While doing research on Ferguson family, I had a horrible time finding records, when I KNEW they should be there. After extensive hours searching, I found relatives whose names should be spelled Ferguson, but were mis-spelled with 35+ spelling variations. (it must be one of the most mis-spelled names) I became so tired of searching, I decided it was actually quicker (ha ha) to do the following:
Starting with the 1790 census, I am going through these 35+ variations, and adding a correction/alternate name of "Ferguson". I've finished 1790 census, and most of 1800 and 1810 census records. I realize that a few of the names that I am "correcting" may actually be spelling variations, but I cannot say which few may/may not be, so I'm adding a variation for all (no offense for those who spell their name with a Ferguson variation, but I could not find an easier method).
When I get through a couple more decades, I will update this post. I've developed a spreadsheet to keep track of census years/names corrected. I should have an adequate baseline to determine the "Top Ten" mis-spellings, which I will post to assist in other's research when I complete another couple of decades. (each decade approx. doubles in number of corrections).
I am NOT changing any Fergusons immigrated from Scandinavian countries, as their names ARE often spelled different. Nor am I changing any with the "qu", i.e., Farquason, as this is from a different origin "Farquar", versus "Fergus".
For now, I am also NOT correcting any other records, "just" census records. I've already corrected over 300 records, which is very time consuming.
SO, if you find this helpful, PLEASE return the favor and correct any records you may have, Ferguson or otherwise. Just go to record - select comments and corrections - select correction - update with correct name and/or nickname, maiden name, etc. You are not required to leave a lengthy explanation, something like "per my family records" will do. Every record corrected will help someone else, and so on.
Also, please do let me know if this proves to be helpful to any of you. If not, I'll stop.
Thank you, Pam

Yes to keeping it up as I have been doing the same after I asked for help with the corrections and "they" pointed me to the correction tool and I have been trying to keep it simple.

Lee

Update on Ferguson name variation project:

"WHY? Spent over 40 hours searching every-which-way for one Ferguson relative before finally stumbling upon it under a totally incorrect spelling. I decided the time would be better spent by organizing/categorizing into a reasonable number of name groups/variations to at least provide the possibility of finding records."

"PROCESS / METHODOLOGY:
1. Researched Soundex Code for basic elements of Ferguson and Fergurson name.
2. Basic Soundex Codes are: F-RG-S-N / F-RG-SS-N, Code F622; and F-RG-RS-N / F-RG-RSS-N, Code F626.
3. Interchanged vowels a-u in all possible variations to develop list of possible name variations/mis-spellings.
4. Searched U.S. Census Records to determine which names a)had records; and b)were most frequently used.
5. Searched Community Board Surnames to determine which Ferguson Surnames were most popular.
6. While performing searches, noticed some Census Records written with cursive "F" were identified as cursive "T", i.e., "Terguson". Terguson is Soundex Code T622. Tergurson is Code T626. Searched U.S. Census to determine which "T" names were actual transcription errors, and which were actual "T" names of Scandinavian origin.

"RESULT:
1. A list of 200+ name variations, with over 450,000 U.S. census records alone.
2. Grouped these 200+ name variations under the 14 most common/popular "sound-alike” names.
3. The 14 most common/popular names are listed below, with their vowel alternatives.
4. With so many mis-spelled Ferguson names on records (probably due to confusion of name's sound, names will be annotated one of the 14 "sound-alike" name that most closely corresponds.
5. This does NOT, however, mean that is actual spelling for that particular person, as no one person could possibly determine actual spelling of 450,000+ people with various Ferguson names.
6. What it DOES achieve, is ability to search under only 14 different spellings, instead of 200.
7. I believe this is best method, unless/until someone positively identifies their own relative's name from their records, and add's correction comment with actual name spelling.

