** While researching how the Bender family became the Painter/Panter/Paynter family I found this here: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/PAINTER/2011-04/1301985836From: "George W. Durman" < [email protected]>Subject: [PAINTER] How BENDER became PAINTER (Was: East TN Germanna Reunion)Date: Tue, 05 Apr 2011 02:43:56 -0400References: <[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]><[email protected]>In-Reply-To: <[email protected]>Hello Laura,Back about 2 years ago I posted on the PAINTER Mailing List howthe German name BENDER became PAINTER in America. So, I'llrepeat it on the BENDER Mailing List for all.The following is quoted (with some recent editing) from my originalpost on the PAINTER Mailing List at Rootsweb:=======================================================I've had to explain this so many times on the various Mailing Listsand Message Boards that I think I have it memorized. Yes, howBENDER became PAINTER is a thing that most people don't understand.John Blankenbaker, in one of his Germanna Notes, explained itsuccinctly. I'll try to paraphrase here.I have spent quite a bit of time in Germany, and can attest to thefact that the way we see a word spelled is not necessarily the wayit's pronounced, in the 18th Century, or now.Pronunciation depended/depends on the area of the country whereyou are, in other words, are you in one of the "provinces", wherewords are not pronounced the way they're spelled? Is "common"German difficult for English-speaking people to understand or hear?(I was in Bitburg, Germany, and the people there pronounced thename of the town as "Bitbusch"! Go figure!)Depending on how Germans, even today, speak, one will usuallybe amazed at the different dialects.1) In German, depending on where you are in Germany, it's veryhard to distinguish between a "B" and a "P". In fact, until theGermans "standardized" spelling, "B's" and "P's" were most ofthe time interchangeable, especially in surnames.2) "D's" and "T's" were, likewise, often interchangeable, not onlyin speaking, but in writing. (See any problems already?)3) Having been a Russian interrogator/interpretor in the USAF, Ican attest to the same thing in other languages. Depends onwhere you are and who is speaking.4) In German, an "E", as the second letter of a word, was usuallypronounced as an "A" ("Aye").5) So far so good.6) BENDER was pronounced in German as BAYNDER, most ofthe time.7) But, the initial "B" could "sound" like a "B" or a "P".8) The English-speaking scribes in the Colonies evidently didn'tpay much attention to regional German accents. So, some of themheard "BAYNDER" and some heard "PAYNDER".9) Then, since the "D" in the original spelling could sound like a"D" or a "T", some heard the name as "BAYNDER", some heard"PAYNDER", some heard "BAYNTER", and some heard "PAYNTER".Guess what? Yes, since the English-speaking scribes, who didthe recording of records, were familiar with the English surname"PAINTER", and their ears just weren't good enough to really"hear" what was being said, so they wrote the surname down as"PAINTER"! (I'm speaking of the scribes in the ShenandoahValley area, not necessarily in other areas of VA.)Evolution: (Pronunciation)BENDERBAYNDERPAYNDERPAYNTERPAINTERSo, we go,through a convoluted series of steps from "BENDER"to "PAINTER". You will see databases with the name "PAINTER"and with the name "BENDER". Both are correct. It all depends ifyou want to be "absolutely" correct. In my opinion, if the peoplewere born in Germany, their name in my databases is "BENDER".Once the ones born in Germany arrived here, and their namesbecame "PAINTER", I put in an "Alternate Name" for them in mydatabase showing "PAINTER", but their default surname is"BENDER". Once they were here and started having children,and the children's names were already entered into official recordsas "PAINTER", I input the children's names as "PAINTER", withAlternate Names for those children as "BENDER". For the nextgeneration, I use "PAINTER", because from then on they were"PAINTERs".Of course, you have to understand that I'm ONLY speaking of theBENDER family that came to America from Germany in about the1730's or 1740's and settled in the Shenandoah Valley of VA. Theimmigrant ancestor of our PAINTER families was Johan PeterBENDER, b. 25 Feb 1700 in Württemberg, Germany, d. 16 Apr 1753in Frederick Co., VA, which became Shenandoah Co. in 1778.There WERE other BENDER families that came from the same areaof Germany to PA (and are undoubtedly related) who kept thespelling BENDER.Just as a note to irk some people, the BENDER families who wereborn, married, and died in what is now Germany, were born,married, and died in the Duchy of Württemberg, Holy RomanEmpire! As a modern nation-state, the area was first unified in1871 as the German Empire. "Germany" didn't actually exist until1918. Of course, we're OK saying the events took place in Germany.So, if you're a descendant of Johan Peter BENDER, most of younow have the surname PAINTER. For the rest of you, whoseimmigrant ancestors stayed in PA for some time and didn't spreadout until much later, you have the surname BENDER. No problem-we're still all related back in "Germany".Oops! I see I was being overly verbose again. Please excuse.Regards,George(Sarge)(P.S. Laura, there's no book I know of that explains the evolutionof BENDER to PAINTER. But, John Blankenbaker, our Germanna"Guru" has thoroughly researched the records of this family. Ifyou would send us the name of your g-g-grandfather I think wecould find where he came from.)

Johann George Bender Painter