Hi: Well, yes I have seen some brother change the spelling of a surname and the other not. Can you give us some connecting relatives like who they married birth dates and places at least for your brick wall ? Have you had a Smith male DNA test ? I have at least 5 different Smith/Schmidt families in my Ancestry tree that I know of so far ! Closest 2x GGM married Thomas Smith 1810 from Frederick VA and he died 1884 in Christian County MO .However I know from DNA matching that most of his siblings and many descendants stayed in Muskinggum County OH and that is how I and another cousin genealogist tracked down the correct Smith family that goes back to Benj. Smith 1720 Suffolk, England -1772 Frederick VA who married Elizabeth Chester. When finding a male line Smith tester from Benj. line however, his DNA does not match Smith , it matches William Diehl (I find William about 4 pages up in the census records from Benj. in VA). Spelling variation includes Deel, Deal. So now I am trying to determine where the NPE occurred exactly. I think it was with Benj. son Martin possibly from who still matches in the descending lines ? Or it could be as far back as with Benj. himself ? DNA can help you is my point, but can also become more complicated.
