Last name Willson or Wilson?

Question

According to * Willson, Richard Eugene. comp. ''The Willson Family 1672-1979'' Ottawa, IL:[s.n.],1979. Print. This edition incorporates 2 previous volumes which are available from Hathi Trust online. The lineage that started in Burlington County, NJ., America with Robert and Ann Willson in 1682, spelled the last name as Willson until children of Jonathan Willson Jr. began recording names spelled as Wilson in 1799. (pg 44)   It appears there is a multitude of duplication regarding this.  How is this best handled?

Answer 1

David , I understand that question having several family lines with varied spelling across time and in different places!

I'm a Rookie here but WikiTree's policy on this is to use their naming conventions - not ours. So use the name they used which would have been recognized in their area in the time they lived. I've noticed some geographic areas lag behind change so I have to pay attention. I have a family line where the children decided to spell their name, Runion, different from Dad, Runyan, when they were kids. Dad's family had spelled it Rongnion.

That's a smart question I wish I had asked before I entered my relatives! The Greene/Green/Gren/DeGreene line can get to be a nightmare with merges.  I learned on WikiTree getting the name right is really important.

Here 's the link:

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Name_Fields#Use_their_conventions_instead_of_ours

Comments

Thank-you Paula for the link!  

I believe you are much more experienced than a "Rookie"  at this site and merges will require a lot of work since all of the children and wives will need to have there LNAB or current last name edited.  I find this scenario is common on gedcom uploads from certain other sites and wish there was a tool to expedite this process.  

Perhaps, one solution is requesting to be a co-profile manager on these profiles and descendents?  

Are there any other thoughts from collaborators who deal with this scenario?

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Hi David,

In respone to your message "If I am reading the merging link correctly, the "widget" will only merge duplicates and will not change LNAB or correct spelling of spouse's current name." You have control over what the merge changes.