Spelling?

This is a blog dedicated to compling primary source documents on the Reneau family. But that's not as simple as it seems, for many reasons, one of which being that there are such a lot of different spellings of the name within the family. Take an "R", follow it with any vowel or two, and maybe another consonant, then put an "n" or two, then pretty much any combination of vowels and consonants and you have Reneau as it is spelled in America!

My default will be "Reneau" as that is how my great-grandmother spelled it, but I will preserve the spelling of the name in any document that I find it in. Here's a partial list of variants: Reno, Renno, Rennoe, Renoe, Renow, Rennow, Rayno, Raynoo, Raynaud, Reyno, Renau, Reano, Renaud, Reneaud, Reynaud, Regnauld, Regnault, Regnaut, Regnaud, Renaugh, Renaut, Renner, Reneauw, Reneaux, Renaux, Ranew, Renou, Renoult, Rennols, Reignolds, Reynolds, Reignolds, Rennols, Renaugh, Raynaut, Reynaut, Reinaut, Rinaldi, Rinor, Rignnow, Reynaud, Runner, Runnels, Ryno, Rynard, etc.

Monday, March 30, 2015

Dettingen Parish Vestry Records

In the right column you can see a link to a folder containing nearly every page of the records now extant for 1749-1782 for the Dettingen Parish, which roughly covers the same area as Prince William County, Virginia.  "Nearly every page" because I decided to photograph every page that had a Reno on it, and nearly every page did.  Our Reno colonists were prominent people in their community, and it's heart-warming to see how they were trusted with positions of responsibility.  Like on page 23, where in 1756 it was "Order'd that Mr. Lewis Reno and James Nisbitt be Church Wardens the Ensuing Yeare and that they take Care of the poor as Usuall."  He was given responsibility to be the collector of tithes (taxes really, paid in pounds of tobacco).   He continued in this position of responsibility until his death, only taking a brief break from 1771 until another church warden died in 1774, upon which he entered service again until his death in 1775 at the age of 64.
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