Use Detective Skills

My dog didn't eat my research homework, but he did chew a hole in one of my internet lines, so I'll post yesterday's blog also today.

You must use all your skills as a detective while searching. Many times you will find first and last names spelled in different ways. Some records also use first names while others use a middle name. Due to high mortality rates, both husband and wife may have been married more than once. When you have a father and son with the same name and 5 wives between them, it can be quite a mystery to solve.
Another thing to look out for is double letters like nn. Some records will have the 2 ns while others will have only 1. It's very easy to make a mistake when different generations use different spellings. A similar problem is different family members in the same household using a different spelling. I was very glad to find my grandfather's report card, where his mother used an "a" and his father used an "en" between 2 words that make-up their last names. This alerted me right away to look for the different spellings.