How do you spell Blaisdell?

from "Blasdell Papers" - Vol. 11, No. 1 - June 1986

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Several years ago I checked my genealogy to see if I could qualify for membership in the Sons of the American Revolution. I checked the names of the "Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolution." At the time of the American Revolution, Maine was part of Massachusetts.

More recently I have checked the "Soldiers, Sailors and Patriots of the Revolutionary War from Maine." I was amazed at the number of spellings of the name Blaisdell. I found the following names:

Blaisdell, Blasdel, Blasdell, Blaisdel, Blasden, Blasdil, Blaisdle, Blasdal, Blosdell, Blazsden, Blaizdel, Blaizdell, Blaidall, Blasdiel, Blasdle, Blazdiell Blazedell, Blesdil.

In the "Blaisdell Manuscript," by Anjou are the names, besides some of the above,

Blaisdale, Blesedale, Blesell, Bleasdell, Bleasedale, Bleasdaile, Blasdale, Blaesdale, Blaesdell, Bleasdale, and On page 4 of the manuscript, the name is spelled Beesley. On page 15 it is spelled Blaizedail.

We also find the name spelled Blasdall, Blesdell, Blessdell, and Bleasdille. At the present, besides some of the above, we find Bleasdale, Bleasdill and even the name Blazo that has been changed to Blaisdell. This makes 38 different spellings of the name I may have missed some others.

Originally there was no rule for spelling a name so it was spelled phonetically. Most of these spellings have become obsolete. I believe that there are at least 6 spellings that are in use today. They are Blaisdell, Blasdel, Blasdell, Blasdale, Bleasdell, and Bleasdill. There may be others that I haven't found.

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