Sometimes I find documents with the signature of the person being recorded - a draft registration for instance - and I really want to believe this is the handwriting of the individual.
Now you have to be really careful to assume this is true and resist the notion to get that handwriting analysis book out and get to know your ancestor through his or her penmanship! That is because I have seen a series of documents like these in which man after man seemed to have near identical signatures.
What gives?
Although your ancestor may indeed have known how to read and write (and comic book level reading is reading, this does not imply that they did either a whole lot) they may have carefully signed some documents while their daily handwriting was something else. Others remained at a very basic level in their ability to use penmanship rather than printing and it looks a little, shall we say, second-gradish...
Wait until you have a collection of signatures that appear to match before you get too excited. Some documents you may consider besides draft registrations would be marriage licences and original applications for Social Security.
Christine/Ancestry Worship Genealogy c 2010 All Rights including Internet and International Rights reserved. Please contact me for permission before quoting.
