@Wolfman0125 I urge you to start a new thread - it's much more likely that people will see it! This thread is old and many don't look at new messages here. Put any info you already know in the new thread - where James was born, which unit he joined, anything. That will help in the search.
That is what happened to the Honeycutt surname. Honeycutt is just an anglicized form of the name Huncote which was a village in England where the progenitor of the Honeycutt line Augustine Huncote was born before he immigrated to the Jamestown colony in 1645. The Honeycutts are unusual in that so far my research has shown that all of the family members in America can trace their roots to one individual and his wife he married after arriving in America. It is the only line in my family tree where multiple individuals with the same surname did not immigrate to America making research much more difficult for researchers.
One of my Gx2 Grandpas changed the spelling of his name, likely for political reasons related to the WBTS. He was born in Pennsylvania to a family of German descent. His surname was Wetzel. GGGPa Wetzel left home at 15. traveling south into Kentucky. At some point he attached himself to a Tennessee family group migrating through Kentucky on their way to western Missouri. Reportedly, he fell for one of the girls, joined the group and was reborn a 'Southern Man'. He followed the family west and settled in northwest Missouri. During the run up to the War in Missouri tensions intensified between Missouri's native population and recent German immigrants, who were generally reviled as "Dutchmen". At some time after he reached western Missouri GGGPa Wetzel changed his name to Whetsell.
As you say, checking/double checking the references is key! Don't take anything as gospel - even if you have a reference, find another way to double check it. Census records are incredibly useful, but notoriously error prone - look for the trends in multiple decades, public records, etc.. DNA analysis can also help, but even they aren't foolproof.
Been there! I've one era in my family tree where so many relatives were named "Jeremiah" that even census takers got confused and entered their nicknames in the census in parens or quotes - Jeremiah "Crossroads" Perry, Jeremiah "Redhead" Perry, etc. There's also the challenge when your tree gets very, very narrow, and people are often children, cousins, uncles . . . all at the same time.
In writing my Civil War ancestor story (google Hiram's Honor) I used ancestry sources but the most useful information came from regimental historians (82d Ohio) and visits to battlefields see (hiramshonor.blogspot.com)
I use Ancestry as well. I check the trees and if they have documented sources for specific information, I'll look at those. If it matches up with information I have or fills in a blank with a pice I am missing I'll consider looking further.
The problem I've had with Family Search is not the records, but Family Search altering my tree there with incorrect information - like my great grandfather's date/place of birth and his naturalization. That leads people astray as well.I have the original baptismal certificate from Hamburg Germany stating the DOB/Baptism was in 1839 in Hamburg. Family Search did an edit and has him born in Bavaria! They have his naturalization in 1860. I have the original certificate from the court in the County of New York (Manhattan) showing it was 1857.
You're into the tree there--and the information given is just as good as the ability of the compiler. I feel comfortable with the site's regular pages because it cites (credible) sources; I'd not touch that tree with a ten foot pole because there's no monitor.
Did he change it, or the person on a census?
Exactly. I discovered that the family tree built at Family Search was started before I ever used the site, and that is what irritated me. It was started by someone who knew nothing about the family or the descendants. Someone who mixed correct documents with incorrect documentations. I use Family Search strictly for documents not found elsewhere. I gave up on trying to correct the tree.
He changed it in an effort to disassociate himself from the hated 'Dutchmen'. Western and northwestern Missouri was not affected by an influx of German immigrants prior to the War. They concentrated in St. Louis and communities within the Counties adjacent to the Missouri River.
Cool. My dad changed his name after WWII, as no one would hire a Pole.
Yep, even when I posted a scan of the birth/baptismal certification and the naturalization certificate or documentation from the Scottish government archives. Still not believed.
Now that I have gotten back to Europe, I found Scotland's People to be excellent. it is run by the Scottish government. I had my great aunt's date of birth, parents names, and place of birth. With that information and the Scottish government website, I've managed to pinpoint ancestors right down to the farms on which they were born.
My husband's surname was Italian but with his father's encouragement he changed the spelling to make it look more English. It is still pronounced the same. His dad felt being Italian kept him from advancement in his career. My mother-in-law said her father threatened to boycott her wedding to an "Eye-tie" (but he did show up). I have to believe this is going to be confusing in a hundred years!
Our genealogy "guru" is deep into Scottish research--and this is her main online site. Another site you might try is GenUKI (https://www.genuki.org.uk/); it's free.
I may have already mentioned it here but for some unknown reason around 1800 one of my Irish ancestors apparently changed Connelly or Conley to the Italian-sounding Connella???
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