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ArchivesMehitabel, or ...?
I have found in the UK census of 1891 a baby girl named Meaterbell Ware. Parents were John (a bricklayer) and Ann, brother was Robert.
I imagine that Meaterbell must have been someone's best attempt at spelling or transcribing Mehitabel ... which would be odd in such a conservatively-named family, but much less odd than Meaterbell.
Any ideas?
I imagine that Meaterbell must have been someone's best attempt at spelling or transcribing Mehitabel ... which would be odd in such a conservatively-named family, but much less odd than Meaterbell.
Any ideas?
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Replies
I think you have the best idea. Have you done any geneology on this family? Mehitabel is the sort of name that could have been handed down within a particular family since Puritan times.
Leslie Dunkling found more than one example in the UK Census of men or boys supposedly named Murder, but that seems to have been the census taker's misunderstanding of Murdo. :)
Leslie Dunkling found more than one example in the UK Census of men or boys supposedly named Murder, but that seems to have been the census taker's misunderstanding of Murdo. :)
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No, I haven't; I was looking for something else entirely.
Murdo = Murder, eh? That's really funny. And I suppose people's usual inhibitions about arguing with an expert with a clipboard would kick in, so they wouldn't check or query. But the English seem to have learnt: I had a son in England when my husband was a student there (do you call them graduate students? We say 'postgraduate'), and when I registered his birth I had to spell his names (Peter David Alastair) really slowly and then check the transcription, and then check again once it had all been done in elegant calligraphy! Peter? David? Alastair is more problematic ... but they really took it all very seriously, which I was happy about.
All the best
Murdo = Murder, eh? That's really funny. And I suppose people's usual inhibitions about arguing with an expert with a clipboard would kick in, so they wouldn't check or query. But the English seem to have learnt: I had a son in England when my husband was a student there (do you call them graduate students? We say 'postgraduate'), and when I registered his birth I had to spell his names (Peter David Alastair) really slowly and then check the transcription, and then check again once it had all been done in elegant calligraphy! Peter? David? Alastair is more problematic ... but they really took it all very seriously, which I was happy about.
All the best
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Murdo
Yes, it's certainly possible that sometimes people wouldn't argue with the census taker. But as most of these records were in the 19th century, many of the parents were probably illiterate and so had no way of knowing what the "correct" spelling of their own child's name was. :)
Yes, it's certainly possible that sometimes people wouldn't argue with the census taker. But as most of these records were in the 19th century, many of the parents were probably illiterate and so had no way of knowing what the "correct" spelling of their own child's name was. :)
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How very nice, then, that they were willing to branch out and move away from mainstream names when naming their children, not letting a lack of schooling stand in their way. I like it!
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