I’ve included the back of the page that had the difficult to read middle name for Orpha Rampley from the widow’s Civil War application of her mother. As several noted it’s clear that there is the handwriting of several different people on this document
Color digital scans of documents (instead of black and white photocopies) make it somewhat easier to distinguish among different handwritings on a document. The ability to distinguish among the different hands is important. In this case, I’m not certain how much on the back helps to interpret Orpha’s middle name, but it never hurts to have as much of the same handwriting as possible, particularly when there may be other words that are easier to interpret due to context.
[note–a link to the original image is included in this post.]
Using online trees for suggested interpretations is not a bad idea, but one does have to be careful. Unsourced trees may have gotten the name from anywhere and may not be correct. While not true in this case, it’s always possible that someone “got the name” from misreading the very document at which you are looking. It’s always advised to try as much as possible to interpret just the document at which you are looking.
That said, I’m going with “Leole.” My transcription will make a note that middle name was difficult to read. As commenters to the original post indicated, the writer of the document may have been unfamiliar with the name. Unfamiliarity only compounds handwriting and spelling issue.
The distant relative who interpreted my aunt “Jane” as “Pine” always sticks in my mind when trying to read difficult to read handwriting. It’s not everyone who has an aunt Pine in their family tree.
3 Responses
Orpha Leona Rampley born 29 March 1888, Illinois married Virgil Herman Howard and resided in Denver, Illinois per Rootsweb.com
“Lesolle”? an attempt at the German name “Liesel” ?
I second the strategy that I understand Brenda to be recommending: to consult a list of German names and then to try to connect a phonetic rendering of what the writer might have heard (and written down) with a likely “regular” German name. That would provide two solutions to the question, What is Orpha’s middle name: a sound-for-sound name-transcription, and a probable link to a “real” German name, which would then help with further research into German records. And of course this is transferable to any record and ethnicity. Good question.