Bob: Actually it was the Reformed Dutch Church of Stone Arabia, and I agree that probably nobody ever called him "Wilhelmus," but if people search for him that way at RootsWeb then I would like to have my database found also. (This is the case since the record appears as "Wilhelmus" in some published references.) Hence the use of "or" and the alternative name.
And as a result of an off-list note from a helpful Legacy expert, plus some experimenting of my own, I've found that using "or" between two *first* names will cause either one to be found in a RootsWeb search but this is not true of *surnames*. When there is more than one surname spelling, apparently it's necessary to use the AKA field but I have yet to test and see if AKA's will be found in RootsWeb WorldConnect searches. Does anyone know? Kirsten -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Bob Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2006 11:06 AM To: LegacyUserGroup@legacyfamilytree.com Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] signatures & names Kirsten Bowman wrote: I had a Wilhelmus (baptism) or Wilhelm (marriage), but his will was signed "William" so that's what I use as the preferred name. My database is primarily for posting at RootsWeb, however, and other researchers of this line most often use "Wilhelmus" for this individual. In order to have my file picked up in searches, I now show him as "William or Wilhelmus." Kirsten, It sounds to me like this baptism information was obtained from church records of a Roman Catholic church. In almost every such record that I have looked at the priest made an attempt to Latin-ize the first name of the child, whether there ever was such a Latin name or not. Some of the results are almost hilarious, and in many instances there was no consistency from priest to priest or parish to parish about how the real name given to the child by the parents was converted to fake Latin. If that is the case, you can be sure that the person was NEVER known by the name Wilhelmus, even by the priest who wrote that entry in the church records! Bob *** Give the gift of Legacy for the holidays! Order online at http://legacyfamilytree.com/Redirect/Store-Legacy.asp or call 1-800-753-3453. *** Legacy User Group guidelines can be found at: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ For online technical support, please visit http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