Of 200+ variations, following 14 are the "primary" name variations to assist searches.
SECTION 1: Names beginning with "FARG"
SECTION 1a) FARGUSON. Annotated records include FARG(a,e,i,o,u)S(s?)(a,e,i,o,u)N
SECTION 1b) FARGERSON. Annotated records include FARG(a,e,i,o,u)RS(s?)(a,e,i,o,u)N
SECTION 2: Names beginning with "FERG"
SECTION 2a) FERGASON. Annotated records include FERGAS(a,e,i,o,u)N
SECTION 2b) FERGESON. Annotated records include FERG(e,i,o)S(a,e,i,o,u)N
SECTION 2c. FERGUSON (most popular spelling). Annotated records include FERGUS(a,e,i,o,u)N
Note: Ferguson also includes a few miscellaneous mis-spelled records beginning with "FIRG" FIRG(a,e,i,o,u)(r?)S(s?)(a,e,i,o,u)N
SECTION 2d. FERGUSSON. Annotated records include FERG(a,e,i,o,u)SS(a,e,i,o,u)N
SECTION 2e. FERGERSON. Annotated records include FERG(a,e,i,o)RS(s?)(a,e,i,o,u)N
SECTION 2f. FERGURSON. Annotated records include FERGURS(s?)(a,e,i,o,u)N
SECTION 3: Names beginning with "FORG"
SECTION 3a. FORGUSON. Annotated records include FORG(a,e,i,o,u)S(s?)(a,e,i,o,u)N
SECTION 3b. FORGERSON. Annotated records include FORG (a,e,i,o,u)RS(s?)(a,e,i,o,u)N
SECTION 4: Names beginning with "FURG"
SECTION 4a. FURGASON. Annotated records include FURGAS(s?)(a,e,i,o,u)N
SECTION 4b. FURGESON. Annotated records include FURG(e,i,o)S(s?)(a,e,i,o,u)N
SECTION 4c. FURGUSON. Annotated records include FURGUS(s?)(a,e,i,o,u)N
SECTION 4d. FURGERSON. Annotated records include FURG(a,e,i,o,u)RS(s?)(a,e,i,o,u)N

"CORRECTION / ANNOTATION PROCESS:
1. Beginning with U.S. Federal Census Records.
2. The BAD NEWS: U.S. Census Records for these 200+ variations include over 450,000 "Ferguson" records. This does NOT include other US historical records, which will be corrected later/as possible.
3. The GOOD NEWS: The 14 most common/popular name variations comprise about 430,000 of US Census records.
This leaves a remaining amount of "ONLY" (ha) 20,000 census ecords to annotate, not including other historical records.
4. I will continue to update this Community Surname Board (under the most common name of "Ferguson") with my progress.
5. As more work is finished, I will also attach a table/chart to identify my progress.

"NOTES:
1. There is no 100% perfect way of sorting out the correct variations for each record, unless someone has documentation to annotate otherwise. The method I’m using is intended to assist people in finding their relatives. If I have the name variation incorrect, please add your own comment. First of all, we must be able to FIND the people. I’m starting to believe Ferguson, etc., is one of most misspelled names in America.
2. No Ferguson variations with “k”, “que”, or ""gue", (i.e., Farqueson, Fargueson, Ferkison, Forkeson, Forqueson, etc.), are being annotated. I believe these are variations and/or mis-spellings of Farquar/Farquharson name variations, which belong to a different “name family” than Ferguson. However, if all else fails, one can always try researching under these names also.

"WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
1. Please pass along the "genealogy favor" by correction/annotating any of your own relatives' records that you realize need correcting.
It doesn't matter if they are Fergusons or Smith, everyone in genealogy community that can correct one record may be providing the missing link for another person.
You don't have to be ""a super-expert"". Just do the following:
When viewing a census (or MOST other records), click on "Comments and Corrections" on left side of screen.
Select "Add an Altername Name"
Provide the alternate information, select type of change (i.e., birth, transcription, etc.) Provede a brief explanation of change (i.e., per my family records the correct name is ......).
Submit correction (it may take a couple weeks to show up)
NOTE: If you have already annotated a record based on your family records, I will not change it.

Changing spellings of records is a dangerous activity. Mistakes already happen due to misreading of hand written records and changing spellings will only compound errors. Leave the spellings correct as posible so we can catch the mistakes. My last last is Fourqurean and the family has branches Forqueran, Furqueron, Ferqueran, Furcron, Ferquin, Furcron, Furkin, etc. I have many records that are recorded as Fourquson, Furgusan, Forqueson and so on. Not ever name beginging with "F" and ending in "n" is a Ferguson and the letters between are our only clues. My name gets mispelled daily now and on almost every record back to 1701 when my french huguenot ancestor sailed to virginia. Do not compound the problem.

