deciphering handwriting

In old handwriting, uppercase letters ”L” and “S” look alike, so an old name like “Lamuel” may appear as “Samuel” in a modern index.

Also easily confused are “I” and “J”; lowercase double ss may look like “fs” or “ps.”

David encountered this problem in his family history.  His great-grandfather Joannes Kozak came from Lieskovany, Slovakia.  His first wife Anna died young and we had trouble finding her records.  I soon discovered why:

Her last name is not Sapsanszky. Some people have viewed the script on her death certificate and assumed her parents names were Sapsanski and Sabouk.

 But the letter S in Stephn and Sunset (the street at the top of the document) is formed very differently. I was successful in locating her last name spelled with an L.