Thanks, Fred. What you have said is surely true. To set the record straight since M. N. seems to be the subject of some measure of criticism for her list, she is a fine and thorough researcher (and a blind copy of this is going to her) suggested those names as evidentiary of the use of middle names, she was not offering that list as proof positive of anything about any line. Rather, she was suggesting that those multiples that appeared in her own records might be illustrative of the practice.
I think the matter may be summed as you have done, and also by saying simply that reliable sources should be sought out for any and all names, be those 2, 3 or 10 in number. So, the need for accuracy in all things genealogical should include searches concerning all such multiple names, since one may find revealed nicknames, baptismal names, names used or assigned informally to differentiate one person from another, maiden names carried forward by choice to identify or to please an ancestor, middle names given boys to honor their predecessors, or names simply assumed by the "owner" - the person wearing those symbols.
Finally, there are myriad examples, though a small percentage still, that serve to illustrate that the Europeans and Scandinavians often assigned mid names before it was considered fashionable by those who came here. Paul
----- Original Message -----
From: Fredric Z. Saunders
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, July 18, 2005 5:14 PM
Subject: RE: [VAROOTS] Re: middle names
Hi Paul,
I would agree with your first posting, that is was usually the "upper class"
that might have used a middle name in Colonial America. To that I would add
that it was usually about the early 1700s before I have seen any of these,
and those are few and far between. For those of the early 1700s I have seen,
the middle name was often a family name, being either the mother's,
grandmother's or earlier generation maiden name.
German lines excepted, I would say it was *generally* mid 1700s before there
was an *occasional* usage of a middle name where it was not a family
surname. I would also caution anyone finding an alleged middle name for an
ancestor before 1800, to verify that usage through original records.
I can cite dozens of examples of persons from my own ancestry, where
Internet sources or FamilySearch/Ancestral File list a middle name for a
person, that there are no such records that anyone can cite showing that
"middle" name. If asked to a cite an original record showing the person had
a middle name, the answer is invariably that the person can't. They just
copied what someone else said.
As for how those mistaken listings of a middle name started, I can identify
how several did. (1) To go with your second posting, which contained
several listings of BEALL and related families, my ancestor Ninian HAMILTON
was born about 1715. He had a son Ninian Beall HAMILTON who was born in
1739. Some people have assumed since the son had the middle name Beall, the
father did too, but there are no records showing that. I know of several
instances as this, of confusing names of a later generation that did have a
middle name, with an earlier one that didn't.
(2) On sort of a related note, I have seen numerous instances of people
confusing a listing of a maiden name with that of a middle name. As an
example, I have an ancestor Sarah BURGESS born ca. 1691, who was the
daughter Edward BURGESS and Sarah CHEW. When people write about the mother,
some will write her name as "Sarah Chew Burgess", rather than as Sarah
(Chew) Burgess, or Sarah (CHEW) BURGESS. For both the latter, it is
identifiable that CHEW is a maiden name, and not a middle name. All it takes
is one person to think that "Sarah Chew Burgess" is the daughter (rather
than mother) and assign her the middle "Chew". A hundred other people come
along and copy the information of the first, and suddenly everywhere you
look, the daughter born ca. 1691 now has a middle name Chew. Person number
101 will come along and think "100 people list it, so it must be correct",
but not one of the 101 can cite a record showing she had a middle name. I
have seen this happen many times in early 1700s MD records.
(3) Some people have confused a person signing with a mark as being a middle
initial, and assumed therefore the person had a middle name. An original
record might show that a person signed their will or other document as "John
D Doe" with the word "his" above the "D" and the word "mark" below the "D".
In their abstract/summary of the document they neglect to list the words
"his mark" and list it as signed "John D DOE." The same 100 persons as
listed in number 2 come along and copy each other, and now list John DOE as
John D. DOE. Again, I have seen this happen a number of times.
I would also ask that the person "M. N." whose e-mail you forwarded to the
list to please contact me. James BEALL and Anne Marie CALVERT are often
alleged as the parents of my ancestor Ninian BEALL. Although I have been
asking for 20+ years, I have yet to see one person who can cite ANY original
record of this James BEALL to show he even existed, much less that he had a
son named Ninian. While James has been alleged as the father of Ninian since
the early 1900s, it is only in about the past ten years that mentions of a
wife "Anne Marie CALVERT" have appeared. I believe its first appearance was
on the Ancestral File, with at the same time a listing giving James (if he
exists) a middle initial B. Any actual record showing she actually existed
are as elusive as those of James BEALL.
So, I will once again ask, hoping that someone can provide evidence that
James BEALL even existed, and if he did, that there is evidence that Ninian
BEALL of MD is his son.
http://home.netcom.com/~fzsaund/beall.html
Rick Saunders
http://genealogypro.com/fsaunders.html
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