I would REALLY appreciate any feedback on the post I received about "we can catch the mistakes" and "do not compound the problem", and my reply listed below. I apologize for my tone to those who read this, but I have literally spent 100's of volunteer hours on this and am quite disheartened at the moment.

MY RESPONSE to the below comment:
"Changing spellings of records is a dangerous activity. Mistakes already happen due to misreading of hand written records and changing spellings will only compound errors. Leave the spellings correct as posible so we can catch the mistakes. My last last is Fourqurean and the family has branches Forqueran, Furqueron, Ferqueran, Furcron, Ferquin, Furcron, Furkin, etc. I have many records that are recorded as Fourquson, Furgusan, Forqueson and so on. Not ever name beginging with "F" and ending in "n" is a Ferguson and the letters between are our only clues. My name gets mispelled daily now and on almost every record back to 1701 when my french huguenot ancestor sailed to virginia. Do not compound the problem."

Okay......I shall try to clarify a few things, and if anyone has any other comments/suggestions/complaints, please do let me know:

1. As I stated earlier:
"2. No Ferguson variations with “k”, “que”, or ""gue", (i.e., Farqueson, Fargueson, Ferkison, Forkeson, Forqueson, etc.), are being annotated. I believe these are variations and/or mis-spellings of Farquar/Farquharson name variations, which belong to a different “name family” than Ferguson. However, if all else fails, one can always try researching under these names also."
SO, I have NOT changed any of these that may belong to your ancestors. I would assume that these family groups would want to correct/annotate their own mis-spelled names.

2. I spent over 80 hours preparing and researching before I changed a single name. I didn't just jump in and start annotating records without thought and planning.
Yes, I used the Soundex Code as a STARTING point to develop a large list of "possible" names. This actually resulted in over 450 "possible" names. I researched each of these names:
a. Did they have a family surname board?
b. Did the name appear in directories under Historical Records.
c. What was the pattern during the 1900 census'. As the census records became more accurate during the 1900's some names almost disappeared off the latest census records, as the census takers and families were more literate, and the writing instruments were easier to read.

This led me to about 350 last names. So I did ANOTHER search, and looked at individual census records to determine if these could be spelling errors, and/or if the name was of an immigrant from another country (i.e., Scandinavian, with a similar name that should NOT be changed.

This left me with a list of about 250 last names. About 200 of these name had about 10 or less records under their entire Historical Records (census, military, immigration, etc.), and were fairly obviously transcription errors. I did check the census records, signatures, origins, etc., before making the changes.

ONLY THEN did I actually start to review the remaining group of about 50 names. As I stated previously about 15 of these are not being changed, as they appear to be in current use under member boards, historical directory records, obituaries, etc., and are generally considered "Ferguson" name variations. Some of them use this board, some have their own boards.

So, this left me with about 35 names that I concentrated on. Yes, I have changed over 4,000 records. But even these I verified by reviewing census records, place or origen, etc. Some I changed, and some I didn't. My goal is to "tighten the net" around these 250+ possible variations. I don't know anyone who is going to look for every family record under 250 different names. But they might be willing to look under 15 different Ferguson variations, and over time, we can improve/correct the Ferguson name spellings (and non-Ferguson name spellings). This will enable all of us to be able to locate more records, which is the point.

Your previous statement "Not ever name beginging with "F" and ending in "n" is a Ferguson and the letters between are our only clues." The "Ferguson families" have the same problem, only compounded by the 500,000+ records of this very popular, and often mis-spelled name. I realized this and compared every name I changed against the 1'000's of Surname Boards.

ANYWAY, IF you already KNOW all the possible name variations for YOUR family name, I would assume you have already found and corrected ALL of your family name records. Then this should not be any problem for you, as I did not change records corrected by others doing family research.

I will repeat what I said earlier:

"There is no 100% perfect way of sorting out the correct variations for each record, unless someone has documentation to annotate otherwise (even some of the records already spelled "Ferguson" are probably spelled differently) The method I’m using is intended to assist people in finding their relatives. If I have the name variation incorrect, please add your own comment. First of all, we must be able to FIND the people."

