stuart or stewart?

winger · Post by **winger** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 12:50 am

can anyone help with this one?
I am researching George Stewart a miner married to Margaret Norwood married in Paisley in 1788. They had a daughter Mary 1796 in Paisley with the same spelling, they then move to Glasgow and have a son William also spelled Stewart, they then move to Old monkland and have several more children, half of whom are listed as Stuart and half as Stewart.
I am curious to know what the script is with the spelling on the name. I was under the impression that Stewart was the protestant way and Stuart the french catholic way - but all the children were registered presumably by a minister so why is there a difference in the spelling?
I have one child listed as Alexander Pendar Stuart and have no idea where the Pendar comes in as a middle name - there is no Pendar/Stewart marriage that fits with the info I have so if anyone recognises this one they should get in touch.

Post by **SarahND** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 2:28 am

Hi winger,
You're getting back into the days when spelling simply didn't matter. I have the same people as Stewart, Steward, Stuart, Steuart and others. It all depends on the whim of the moment, as far as I can tell, since sometimes the same writer spells it different ways. I wouldn't attach any importance to it. In the U.S., I've seen cases where two branches of the same family now use different spellings, because of the whim of the individuals who were doing the writing at the crucial time in history when the spellings became fixed

All the best,
Sarah

trish1 · Post by **trish1** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 3:49 am

A couple of places to look for the Pender (purely from my own family names)

maternal grandmother's maiden name (would thus not be a Stuart/Pender marriage).
A family friend in a profession or position to have helped the family - doctor, farm owner, mill owner etc. You may be able to check the census in the local area to find the name - if you think it is definitely not family related.

Trish

Ann In the UK · Post by **Ann In the UK** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:03 am

Early in my Carrick research I looked into a William Carrick married to an Ann Stewart (in the Paisley area in the late 1700s) which was spelled various ways in various places. I came to the conclusion that either the names were interchangeable, or spellings were dependent on who was doing the writing.

I also looked into a William Carrick married to a Mary Pender (in 1839) in the New Monkland area, who had several children, including a William with the middle name Pender.

Post by **paddyscar** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 4:49 pm

Hi Winger:

A few things to remember about spelling and ages relating to genealogy.

The farther back you go, the less likely the people were educated to any degree.

Therefore spelling of names would be dependant on the person doing the recording and they may only have known one spelling or there may have been an influence of accents or Gaelic (Irish and Scottish) spellings or translations. Also, even into the 20th century the need to earn a living was more of a necessity than continuing education.

As for ages varying, there are likely vanities of older men and women involved in shaving off a few years. There are also errors caused by people not being able to calculate their ages because they didn't have the skills (or like me, are mathematically challenged).

Also, not everyone had access to their documents in the way that we do today.

Frances

killearnan · Post by **killearnan** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 6:33 pm

paddyscar wrote: The farther back you go, the less likely the people were educated to any degree.

As for ages varying, there are likely vanities of older men and women involved in shaving off a few years.

Two additional bits:

- Until the last couple hundred years, spelling was much more fluid, even for the well-educated. On a related note, it is interesting to watch the development of alphabetization..... before 1800 or so, I've seen very few records with any degree of sorting in alpha order, then there's a period by just the first letter (often with all the entries starting with B added in chronological order in an 'index' for example), then by about 1900 what we would recognize as alpha order is fairly standard.

- In my experience, it's also not unusual (especially before about 1900) that those older than a certain age (let's say 60 or 65) to either add a few years or to round off the number - usually up, in those cases.

BJ