Posts in December 20, 2017

Depending on the handwriting, the letter groups “tt,” “ll, “tl, and “lt”can be confused, interchanged, and misinterpreted. When reading handwriting manually, it’s easy to see what the “intent” was, especially if the name is in a record where you expect it to be. Not so easy using indexes. Butter, Buller, and Butler can easily be seen in the same word–along with some other renderings as well. The same is true for Trautvetter, Trautvelter, and Trautveller. Appropriately constructed wildcard searches (usually for Bu*er or Trautve*er) will locate them all. Searches based upon the sounds in the name may not since “t” and “l” do not sound the same. Something to think about when looking for that special feller.