52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 10 "Translation"

One of the things that frustrates me the most in working with my ancestors is trying to determine the spelling of names of some of my German immigrant ancestors. There are so many variations that appear in the sources that I find it hard to decide which one to use as the primary and how many of the variations to document.

Take my second-great-grandfather Fitzler (my papamapa). Here are all the variations of his given name in the records here in the US.

• Weimar: the Henry, IL newspaper report of his death and the coroners report
• Weimer: death certificate for his daughter (my papama)
• Wimar: 1854 marriage register entry, 1865 excise tax list
• Wimer: 1868 voter list, 1872 voter list, 1880 voter list, 1880 non-population US Census, wife's obit, 
• Wymer: 1865 IL Census, 1870 US Census, 1870 non-population US Census, 1876 voter list, 1880 US Census

There are probably many more records that could be located (land, children's marriage and death records, etc.) and maybe some of them would have even more variations. 

As far as German records go, I have not been able to locate any. So far. All I have to go on are two descendant lists (one for his father and one for his great-grandfather) that I received several years ago from an unknown researcher in Germany. In those documents his given name is Johann Wimar. That's the name I've decided to go with. But what to do with the five other variations that all leave off Johann? Which is his preferred one? Did he even have a preference?

Or let's look at the ancestors of my second-great-grandmother Julia Ann of Sheboygan Co., WI and Charles Mix Co., SD. Here is a list of all the variations of her maiden name that I have found in Wisconsin, New York, and Württemberg, Germany.

• Addlebush
• Adlebush
• Edelbusch
• Eitelbusch
• Eitelbuss
• Idelbusch
• Idelbush
• Idlebush

Again, I'm sure that when I find more records in the US, I'll find more variations. The Württemberg baptism records that I've found use Eitelbuss. That's the Last Name at Birth (LNAB) that I use for Julia Ann's father and grandfather. For her and her siblings born in the US, I use Adlebush because that's the one that's most common. It's also the name carved in stone on their father's grave marker in Sheboygan CO., WI. But what to do with all the other variations?

John Jacob Adlebush (1817-1901)

Then there are the German immigrants who sometimes anglicized their surnames. We have my  Toemmes to Thomas line (and even more variations in the book "Zwischen Saar Und Leuk" Familienbuch 1675-1900 : Der Pfarreien Freudenburg -- Weiten -- Trassem -- Kastel Sowie Der Orte Hamm) and the Schmitt to Smith line.