Re: Help Needed
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In reply to:
Re: Help Needed
Jacqueline Noelle 9/11/09
Jacqueline,
I think these are two entirely different surnames and the problem is reconciling them to arrive at the correct on.The reason I say this is that the roots or stems of both names are quite different:Karpo- and Kaspro-.It may also be that the letters "r" and "s" have been mis-transcribed or mis-read, but knowing that doesn't resolve the question: what is the correct name?
Kaspro- seems clearly a somewhat contracted form of Kaparo- or, more likely for Lithuanian, Kaspara-.The Slavic ending "-wicz" means "son of", so Kasparowicz would mean the son of Kaspar (Casper).But Karpowicz would mean "son of Karp" (perhaps a short form of the Catholic saint Polycarp).If I had to make a choice, I'd pick the church record over a civil record because the likelihood is that the church record was made by someone who knew the language of the couple and thus would more likely get it right than a clerk in a town hall who could be of any ethnic background and have to rely on phonetics (since most immigrants were illiterate).So I'd lean towards Kasparavic^ius as the Lithuanian form of the surname.
Needless to say, another document, like naturalization papers or draft records, would likely settle the matter.
John Peters
More Replies:
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Re: Help Needed
Jacqueline Noelle 9/12/09