HOW TO DEAL WITH SURNAME MYSTERIES #4 THAT HORRIBLE HANDWRITING

HOW TO DEAL WITH SURNAME MYSTERIES  #4  THAT HORRIBLE HANDWRITING

I recently found the signature of a great great great grandfather circa 1840's in Europe.  This man is missing from documents other than being named on the record of his daughter's marriage. He was likely born at a time when the records were not taken at that church. However, by paging through as far back as I could get in that same church book that has his daughter's wedding, not trusting the Indexing completely, and knowing the database does not include the names of the parent's parents or witnesses, I found his signature!  He was a witness at another marriage. I noticed the signatures of a number of different people in the witness columns - different handwriting from the priest's and other others - so I know this is indeed his signature and not a continuation of the priest's.  (And this is the from the original book and not the copy which the larger parish kept.)

Now I know he was alive to that point and that he likely lived in the parish since his daughter's record says she was born and lived there. I cannot find a death record for him.

Handwriting can really be a challenge, especially if you never learned cursive writing yourself.

The best thing you can do when you encounter terrible handwriting is, try copying this writing yourself on a separate piece of paper. Something about getting into the flow of the writing may help you realize the correct spellings.

Another thing to do is look for writing samples, such as in Google images, of different styles of handwriting.  Handwriting used to be called penmanship in schools, and conformity and neatness were emphasized. Children were given these examples to imitate. You might be able to find penmanship examples that extend to special letters that are language specific. Now here's the issue. Some of these specific letters fool an indexer, especially if they are American and don't speak the language of the records. 

I found a family in which the indexer spelled the name with an l. It was consistent on all the records for that town, and checking the originals, I found that they were being true to what was being written. However, in another town not too far away, that same surname had a t rather than an l. Apparently, there is what looks like an l with a cross through it in Polish language. Were they the same family?  Quite possibly.  I'll do family groups to see if the ancestors I'm seeking fit into any of those groups. ( I recently met a man who had bicycled through Poland last year who talked to me about this letter, and the pronunciation of it.)

A century ago, writers were dipping a feather or style in the inkwell. In order to dip and write, they often broke up the word.  (Which can make looking a word up that has one or more breaks in it difficult.)  Sometimes they break up the surname simply because it doesn't fit in the column strait across. 

Of course, sometimes you do find another patch of handwriting that is clear and neat and you are so thankful. These neat patches of information - such as how to properly spell a surname - inspire me to try and also have good penmanship, at least when I'm writing notes on my genealogy research! 

This post is one of a series on the subject.  Click on the tag Surname Help - AWG to get to the posts.

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image from Graphics Fairy

A BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY ARRIVED IN THE MAIL

At this special time of year I like to tell a special story.

I recently learned of a something quite beautiful that happened for a man who, because his mother was very ill for many years and his father abandoned them, had to bounce around with relatives, was put into foster care, was himself in a children's hospital for some time, and then went to an orphanage. He was born into poverty and his grandparents who took care of him were elderly and ailing when it was decided that when he started school he would have to move from their household. This man is nearing 80 years old now.

Several years ago a mystery package arrived in the mail.

I contained a carefully put together scrapbook.  Someone had put all the letters that had been received from his mother in chronological order. The person who sent this scrapbook is probably not the person to whom the letters were addressed.

He and his wife sat together and read one letter after another that his mother had written, expressing her love for him, her concern for him, and they cried their eyes out.

His mother had died in the 1950's.
Someone had saved the letters.
The person that they were addressed to cannot be found, they say. It was too long ago.

Soon I'm going to try and find someone who might be related to her.

Just in case.


Merry Christmas!

CURSIVE WRITING BECOMING EXTINCT - EDUCATIONAL DISASTER - DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOUR CHILD!

Today, because of the dependence on the keyboard, typing, and text, school children are not being taught CURSIVE WRITING... HANDWRITTING.

Oh you've read me complain about dealing with bad handwriting on documents and the poor way in which they are read and then typed into databases.  Much of my personal research STILL will not come up on databases and I've wasted so much time trying misspellings!   BUT TO NOT KNOW HOW TO HANDWRITE?

That is an educational disaster.

If your child is one who will not learn to handwrite in school - which usually began I believe in the first grade and used to be taught before or with printing - make it a summer project to teach them.
 


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IS THAT HANDWRITING HIS? HANDWRITING ANALYISIS and GENEALOGY

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.

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