One of the first things one becomes aware of when doing any kind of historical or genealogical research is the inconsistency of the way names are spelt.  There are several reasons for this with illiteracy being the main one. In earlier times there was not definitive spelling and many words, particularly names, were spelled as they sounded.  Our ancestors were often illiterate and when a child was baptised or (after 1838) registered, the recording clergy simply wrote down the names as he heard them; so the name we know today as Bayliss could be spelled "Bayless" "Baylis" or "Bayles".  When the first real census was taken in 1841 similar problems were encountered as it often seemed the only qualification for becoming a census taker was a very basic literacy. When recording family history accuracy is obviously desirable and when recording to my files on Ancestry.com I note variations in spelling but for the sake of simplicity on this blog I have decided to use the most familiar spelling used by our family which is "Bayliss". For the record the most common spelling prior to 1900 was "Baylis" but around the turn of the century the second "s" was added and has been used ever since. Likewise, my grandmother, Esther, often referred to her maiden name as "Abbott" and this seems to have been accepted without question.  In fact her family name was definitely "Abbotts" and I have chosen to use this spelling because it helps to differentiate it from a related family who were "Abbott".  In dealing with the Dance family I have, however" noted the point where it made the transition from "Dunce" because there seems to be a definite reason why this happened.