Semi-literate people before the standardization of surname spelling ca. the
mid to late 1800's for the most part spelled all surnames phonetically.
This meant that if they had an accent that was included too. I've run into
this with my Johnston/e family. In the 1500's in one county alone in
Scotland I came across a document that had 17 different ways to spell
Johnstone, and none of them included Johnston or Johnstone. It was
considered to be no big deal then as long as the sound of it was the same.
The advent of passports and other travel documents in the 1800s changed that
attitude quickly.
By the way, you missed O'Casey ;-)
Cliff. Johnston
"May the best you've ever seen,
Be the worst you'll ever see;"
from A Scots Toast by Allan Ramsay
----- Original Message -----
From: "Virginia" <vdach(a)verizon.net>
To: <casey(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 09, 2010 7:09 PM
Subject: [CASEY] Cayce/Casey
Does anyone know how or if the 2 spellings of this name came about?
Virginia in Seattle
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