It is enough of a challenge when researching family history to watch for spelling changes or mistakes with the last name, but another area where you have to use caution is the given or first names of people and their nicknames.

Especially when I first started , I was fooled by the common first name of James.   When I found a James W. the right age and state I was off and running on the completely wrong branch of the tree.  With another branch of my family I had input from my mother that her aunt was named "Pet".  I, of course, could not find a "Pet" anywhere in the area around Paris, Indiana -- thank heavens census records had her husband, an uncle Leonidas, listed with a wife named Martha.  Of course, I then found their last name of Ayers spelled three ways and Uncle Leonidas was "Lee" in most records. These folks lived in the same area all their lives, which was a help, but you know what would have happened if they had moved around.

An example of this is Augustus/Augustine Colvin.  My ancestor Nimrod (yes, I said Nimrod) Colvin had a son named Augustus or Augustine who was born in 1833, this Augustine had a middle initial of R, but was usually called Augustine R., but was also listed in documents and censuses as Augustin, A.R., and Augustus. Augustine R. had a son named Augustine Davis, born 1861, who was commonly called Davis and is even listed as such on his Missouri death certificate. Then Augistine R's brother Levi named a son Augustine S ?? (not sure of what comes after S because  of handwriting issues) who was born in 1860, and commonly called "Gus". Fortunately Augustine R's family moved to Missouri leaving "Gus" in Kentucky. Note the use of initials, another thing that drives me nuts!

I was not aware when I first started that my ancestors might not have personally talked with a census taker. In some cases, especially in rural areas, the census taker may have asked a neighbor, "Who lives over there?"  Hence your relative's information may have come from a non-family member who only knew the nicknames used within the family. Or it might be just your luck that your family spoke with an accent or the neighbor who was being asked about them did and there goes the information. Census takers had varying levels of literacy.   They obviously had to be able to read and write, but legibility was sometimes a problem. When using sites like Ancestry, be sure to look at the original record.  I have found lots of errors in transcription, and when looking at the record myself, I can see what the name actually was. A recent mistake I found was Walter transcribed as Martha (???).   My clue here was a male head of house named Martha with a wife named Ann!   Humm, in 1860 that sounded a little off.

Over time, first names are sometimes completely lost.   "Polly" was the common nickname for Mary, but also came to be  used as a first name.   So Polly might really be a given name not a nickname.   Just a few nicknames I know of that were used frequently are Polly/Molly for Mary, Mattie and Maggie for Martha & Margaret, Hattie for Harriet, Sallie/Sally for Sarah, Eliza for Elizabeth, Mag or Maggie for Magdalene, Allie for Alice and so on. Did your family have any unusual nicknames or ones they used a lot?

Sheila