On the subject of the spelling of the name "Neighbours/Neighbors". John whitman Monroe Neal, who wrote the book "Neighbors, Neighbors, Nabours, Nabers, says in the beginning of his book: "the name Neighbours" appears to be the spelling of the family name when the first members of the group came to america. It is now spelled many ways and very few family members use the old spelling. Among the new spellings, most used are Neighbors, Nabours, Nabors and Nabers."
Mr. Neal goes on to say that families that used different spellings often assumed they weren't related. He found this to be not true. In most cases they WERE related. In some families he found up to four different spellings within the same family group.
Another Author, Reba Neighbors, in her book "History of the James Peek Family", states the following: "Family legend says when President Teddy Roosevelt asked people to Americanize their names, Republican members dropped the "U" or shortened their name further. Democrats kept the original spelling. But, no doubt, spelling changed for many other different reasons, just as it did in other families."
It's interesting that the same person often had more than one spelling associated with him. This is the case with my grandfather James Levin Neighbors. His WWI draft cards says "Neighbors". His world war two draft card says "Neighbours". His tombstone says: Neighbors. You decide. It's interesting anyway.
Even more interesting...there is some evidence that the Neighbors (in all the various spellings) descend from French Huguenots who emigrated from France to Ireland and then on to america. There is also anecdotal evidence (but no documentation that I can find...yet) that our name was changed from the French "Voisin"...which means "Neighbor" in French.
That should give you something to think about today.
Neighbours/neighbors/nabors book
