Spelling of Thomas Pendel's middle name ???

[STS Lincolnite]

I second everything Steve said in his excellent post.

Spelling of an individual’s is always a difficult thing to confirm. It seems there wasn’t the same focus on a single, correct spelling in the past as there is now. Like Steve mentioned, the best way is to find an example of someone writing out their name for themselves. Examples like that can be hard to come by. Every example of a signature I have found from Pendel, he simply writes “F.”

Another record you may try as far as a signature is a marriage license. I have had some luck with those in the past. The problem being, the further back you go, the harder they are to find (especially online).

Other records that I find more reliable (though not always) are church records – baptism, confirmation, marriage, death. Even when not signed or written by the person in question, sometimes they are filled out by (or informed by) people who might be more in the know. Again, the further back you go, the more time it takes to track such records down if they even exist. And when they do exist, they are not always online. If you are able to find some of those records and there is consistency in spelling, that may at least be a clue to the correct spelling.

I appreciate your attempt to be accurate. I have had a similar issue with a project I have been working on off and on. In the end I just went with the middle initial because that's how he always signed his name and what I could confirm.

Good luck Reignette and let us know if you are able to track anything more down!