I guess the American press has been screwing up my name for a long, long time. Below is a copy from the 17 Jan 1845 edition of the Woodsfield, OH Spirit of Democracy . As you can see, not only did they get confused by the name (although they did get it right in the notice for partition), I’m sure they chuckled a little about the Staats Estate. I get mail for all kinds of people: Staats, Stoots, Stout, States, Stoats. On the off chance that someone is reading my name from the printed page and happens to pronounce it correctly, I get suspicious!