23 October 2014

lidya Sargeant Not Lydia Sargent

Variant spellings are frustrating for many genealogists, including myself.

This image (with the black text) was originally used an illustration in a recent Genealogy Tip of the Day blog post. I incorrectly spelled the name in the citation. It should have been "lidya Sargeant"--not Lydia Sargent. Normally when writing about ancestors whose names are spelled a variety of ways, I standardize the names in any general discussion of them and in my conclusions about them.

But when transcribing documents and records I should transcribe the names as they are written or at least as close to that as possible.

I didn't in this case and thanks to a reader for very graciously pointing this out to me.