Peck vs Pecke?

Question

I have Peck/Pecke (in the plural) to merge - specifically Henry of New Haven. Peck-849 and Pecke-11 and others.

There's no LNAB documentation. It's spelled about equally both ways in the New Haven Records. Henry himself seems to have signed just a lower case "h"

I'm inclined to go with the modern spelling PECK. Pecke in alternate spelling (other last names)

Anyone want to differ?

Comments

I have a similar question. Thomas Marrett is spelled a zillion different ways in contemporary records.  Anderson chose "Marrett" for his profile in GM.  Whoever got here first used "Merritt".  Is that something worth doing an LNAB change over?  I ask only because of Anderson - PGM tending to favor his choices when there is doubt.  But an LNAB change creates redirects and that pains my software engineer's heart. :D

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Hi Anne B,

Are you aware of the historical records that are known to be about Henry?

It may be helpful to consider also whether records exist to suggest he knew how to read and write or was otherwise educated.

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Gene, were you speaking about some specific historical record, or just in general?

In general there are lots of references in the New Haven records. Equal time to both spellings. On at least one document he signed "h" Around it it says Henry "h" Peck: his mark. I've not found anywhere where he actually signed his name.

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As above, you have a Pecke-11 and a Peck-849.

You have documents under both variants (cool, thank you), possibly have documents he executed (wills, deeds, etc.) in some way under both variants. The inventory of his estate may report whether he owned books.  

We don't all approach this the same way. I would consider those documents, etc. If he seemed to use both variants, then I'd consider the value of the ID with the lower number. How you decided upon the variant can be added to the narrative.

As you indicated in the post, regardless of the iD agreed upon, you plan to report the alternative variant as an other last names.

Answer 1

In this case I usually copy the father's last name spelling and put the other spelling in the "other last names" box.

Comments

Thank you, I think that is a very sensible approach.

Answer 2

Peck is the modern standard spelling in the UK but the name was originally Peche when the Huguenots fled from France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The standardisation (yes, I know Americans prefer a 'z' in the standardization) of name spelling is a modern phenomenon, I would defend peoples' right to spell their own names as they believe they should. It takes no leap of the intellect to understand that the Peck and Pecke families have common ancestry and different branches may still differ over their chosen spelling.