« Reply #6 on: Friday 24 September 10 09:02 BST (UK) »
Thank you for this Mike--interesting that it was their signatures so maybe as there was the variation they weren't related--though I gather that both spellings were used then, so still not 100% sure if this was the same family and common usage eventually brought the change about--will make a note of this
On my father's side there is one group within the family who at one stage seemed to have picked up a slightly different spelling and kept it although definitely the same family
Munro, Ross, Gardner, Ballantyne, Higgins, Darroch --Scotland.
Moss, Stenson,Varnham, Smith, Turner. Harris. Yeats/Yates, Birkett, Askew, Walmsley. Allman.Laugharne --England
Mitchell. Higgins, Darragh-- Ireland