Sometimes we can't go directly from Point A to Point B; we have to take another step in between before this can happen.
My hope is that this will enable people to look under 15 name variations, instead of 250, and then further correct them as necessary. I did post my personal email, and I have received emails from people whom have found records for people they have NEVER been able to locate, and they were quite delighted with the work I have done.
I also wish that some day, ancestry.com will give us the ability to delete corrections/annotations as better data is found. For my own records, I have corrected a woman's married name, then added her maiden name, then added her middle name, and now have 3 annotations/corrections, which looks terrible. But at least it IS finally corrected. I hope someday, ancestry.com will allow us to combine corrections into 1 single correction.

I have spent 100's of hours on this, and yes, I DO have a life. But I believe this is important, and how else is it going to happen? Ideas?

If others on the board don't want me to continue with this project, PLEASE, let me know and I will stop. I am about 2/3 through. There are plenty of other things I can do with my time. Like work on my OWN family history (Yes, I am doing this to help a friend; not my own family).

Thank you

I'm with you, I spent countless hours searching for the Ferguson spelling, only to accidently come across what I needed, in the spelling FURGASON... Keep up the good work. Regards Sharon Ferguson Wright

I must agree with NOT changing records unless you are 100% sure of your information. Fargason is often confused with Ferguson, but Fargason is a sept of Clan Farquharson and the name appears spelled as Fargason in Scotland at the present time. While Fargason is not as common a surname as Ferguson, it does irritate when someone attempts to inform me that I and my ancestors have been spelling our name wrong.

While I appreciate your desire to correct errors, doing so without being sure of what you are changing will likely result in introducing errors in other folks family trees.

Cliff Fargason

I must agree that the mis-spelling of the name is making it hard to find ancestry. I have been working a short time on my family tree (ten years). I have found at least four mis- spelling, Fergerson, Fergason, Furgason, and Ferguson which is how my great grand parents and grandmother spelt the name. I have had trouble with my surname Alton, or Allton, or Altom, or Aulton, or Halton, Hilton and so on. I don't expect anyone to change the way they spell their name for me but it would make research much easier if the variances were not so many. The hand writen census were hard enough to follow with the writer mis-spelling the names of people whom where not schooled. Added to that the transcribers whom put their two cent worth in ting to read the records and we have already multplied the problem so I said try and fix it.

Cliff Fargason wrote:
I must agree with NOT changing records unless you are 100% sure of your information. Fargason is often confused with Ferguson, but Fargason is a sept of Clan Farquharson and the name appears spelled as Fargason in Scotland at the present time. While Fargason is not as common a surname as Ferguson, it does irritate when someone attempts to inform me that I and my ancestors have been spelling our name wrong.

While I appreciate your desire to correct errors, doing so without being sure of what you are changing will likely result in introducing errors in other folks family trees.

----------------------------
I have to agree with the above.... Although the most RECENT spelling (1700's ish) of my family name is Ferguson, it actually started out as Clan Farquharson and through the years ended up as the spelling now. My mom and I have been doing geneaology research for over 30+ years, (mom and gran even longer) and alot of misspellings can be attributed to the CENSUS taker not understanding the phoenics of the name being written down. Farquaharson's and Ferguson's, etc. lived in the same area, and most census takers just wrote down a spelling (sic).... That is how mom and I find our family is through the various misspellings, because we know they ARE misspelled alot. (as are other names in our family)

Patience is needed when searching records (not trying to sound demeaning in any way to anyone), and misspellings are just a part of geneaology research.

Which brings me to my question on this:
Is the original spelling being left WITH your correction? Or is your correction replacing it??

Cheers,
Lisa Ferguson Cady

Lisa,
the original spelling is left in place, but there are a lot of folks who will look at a correction, and if they are new, assume that the poster knew what they were talking about. I see nothing wrong with pointing out possible transcription errors based upon looking at the handwriting on different lines of the form, or personal knowledge of the family, but deciding that a family name is misspelled on a whim is dangerous for data integrity.

Cliff Fargason