I need some advise

[close1]

I asked for help to find a Elizabeth Harris(Southall) a few months ago, I think I may have found her in the 1861 and 1871 census'.

This person had a sister called Eliza so I started during a family tree about her.

The question is, She married man with the surname Coles in the marriage registry records but on the census records and the children's birth records. The "S" disappears in the Coles surname.

Is that common or is it a different family?   

[maddys52]

I would think that was fairly common. Spelling was very fluid, especially when not everyone could read and write confidently. For example, did they sign on their marriage, or was it by "x". For baptisms and the census collection, the name would depend on what the person writing the record heard and their ability to spell, so accents could also play a part.

[close1]

This is the Marriage record

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/sharing/49038245?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a226766533148677663706a7739533177734d41765370726230314e534458722f5a612b674c7045384a452f633d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d

And the 1901 census record (she remarried before the census date)
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/sharing/49038375?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a227a434c414261717a47693076714f4c4872507a61394e7a6a64316f72504a4c57784e44776d6f395a4e6a343d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d

[Kiltaglassan]

This is the Marriage record

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/sharing/49038245?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a226766533148677663706a7739533177734d41765370726230314e534458722f5a612b674c7045384a452f633d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d

And the 1901 census record (she remarried before the census date)
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/sharing/49038375?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a227a434c414261717a47693076714f4c4872507a61394e7a6a64316f72504a4c57784e44776d6f395a4e6a343d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d

Please use ShrinkLink for your long URL's.
https://www.rootschat.com/links/

[Neale1961]

You will know by looking at the children's birth records if they are for the correct family. Regardless of COLE or COLES, they would have the mother's maiden name as HARRIS.

I wouldn't get hung up on a slightly different spelling for COLES. It is not uncommon, and really depended on who was writing the name, and their knowledge and literacy level.

[Andrew Tarr]

Spelling was very fluid, especially when not everyone could read and write confidently.

In simple terms, unless a surname is a dictionary word (such as Carpenter) it will probably exist in various forms.  The historical reason is that surnames started in the 14th or 15th century, everyday spelling (dictionaries) wasn't regularised until much later (Dr.Johnson) and only a minority could write for a long time after that.  By the time most people had learnt to write, they clung to their own version because they assumed it was the only right one.  The variants were mostly invented by clerics filling the BMD registers; if they were given an unfamiliar name they made something up.