed that to an e.

I think I have some others but would have to go and check.much easier if it just a case of changing the last letter eg adding an e or s.

Replying to Nameslessone re Smith/Smythe -

My father's ancestors' surname was spelled in many different ways in the old records, mainly in Ayrshire, when most people were illiterate, spelling was fluid, and depended on what the clerk thought it sounded like.

I decided to give them all the present-day spelling, but with notes to say how the name was spelled in their various records.

However, in the case of a family deliberately changing the spelling of their name (I assume the Smith/Smythes fall into that category) , I would record them under the name they were born with, and add a note if necessary.

But basically, it's a matter of personal preference , or whatever's going to be easiest for looking people up in future.

My grt grandad( my grt grandmothers husband) had a daughter after they married so she is directly related to all the Skinners and that info remains unchanged on the tree.

The new info has only affected 2 people with a change of name in the tree online and is now on a different branch. So if any other DNA matches to a Skinner come up, that line is available for anyone to look at.

What do you do when your Smith family become Smythe?

Do you stick with Smith just for the early ones, have all as Smith or all as Smythe?

I agree with this sensible advice. Keep as much info as you can with notes of explanation then if others search, something will pop up.

If it were my tree, I would keep surnames the same (Skinner?), for those whose births were registered under that name, and who used that name all their lives.

I would just add a note to explain about the other name.

When I say changes my surname, it was mothers brothers, sisters etc not my maiden name as that was dads family. Its really only for the sake of others that have matched my DNA so they can see how we are related.

I had a DNA match but couldnt match in my tree until now as the info explained the match given the new name.

It also explained a DNA with someone in Australia, I could not place but now know they are a cousin.

Well done, but of course it didn’t actually change your surname as it was in use for several generations.

Having found my own grt grt grandfather changed his surname there is no way am I changing to that one.

Well i did manage to add the" new rellie" but it does make the tree look a bit messy I guess.

I do know the name of the person and for that reason, it changes my family surname!
Thankfully I only put my parents on the tree and not all 10 siblings!
I managed on both sites to change the details.

Ty ladies for your help.

Ty names

Sorry only just seen this as been away all day. Shall have a look later tonight.

Got it!

On Ancestry - open your grt grt grandmothers profie page
Look for the Relationship tag and open add. You can choose spouse child etc .

Ty Argyllgran, I dont have a tree on here but will look at my other sites and see what i can do.

Once i have achieved, i will let yous know ty

It's easy on GR.
On the "immediate family " screen, click on the person who had the additional partner, then click "add", then "spouse", and put in the details - and "save".

As they weren't married, you may want to add a note to say that.

Once the additional partner is on the tree, then you can link the children to the correct father, as explained in earlier post.

I don’t have much of a tree on Ancestry but there must be a way of adding another partner as one often comes across trees where several have been added.

It’s too hot to go and play on my computer.

There are explainations on how to add a second partner via google, but couldn’t follow it without the page being open.

You'll need to add the "new" family members in whatever way they relate to the unknown (or perhaps you do know the name now?) Gr-gr-grandfather, I think.

Are they his siblings/cousins/ whatever, and descendants?

If your tree is on GR, you can change someone's father in the side panel that slides out from the right of the screen.

Well after they married they did have a daughter so she will def be a Skinner so 1/2 grt aunt to me.

yep was thinking if i can add the new person but still leave whats there as the aunt is related to what is on the tree.

But how do i now add all the "new family."?

I have several new DNA matches who I now know who they are and how we are related so shall have to find a way to add these in somehow.

I agree all the hard work that has been done will be useful for others in the family so I wont delete the whole lot.

Ty for your reply

Well done Florence.

The Skinner grt grt grandfather is still part of your tree as he married your grt grt grandmother. Did they have children themselves?


Try not to delete as your work on the Skinners could be useful to others.

Added: thinking about it can you not add an unknown partner and move the children to that.

Im putting this on this board as its relevant to all things family tree etc.

Some of you will recall over the years helping me find some elusive rellies from the Skinner family.

I have done 2 DNA tests with different companies and so far did not have a single match with anyone from the Skinner families which are huge!

A rumour went round years ago that the father of my grandad was not who they thought but proving it without DNA was nigh impossible.

Yesterday a huge bombshell was dropped and now my whole Skinner family tree has exploded as Im not a Skinner at all!

I had a DNA match awhile ago and could not tally the names up but since other info came to light in the last few days, all became clear.

My grt grandmother was pregnant before she married and had also had a baby that died at 3 months old. The father of both children was not my grt grandad. Whether he knew before he married her, we shall never know.

My dilemma is now. What do i do as i have my trees on 2 sites and really I should delete those that are not related to me which is 75% of all those in the tree and replace with the new info?

Any suggestions or anyone else been in this situation?

Still trying to get my head around a new family surname and grateful none of my mums brothers and sisters are alive now.