Thank you Gene, not only for this reply, but for all the knowledge you continue to
share with us !
Donna Carpenter Cuzze
Donna wrote:
<< Looking over the wills, some mention aliases. As example it may say John
Bell alias Carpenter.
<< Does it mean the persons REAL NAME was Bell or that it was Carpenter? >>
Gene wrote:
"REAL NAME" is not a useful distinction
when an alias was used with (rather
than instead of) another surname. Often, though by no means always,
illegitimacy was behind the use of two names; one was the father's surname, the other
the unmarried mother's. Adopting an alias might be done for reasons other
than illegitimacy (to honor someone, for example), but regardless of the
reason, there doesn't seem to have been an established pattern as to which name
(father's or mother's, original or adopted) came first. A man might be known
by two surnames, one an alias, throughout his life and so might his
descendants; ultimately the word _alias_ might be omitted and the two surnames
combined into a single, hyphenated one.
Gene Z.