Maybe this will help someone. as more Welsh names are being added to the
IGI soon.
Betty
--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: SMorris9(a)aol.com
To: POWYS-L(a)rootsweb.com
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 11:29:41 EST
Subject: IGI Searches in Wales
Message-ID: <87.485c97b.27723875(a)aol.com>
Hi all,
I'm not sure how I missed this little gem, but I did! I thought I'd pass
it
along, in case someone else missed it, too. I knew about the patronymic
naming system, but didn't realize how it was interpreted when the IGI was
recorded. I've found at least a dozen good possibilites for new
relations.
Hope someone else gets lucky, too!
I found this on Cyndi's List:
"Because of the late development of the use of surnames in Wales, where
the
uses of patronymics continued in many places until into the 19th century,
the
Welsh IGI has both a surname index (SN) and a given name index (GN).
Before
1813 parish registers did not make the surname explicit: The IGI assumes,
in
all cases before 31st December 1812, and of course wrongly, that the
child
took its father's christian name as its surname. Thus when William, son
of
John and Sarah Thomas was baptized at Cowbridge, Glamorgan on 17th
October
1783, he appears on the microfiche thus:-
In GN, indexed under William:
William (son of) John Thomas/Sarah
In SN, indexed under John:
John, William (son of) John Thomas/Sarah
He does not appear in the surname index under Thomas.
Early registers in Wales often give a string of patronymics such as
'Rachel
d. of Thomas John Charles' (baptized at Panteg, Mon., on 25th March 1741)
. .
. The Morman computer assumes the first two are the important ones and
totally discards the rest. So the Panteg entry becomes:-
GN Rachel (d. of) Thomas John
SN Thomas, Rachel (d. of) Thomas John
Although this is the basic system, which applies to the vast majority of
entries, it is not a hard and fast rule. A lot seems to depend on the
intelligence or whim of the individual who made the original input into
the
computer. Several examples of 'multiple' names can in fact be found in
full
in the index, and also some baptisms before 1813 which have been indexed
under the correct surname.
Happy Holidays,
Sharon
Scottsdale, Arizona USA
Researching: MORRIS/MILLS/THOMAS/VAUGHAN in Radnorshire
THOMAS/VAUGHAN in Glamorgan
VAUGHAN in Monmouth
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