Are you a member of GOONS?

[Jeanie with one n.]

I have just applied to join and am getting a bit mixed up with variants.
Some Brewertons (the name I am studying) may have come from Brereton and some Brewertons have changed to Brereton. Those who have changed have been recorded in my study.
However Brereton is a name that stands by itself. If I put it down on the list of variants am I expected to carry out a study on this name which is much larger than Brewertons?
Many thanks
Jeanie

[JulesSmith]

I dont know what GOONS is.

One name study? I'm not a member anyway, sorry.

[JBee]

I sent a message to a person who was doing a name I was interested in and didn't get a reply.

[Gwyn in Kent]

JBee
You should have had a reply.It is one of the conditions of acceptance that the registered researcher will reply and share information.
Try again and if there's still no reply, contact the actual GOONS administrators.

Jeanie
I'm not sure of the ruling, but I can see your problem.
I help to collect information for a friend who is registered. She has 4 variants, which seem to be interchangeable even within a small family group, so she has logged for example all the BMDs for all 4 surnames.
Maybe you can stipulate a country, county or area, but that might not be totally the answer.
Perhaps guidance from the G.O.O.N.S. organisers is needed.

[Olde Crone Holden]

I think you will have to include some variants at least, because it is a name which is often misspelled in the recording.

Example, you might have a John BREWERTON who has been recorded in the census as BRERETON. Personally I would think it would be easier to record the variant spellings as well because you are going to spend hours otherwise, working out if the name has been spelled correctly, or misrecorded.

OC

[Jeanie with one n.]

Many thanks for your replies.
According to GOONs there is a difference between a variant and a deviant name. The deviant is where a name has been mis spelt by the census or a clergyman on one or 2 occasions. The variant is where the name has been changed so that the person now has legal documents such as wills which show that the name is now accepted as the variant. ie John Brewerton changed to Brereton when he went to Oz and it remained that way.
I have been in contact with the GOONS register about this but am unclear about what he is saying.
My concern is that if I register Brererton as a variant will it come up in the list of names being studied. If that is the case I could have many inquiries regarding Breretons who have no relationship to the very few Brewertons who came from that name or were interchangeable with it.
Those Brewertons that I have whose names have been changed have been put into my study.
Another varient is Broughton. It would seem daft however, if I had to carry out a one name study on the name Broughton, just because 2 of my great uncles who could not read, went to Liverpool and from the 1841 all their families took that name. They are on the study but have no connection with any other Broughtons. I have followed their line but would not want to carry out a study on other, non related Broughtons.
Will have to send another email to GOONS, unless a member knows the answer.
They will probably throw me out for stupidity before I even join!!

[Olde Crone Holden]

Jeanie

When you undertake a one name study for GOONS, you cannot just do your own family, you have to do everyone of the name Brewerton.

For instance, when you are trawling bmds for Brewerton, how are you going to pick up the Breretons, Broughtons, Brutons etc, wo may really be misspelled Broughtons.

Those who officially changed the spelling of their names are easy enough, it's the misrecorded ones which will be a problem.

I hope that makes sense?

OC

[Janet]

Jeanie,

I am not sure but it may be worth checking, but I think you can do a one name study but with all variants for one county/area only.

When I was in touch with GOONS for "Noble" somebody in Yorkshire wrote to say that she only did Noble for Yorkshire and did not touch any other part of the country.

I have recently been in touch with someone doing a one name study for Tebbutt and variants but I am almost sure he does Northants only.

However you do it, I think you will find you will have to pick up all the variants which for some names can be quite considerable.

Inadvertantly I found myself down as somebody who would do Noble in London as a one name study. Even that would be quite a vast undertaking.

Janet

[Olde Crone Holden]

Oh, that's interesting, Janet. I have always quailed at the thought of doing a GOONs study for Holden (and the 29 name variants/deviants I have so far discovered lol) because they are found in every corner of the globe and I am sure I wouldn't live long enough to complete such a mammoth study.

Even just confining it to say, Lancashire, would still be massive, but if I could confine it to one TOWN, lol................

OC

[Janet]

OC

GOONS used to be for more unusual names but with names like Holden/Noble which are not that unusual, there are pockets in various counties, so to me it makes sense to agree to do a one name study in a specific area, but obviously that may create a problem where you have "strays" into other counties, and if you go back far enough then the specific name being researched may actually originate from a completly different area. I know that there are huge pockets of Noble in Yorkshire, and the person I wrote to was down with GOONS just doing her one name search of Noble from Yorkshire, though that was not made clear by GOONS at the time I wrote. I can't see any reason why you could not set up a one name Society for Holden in a particular town if that was what you wanted to do. I am sure many people would be pleased to have expertise in a small area?

This is a very difficult and rather grey area and wants some clarification from GOONS. Although if one wants to do a one name study in a particular area then there are other one name study groups. The Family History Societies themselves often ask if you have a particular expertise in an area when you join, and that is how I came to be down as a "Noble" "expert" for London, I hastily add that it was a mistake, but I could have done it and some people have been in touch.

Jeanie

Can you clarify about your own family? Even if you do take on just a specific area with another one name society apart from GOONS you would still be expected to take ALL Brewertons and variants not just your own family.

[Jeanie with one n.]

Sorry, I have been in the garden. Have a look at A One Name Study : Brewerton - Family Tree
You will see that I have collected just about every Brewerton I can find and have several unique trees on the study as well as loads of clusters of small names.
Those Brewertons who came from Oxford started out as Bruerton and I have followed those who have kept to that name.
Some from the large Everton, Notts tree changed their name to Brereton and I have followed them.
The Welsh Brewertons, my tree, became Broughton when they went to Liverpool. The rest remained Brewerton
My concern is that if I record Brereton as a variant it will turn up on the list stating that I am doing a one name study on Brereton which I am not.
This is a very common name and I have no interest in it except where Brewertons either came from it, and I would chase up those, or turned into it.

