How Do You Spell That?

 This week's writing prompt is "How do you spell that?" The first name I thought of was the "Strandt" name and the case of the disappearing "t".

Carl Strand, my great grandfather, always spelled his last name "Strand". His brother and sister, and his father, spelled the last name with a "t" at the end. Strandt. Why the difference? One story I heard growing up was that Carl dropped the letter "t" during World War I to make it sound less German. There was a lot of anti-German sentiment in the U.S. at the time. From the website, "Reimagining migration".

Throughout the U.S., individuals, groups, and politicians took actions, larger and small, that were aimed at ridding itself of German culture and German influence in the country. Germantown, Nebraska, was renamed Garland after a local soldier who died in the war.  East Germantown, Indiana, was changed to Pershing; Berlin, Iowa, became Lincoln. Berlin, Michigan, became Marne (after the Second Battle of the Marne). In June 1918, a Michigan congressman introduced a bill that would have required such name changes nationwide. Sauerkraut became liberty cabbage, hamburgers became liberty steaks, dachshunds became liberty pups, and German measles even became liberty measles. Some Americans even advocated ridding orchestras of music by Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart.

https://reimaginingmigration.org/the-anti-german-sentiment-of-world-war-i/

Dropping a letter to make your name sound less German would make perfect sense. There was another story too. The other story was that Carl had a feud with his family and to differentiate himself from them, he changed the spelling of his last name. Carl DID have a feud with his family. He sued his parents over ownership of the family farm. His brother and sister sided with his parents. The parents, brother and sister all spelled the last name with a "t". Carl didn't. Could this be the reason why?

To see if I could solve this mystery I went back to the original Strandt immigrant, Carl Friedrich Theodor Strandt. On the passenger lists from Hamburg to New York City, the last name is spelled "Strandt". This is also the spelling on the census records. When son William is born, he spells his last name with the "t". On William's draft card for WWI he spells his last name with a "t." However, on the 1920 census, both William and my great grandfather Carl spell their last name as "Strand." No "t." Carl is living on his own at this time as a hired hand. An entry in the City Directory for Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1926 finds Carl and William both living at the same address, and both men using the traditional "t" at the end. In subsequent years, though, every City Directory entry for Carl spells the last name with no "t". "Strand" is the spelling Carl uses the rest of his life. As for William, on the 1930 census he spells his last name as "Strand." The feud with Carl over ownership of the farm occurred between 1933-1935. On the 1940 census and all other records from then on, William goes back to the spelling with the final "t.". As do the brother and sister. 

So, which explanation is more likely? Since Carl is documented as spelling his last name without the "t" years before the great feud occurred, I feel it is more likely that he changed the spelling to avoid anti-German sentiment. It seems as if William changed the spelling too. William definitely goes back to using the "t" after the feud, so maybe HE changed the spelling to be different from his son, rather than the other way around? 

Interestingly enough, a travel document of Carl Friedrich Theodor Strandt was found that was written in German. The document lists Carl's birthplace and his parents, along with witnesses to his birth. What's interesting, is this document spells the last name as "Strand". No "t". All the family members listed in the document are spelled "Strand." Also, "Strand" is how the name is commonly spelled in Sweden and Norway. The Strand family immigrated from Germany and my great grandfather Carl always thought of himself as German, but in DNA testing I've actually found more Swedish and Norwegian DNA than German. Could it be that the Strand's are actually much more Scandinavian than German and "Strand" is the correct spelling after all, and not the German "Strandt"?

If you have any further insights, comments or questions leave them down below in the comments, or email me. The Strand branch is my favorite branch to research. They're constantly surprising me.