by Michael John Neill
Names create significant problems for genealogists. This week we focus on the last name used by our ancestor and how that name appears in various records. Our discussion is not meant to be entirely comprehensive but rather to motivate the genealogist to realize that last names might not be as simple as they seem. When family historians begin crossing linguistic, time, or cultural borders, assumptions about last names might need to be changed.
We begin simply... with how names are listed in records...
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