Census records that we taken in the early 1800s and the late 1800s make it difficult to determine the name of individuals in a given household census because of errors in spelling and from incorrect ages.

Many families had members who could not read and write. When this was the case, the census taker had to rely on their skill in spelling to record the members of the household. Some family members did not know how to spell their names themselves, hence the variance in various census taken on a separate census. Many times it was necessary that the census taker to "guess" at the age of the parents because they did not know their own date of of birth. Older family members tended to relate their birth to a an event that their parents told them that happened during the year that they were born.

As was the custom in the early, middle, and late 1800s, some children were not given a christian name until they were five or six years of age. Since there were instances where neither parent was literate, the spelling of the names varied greatly depending on the location of their residence.

The individuals taking the census information often were on the "border line" of being literate and spelled a name as they sounded to them that was often incorrect.

When you are researching census records, you are locked into the information as recorded whether or not it was correct. Good luck on your research. I have researched my mother's family history for over 20 years and have found as many as 10 different spellings of the surnames in her line.