>My great grandfather, Dempsey Lassiter, was listed in the 1870 Census in 
Nansemond County as "Laffiter"     Then someone who transcribed it, changed 
it to "La PE ter".  The only way I knew it was my family was by all the 
children's names.

Actually, that 1870 census entry does identify your great grandfather as
Dempsey Lassiter. It simply uses the older long-tail style of penning the
double-s.

Modern transcribers unfamiliar with that penmanship style often render the
long-tail double-s as a "p" or an "f," resulting in such incongruities as
"Jeffe," "Jeppe," "Rupell" and "Mipipippi."

Elizabeth

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