Whats in a name? reg & BT

[ydraigcoch]

Hi,

Could anyone tell me what the "Reg" & "BT" Means in a Baptism record.

I have "Mead in reg : Meade in BT"

As I understand it, reg would be "registered" & Bt is "Bishops Transcript"

This is pretty important to me as I am a Meade, although when I traced back beyond 1898, it appears I am in fact a Mead. However now I have found this record, I am unsure what I am!!! Mead or MeadE?

Thanks in advance

[Peter Goodey]

It sounds as if you're looking at some sort of published transcript. It must surely mean that the name is shown as MEAD in the register and MEADE in the Bishops Transcript. A not unusual state of affairs, my own surname tends to lose an "E" at times!

[ydraigcoch]

Thanks for the reply Peter,

I am interested in finding out what the original spelling is (was).

I was under the impression that MeadE is the Irish Spelling, and Mead is English. But I may be wrong!

Thanks again

[Ladkyis]

well, the 'original' spelling doesn't mean the 'correct' spelling. Until Dr Samuel Johnson started his great dictionary there had never been a standard spelling of anything - not in English anyway. Surnames such are they are were introduced by the Normans into England when they arrived so suddenly in 1066. This method of naming did not arrive in Wales until much later so spelling was way down at the bottom of any list of priorities.
Today we like order and precision and we are noted and recorded at every turn and, therefore, must keep to the same spelling of our name. There are only 22 variations of my husband's surname which apparently all came from one source so the change of one little letter is quite normal.
It interesting to try and find where your name came from though, isn't it? whatever the spelling I am completely enamoured with my ancestors just because they couldn't spell.

[Peter Goodey]

I am interested in finding out what the original spelling is (was).

Sorry but that's a meaningless question. The spelling of surnames didn't firm up until until the 20th century or late 19th century. Before this, the answer to "How do you spell your name?" would boil down to "I don't spell it. You're the clerk, you spell it!".

As you drill back you'll find many different spelling variations and it would be wrong to say that some were correct and some incorrect. Your name is now fixed thanks to universal literacy, civil registration and the pressures of bureaucracy. It's only a matter of chance that it didn't firm up as something else.

You may uncover some distant cousins who are equally convinced that the family name is Mead!

[Vance Mead]

As you go farther back you'll find Mead, Meade, Mede, Meede, Meed, Meide, Meyde, and many more. I have often seen it spelled differently for the same person at different times, sometimes it's spelled in several ways in the same document.

[Vance Mead]

Am I right in thinking, from the other thread, that you had got back as far as the 1851 census?

1851 census, Yeovil
John Mead, tinman, age 54 born Somerset, Crewkerne
Elizabeth Mead, age 56, born Somerset, Horsington
Edward Mead, age 25, born Somerst, Yeovil

It gives John Mead's approximate date of and place birth as 1797 in Crewkerne.

When I searched in the Records Pilot at Family Search, it yielded this result:

John Mead born 29 Jan 1797 in Crewkerne, the son of Samuel Mead and Susannah

[Vance Mead]

These are the children of Samuel Mead and Susannah
John Mead born 1789 Crewkerne
Elizabeth Mead born 1791 Crewkerne
Samuel Mead born 1793 Crewkerne
John Mead born 1794 Crewkerne
Mary Mead born 1794 Crewkerne
John Mead born 1797 Crewkerne
Samuel Mead born 1798 Crewkerne

Before that it gets difficult. There were at least three Samuel Meads born about 1760-70, and three who died in Yeovil all around 1820. Unfortunately few wills survice for Somerset.

[Vance Mead]

These are the children of Samuel Mead and Susannah
John Mead born 1789 Crewkerne
Elizabeth Mead born 1791 Crewkerne
Samuel Mead born 1793 Crewkerne
John Mead born 1794 Crewkerne
Mary Mead born 1794 Crewkerne
John Mead born 1797 Crewkerne
Samuel Mead born 1798 Crewkerne

Before that it gets difficult. There are a least three Samuel Meads born in Somerset around 1760-65 and three who died in Yeovil around 1820.

[ydraigcoch]

Hi Vance,

Your certainly onto the right Family. I hadn't found any records of John's Mother & Father etc, so your info is very interesting. I will have to check these out for myself. But from what you say it certainly looks a likely link!!! So thanks for that!

Who knows we may be related ourselves!!

Once again thanks to everyone who has replied to me, your advice and info is much appreciated!!