Isabella M Johnston (Cunningham), Free Settler "Canada" 1817 - Middle Names

I have uploaded a copy of NSW BDM death certificate No. 1888/010608 for Isabella Johnston (nee Cunningham).

Her death was not registered as Isabella M Johnston, this is incorrecto as the NSW BDM 1888/010608 does not show this information.

I have uploaded an extract I obtained from MyHeritage for Scottish Births and Baptisms for an Isabel Cunningham who was born in Yester, Haddington Country in 1795

There is copy of a NSW BDM 4370/1888 for an Isabel Maria Johnston uploaded.

There is no reference in any family material as to my ancestor having a middle initial.

This is a great example how people researching their family trees make a basic mistake by taking date from two completely different individuals and compiling them into one.

Here are two seperate individuals who have coincidental data which then gets swapped between them.

Here are the similarities between them:

They were both had the same first name at one stage of their lives, ISABEL.
They both died in the same year 1888.
They both married a JOHNSTON.

That is where the similarity ends.

I first found this 'incorrect' information on FamilySearch.org. It also turned up on WikiTree and then MyHeritage.

It is disappointing to see when more distant relatives keep promoting incorrect facts.

I have yet to see any Census records or surgeon records for the 'Canada' that provide evidence to contradict NSW BDM records or Scottish Births and Baptism records.

I have seen, in other's family trees reference to the 1841 Scottish census that places Isabella M Johnston in Lanarkshire. This totally illogical proposition to make as we know that the ship "Canada' landed in 1817 and also we know that Isabella and William were living in Bathurst NSW in 1841.

So, can actually evidence and screen shots be provided to justify the middle initial.

The confusion is because the death record is in the computerized NSW BDM as Isabella Johnstone (10608/1888), not Isabella Johnston. As the problem is unlikely to be fixed the problem it will continue.

There is one confusing detail on the actual physical paper document (now a digitalized version online here).

The confusion is not with Isabella Johnston because her surname is clearly written as Johnston, but the confusion is with William Johnston, her deceased husband, as there appears to be an 'e' on the end of his surname, so it looks like he is a Johnstone.

We now have copies of both hand written documents, of the two Isabel Johnston in question so we don't need to 'blame' the computerized NSW BDM.

The original source documents can be now accessed so please look at these documents and correct the records, to reflect the actual documentation.

The confusion of whether it's Johnson, Johnston, or even Johnstone is irrelevant because these variations can be seen to be frequently applied to the "sons of John" often even in one family.

My starting point on this whole discussion has been that someone at some point in time combined data from two distinct individuals into one person.

The next battle to be won is to stop Isabel Cunningham being called Lesley Ann (Elizabeth) Johnston (nee Cunningham) which is currently happening on dozens of Family Trees on MyHeritage.