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Do the different spellings make a difference? In the short-term, Yes; in the long-term, No. Spelling has tended to be a function of literacy. To-day, in a time of (almost) total literacy, we think of spelling as fixed but in the past this was not so. When the majority of people were either illiterate or barely literate “spelling” was determined by whoever was writing the record (and sometimes his literacy was not of the best either). Hence a wide variety of spellings occurs, many no longer current (eg Bynstyd). There is not a progression in spelling from the “earliest” version to the next and so on; it is random. Frequently one person appears in records at different stages of his life with different spellings. This does not necessarily reflect a change on the person’s part, but merely that the clerk when he married, for example, was not the same one as when he was baptised. It also sometimes occurs that a person is referred to in a document with one spelling but his signature reflects another spelling. In the occasional case where a person was well-educated, however, he might very well consider a particular spelling “right”. I have seen one document where the person is referred to throughout as Binstead and then at the end there is a note that wherever "Binstead" is found it should read "Binsteed". There follows a Binsteed signature in a beautiful hand. Footnote. When looking at signatures and marks, bear in mind that wills were often written and signed on a person’s deathbed (“..sicke in bodie but of perfekte remembrance..”). A shaky signature or mark at that time might not be representative of his or her usual hand. Binstead Binsted Binsteed family genealogy home page
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2004-2010 Richard Binstead for Binstead Binsted Binsteed family genealogy |
