Stories of Homuth and Whelan Kin

    In 1925, 13 year old Birdie Schley eloped with a 20 year man. She left a note accusing her father of mistreating her mother. This note got me wondering about her father, James, and the Schley family. What I learned about two generations of Slighs certainly raises the question of nature or nurture.                                                          Nature or Nurture--the Sligh Family In the 19 th century, the spelling of surnames was often inconsistent. Many people were illiterate, so names were taken down by clerks, priests or census takers who spelled them phonetically. Names were spelled based on how they sounded in local speech and that varied widely. There were no passports, driver’s licenses or social security numbers to enforce consistent spelling. Birth, marriage and death records were ...