[Janet]

Jeanie

You have a lot to offer and I hope you can clarify with GOONS what they would expect.

Janet

[Gwen@coggiecorner]

Jeanie I am thinking of registering my name with GOONS as I have an unusual surname and a lot of information. But I just looked at all the information you have and my mine comes no where near yours so I am not sure If I should join. Mind as my name is unusual so I do not think I will ever find as much information as you have. Although I could extend it to USA and Canada as I know it is used there.
I am a bit nervous also of joining just in case I do not come up to their expectactions!!!! Is it worth it?

[Jeanie with one n.]

Hi Gwen,
The first thing to do is look at the GOONS site and read all their info. It has changed recently. I thought of joining last year but felt a bit uncertain since they seemed to have different levels of membership depending how much research you had done on your tree.
I have applied to join but have not been accepted yet so am no expert.
However, the one thing I have gathered is that once you register your name you have to collect all info on that name from all over the world.
They also like you to send a newsletter to the people who have contributed to your study.
About 5 years ago I contacted everyone on GR who had the name in their tree. About half replied. I put the info into various folders etc.
Last year, after a break of about a year I had a contact which triggered me off and I decided to put the info onto tribal pages.
I have to say this has involved months of hard work with loads of errors on the way.
I have googled till my eyes have nearly fallen out, trawled through ancestry and the LDS. Put the various censuses onto excel in family groups etc.
I am very glad that I have done this though still get cross when asked for the password and then get no info from the person who asked.
Some one name studies ask for money before people can see the info and probably get more respect for doing so.
So my suggestion to you is to read all about GOONS and then send them an email describing what you have got.
You can be a member before you register your name. I probably should have done that then I could have gone on the board and asked the variant question.
Best of luck
Jeanie

[Gwen@coggiecorner]

Thanks Jennie for all that info. I was on their site last evening and reading all it has to say about joining. I do have a lot of information considering my surname is rare. I went on the statical site to see how many people living hold my name and it is 24 in England /Wales. I am giving it serious consideration but I am not sure about asking other people for their contributions. To be honest I have never been contacted by anyone on GR in connection with the Burwash name so do not think I would receive a lot of help there.
Thanks for your input I will give it a bit time before I decide what to do.

[Olde Crone Holden]

From what I understood when I looked at GOONs (long time ago) you have to extract your surname from the BMD indexes, extract all census records and extract parish records. Tree-work is secondary really.

I had some wonderful help from a GOONS lady and in return I offered her transcripts/photocopies of various Wills, settlement orders, certs, newspaper cuttings etc, but she politely declined!

I think GOONs is more about gathering isolated FACTUAL information from various records, not putting things together into trees, although most GOONers do supply trees. Like everything else, those trees are not always 100% accurate, which is why trees are considered secondary to the "lists" of events.

Jeanie

I too have a tree on TP - it started as a one name study but inevitably became a village tree. I have worked thousands of hours on that tree and have over 5000 names on it. Like you, I allow people to see the tree....and they must be so overcome with admiration they drop dead on the spot, because I never hear another word, let alone get any input from them!

OC

[jenoco]

I've been doing a bit of a one name study on my grandmother's name (Philbrook, originally Philbrick) - very few Philbrooks in the UK and only about 200 Philbricks - and have thought about joining GOONS. I'm not as organized as you Jeanie (and I don't have a website) but I've collected lots of information from the UK, Australia and Canada, have spreadsheets of all registrations and census entries, and some photos which I've received from other researchers. I also have a very large tree which connects probably more than 80% of them all.

However, after reading this and looking at their website, I'm not sure about joining and I'm really not interested in including those in the USA. One of the original emigrants to the US was a Philbrick and there are a lot more of them there.
To be honest, I'm also a bit nervous about meeting their standards. I'll be interested in finding out how you get on!

[Kit]

I've looked at GOONS, more to see what names of mine were on there. Somewhere each GOON gets to have a page saying what information they hold. I have seen some specify that they only research certain areas or countries so it can be done.

Jeannie I would just register the Brewerton name and if you are contacted then you can tell those interested about the variants. That way you wont be wasting your time or others.

[Jeanie with one n.]

Many thanks for all your comments.
OC, so right. All I want is lavish praise and often get no response.

Jenny, when I contacted them last year the lady I was in contact with intimated that you had to show a willingness to study world wide. She also said that other members may help. If you say you haven't started the USA yet and just aim to get passenger lists and indexes of censuses as a start, before you know it you will become a USA expert.

Gwen, I would contact them and see what they say.

Kit, the chap from GOONs read my homepage and picked up the fact that I said it was recorded in many names (me and my big mouth) he says that to do a true one-name study you have to carryout research on all variants.

I am about to send him another e-mail to clarify the Brereton issue.

[John Patrick]

The problem of variants in spelling of names is very common. Except in the very highly educated classes of society who may have formalised their name spelling historically (through heraldry etc.), very few families avoid variants from one census to the next.

In 1901 and earlier the Census was taken by a clerk who asked the householder the questions and wrote down the answers answers as he heard them. His hearing-spelling might also have been influenced by the regional accents of the clerk and the informant being different. Note the different spellings of the name Clark, Clarke and Clerk, which do historically originate from the same word, but as pronounced in different parts of England, the surname originally indicating the man's profession.

This explains the many different spellings of surnames that really only settled when the householder filled in his own form in 1911.

It also explains why some records of the children (particularly of large families) got muddled. The Householder was probably trying to answer the questions, with his wife and children putting in their fourpenn'orth over his shoulder. No wonder the clerk got a bit confused from time to time!