Spelling Variations
Mizell Family History Project
What’s in a name?
|
Ancestors in the Mizell family can be identified with various spellings of their last names. As was common throughout almost all families centuries ago, people were illiterate: they had almost no skills at reading or writing. They were not used to writing their names. So, spelling of the Mizell name, when it had to be recorded on paper, was based on how it sounded.
Through the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s, Mizells were getting married, buying land, recording wills, paying taxes, being counted in the census, and other events where the name had to be written down. Those doing the writing perhaps knew the “right” spelling, but often that spelling was the same for all the family members around that region. |
So the family name was written down how it sounded. But that isn’t the end of our problem.
Once the name was written down, others had to read it. Do we have problems reading each others writing today? Those reading the written name had to struggle with recognizing individual letters, so that contributed to still further variations in the spelling.
How many of the spellings have your found in historical records? In alphabetical order, here are spellings, which have been found in recent searches through records. How do we know that they are ancestors in the family tree? Because the first names, and the places where they occurred, match other records about the family. |
# Spelling Example source
1 Measells 1810 Federal Census for North Carolina
2 Measle Lists of Confederate Soldiers
3 Measler Lists of Confederate Soldiers
4 Measles 1820 Federal Census for North Carolina
5 Meazel North Carolina Records 1700s, various counties
6 Meazell North Carolina Records 1700s, various counties
7 Meazels 1820 Federal Census for North Carolina
8 Meazle 1800 Federal Census for North Carolina
9 Meazzels Lists of Confederate Soldiers
10 Megill 1800 Federal Census for North Carolina
11 Meizell North Carolina Records 1700s, various counties
12 Meizle 1810 Federal Census for North Carolina
13 Meyell 1800 Federal Census for North Carolina
14 Mezell North Carolina Records 1700s, various counties
15 Mezelle Lists of Confederate Soldiers
16 Mezells North Carolina Records 1700s, various counties
17 Mezils North Carolina Deeds 1700s, various counties
18 Mezles 1820 Federal Census for North Carolina
19 Mezzles Lists of Confederate Soldiers
20 Miezel North Carolina Deeds 1700s, various counties
21 Miezell North Carolina Records 1700s, various counties
22 Miezle 1810 Federal Census for North Carolina
23 Migell 1810 Federal Census for North Carolina
24 Misel North Carolina Records 1700s, various counties
25 Misell North Carolina Records 1700s, various counties
26 Misells North Carolina Records 1700s, various counties
27 Mizel 1800 Federal Census for North Carolina
28 Mizell North Carolina Records 1700s, various counties
29 Mizelle North Carolina Records 1700s, various counties
30 Mizells North Carolina Records 1700s, various counties
31 Mizil 1800 Federal Census for North Carolina
32 Mizill Tyrrell County Records 1762
33 Mizles North Carolina Records 1700s, various counties
34 Mizo Lists of Confederate Soldiers
35 Mizow Lists of Confederate Soldiers
36 Mizzell North Carolina Records 1700s, various counties
37 Mizzels Lists of Confederate Soldiers
38 Mizzles Lists of Confederate Soldiers
39 Muzell North Carolina Records 1700s, various counties
40 Muzells North Carolina Records 1700s, various counties
If you’ve been looking up Mizell ancestors in early historical records, and find an index or a list of names, you might have missed a name or two! With this kind of challenge, how can we be sure we’ve found them all?
Copyright © David E. Mizell, 2006
