We have discovered that when Martin Seibert arrived with his wife in 1709, they could read and write. However, the rough conditions of the frontier and the conditions of the contract under which they served meant they and the other Palatine immigrants were unable to establish schools for their children immediately after their arrival here. Living in an area with Dutch settlers, English settlers, German settlers and Indians meant all four languages were spoken. The resulting confusion also meant no schools and the children were unable to read and write. The German way of pronouncing Seibert sounded like "Siver" with a long "i" and hence when the early settlers told people their name, it was spelled SIVER by the English settlers. ANd so it became SIVER. But Seiberts who came in many years later found established schools, and their children had no problem in writing their name, and no need to take on the name Siver.