From Crouther to Carruthers via Crowther, Crouthers (ad infinitum)

[lydiaann]

Okay, Chatters, here is your conundrum for today.  How did Crouther become Carruthers, but then on only 2 documents so far found and neither 'witnessed' by the man in question?

Here's what I have:
Edward Crouther, b. abt 1809 in Ireland.  Married Mary Proctor in Glasgow and between them they produced Anna abt 1832 and Edward abt 1836.  Edward married Jessie (Or Janet) Malseed (or Malsed, Maltsead, Malstead, Maltsteed) and they in turn produced a bunch of little Crouthers or Crouther, or Crowther or Crowthers, including Helen, b. 1865 in Anderston, Glasgow.  Helen herself (a direct ancestor of my hubby) was registered at birth as Crouther.  However, on Helen's marriage certificate (to James Walker), dad becomes John (??the only time John is mentioned) Carruthers but when she dies, he has miraculously become Edward Carruthers.  These are the only 2 documents on which the name Carruthers appears; even in 1901, papa is still known as Edward Crowther on the census, long after the wedding.  One mistake - the wedding cert - I can understand (lack of education/spelling problems on either the Registrar's or the bride's family's part) but 2, many years apart?  Plus, Helen and James give one of the children the name, as in Annie Carruthers Walker.

FYI:  I have all the censuses possible in this family, plus Scotland, Select Births & Christenings, LDS records, Scotland, Select Marriages - and the important marriage and death certs pertaining to Helen.

Any ideas as to what happened?  Or should I just put it down to (as SP so aptly puts it) "fuzzy variants"?

lydiaann

[MonicaL]

lydiaann, spellings as we know them today, were not fixed at that time. They were fluid. You had a mostly illiterate and migrant (accents) population at that time. Variants, accents, and phonetics all came in to play. In general, it did not bother people how their names were spelt. In many cases, many people were unable to read how a clerk had spelt their name on a registration. This is why Scotlands People and Family Search (other sites too) include variations/wildcards on spellings on their searches.

All very different today and through the 20th C when spellings of names became more rigid.

Monica 

PS: If you like variants etc  this is a great site for first name variants...some more obvious than others!  www.whatsinaname.net

[sancti]

How about this for a fuzzy variant, I'm sure it is the same parents

22/08/1830 05/09/1830 CROTHERS ELISA - EDWARD CROTHERS  & MARY MONNIE LANE at GLASGOW, ST ANDREW'S

27/04/1833 05/05/1833 CROTHERS JOSEPH - EDWARD CROTHERS & MARY MONACHAN at GLASGOW, ST ANDREW'S