The problem I've occasionally encountered is the interpretation of Jas and Jos. They look amazingly alike when handwritten and I've often found Jos transcribed as Jas or James and Jas transcribed as Jos or Joseph. Nel Hatcher To me this is an excellent reason to transcribe the original doc verbatim and not guess at the intent of the scribe. If looking at an abstract, better find a copy of the original instead of trying to guess at the intent. I spent some time trying to find a parent of my 4th ggrandmother whose father's name appeared in a Goodpature's History as John Stroud. Actually, her father's name was Joseph Stroud as my research proved. My guess is the info gatherer for Goodspeed's books abbreviated Joseph in such a way that it was transcribed as John and since it appeared as John in a "real" book, hard cover, and all, we know his name forever more will be John no matter the name his mother gave him. To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html