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Surnames: Callen/Callen
Classification: Query
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/zRH.2ACIB/165
Message Board Post:
In researching my Callan ancestry in Ireland, I found known Callans listed in the old
records of Ireland and the US as Callens. Three reasons seem to account for this.
Faulty transcriptions of faded original handwritten records into current documents used by
genealogical services. My first encounter was with the 1821 Census of Ireland with a known
Callan family. The transcription read Callen.
Documentation officials at US ports of entry. Irish arriving in the 1800s had no
documation and most were iliterate, not knowing how their names were spelled. One branch
of my Callan family came to port as Callans. Their US entry papers read Callen.
Consequently, the family stayed with the Callen name, not wanting to create problems in
their new world.
A third reason but a bit dubious. My elders, now in their upper 80s, informed me that some
of our Callans changed their name to Callen when they "made it" in the US, to
distinguish themselves from lesser Callans. They referred to these Callens as "lace
curtain Irish", people who used lace curtains to demonstate their success. I have
not seen any evidence of this in my research.