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

PENMANSHIP AND SIGNATURES in GENEALOGY RESEARCH - BE CAREFUL!

Recently I happily confirmed that an ancestor I found on the World War I draft registration and the World War II "Old Man's Draft" Registration were the same person.  The addresses worked with census and city directories and the signature was the same - almost identical.  It's a special thrill to have the signature of an ancestor!

However, finding this person's naturalization papers has been fraught with issues as the name is common, there are at least five persons with the name in just one city, dozens within a state, Fold3 and Ancestry have microfilm copies that show some final papers and in the back of the front image you can see papers that are covered over that might not have been filmed individually, none of the addresses seem to match, family groups are wrong or not revealed.  (Oh how I wish I were rolling up my sleeves, wearing gloves, to turn the pages of the actual paper in an archive!)

It's a temptation to look at the signatures for a match!

I looked at the signatures on several final papers in which there is no address given and no family mentioned and I noticed that these signatures, different from that of the court clerk or other officials who also wrote on the papers, were very much alike.

The reason is that in those pre typewriter and computer days there was a huge emphasis on perfect penmanship in schools.  The individuality you see in penmanship in America - using the signers of the Declaration of Independence as an example - versus men educated in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, reveals this emphasis.  Additionally, there seems to be a difference in the signature and handwriting of those who did a lot of it and those whose literacy was confined to signing their name, something they must have practiced over and over since they would not use handwriting on a daily basis.  Sometimes you will see the signature of a woman who is otherwise unschooled which looks to be that of today's second grader though she is an intelligent and mature woman.  There was so little emphasis on women having education that even some noble women never learned to write their name.
But to write your own name was to be educated well past those who could only make their mark - an X- while someone else signed that they had witnessed this!

Therefore, signature alone cannot be used as evidence enough to accept that a person is the ancestor you seek!  There must still be other evidence to proof it.  I know you may be tempted to hire a professional graphologist or handwriting analysis person!

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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