Signa Tree's
The signatures of our ancestors are windows to our past. Before the invention pen and paper people like the Khoi and the Egyptians used rock art and hieroglyphics to depict there name names. There was no other form of confirmation of names except those folk lucky enough to be able to read and write.
Signatures tell us whether or not our ancestors were literate and also how educated they were as well as whether or not they were beginner writers, nervous about writing or perhaps they had a disability of some kind.
One of the first things our ancestors probably learnt to write was there name and to sign their name – this form of identification would have at first probably be thought as the work of the devil as how could anyone try to see if they were really that person? Most of us write out signature without even thinking and sometimes find it very difficult to try (just for fun) to copy our grandparents or great grandparents ones. If you have spent time in the National Archives and looked through the countless death notices or estate papers between the years 1840 and 1880 – much of the writing is very similar albeit many of you would find it difficult not only to read the persons name who signed the document even though the actual person who signed the document did not fill it in making it even more intriguing. .
As the makeup and material of paper and pen has changed over the centuries so have signatures also changed. They way we were taught to write and by whom make a large impact on how our handwriting and signatures have endured. I am certainly not proud of my handwriting and find that many youngsters today have even worse writing skills – the emphasis in basic writing skills is one the wane and is a great loss to anybody tracing their family history.
How many of us actually print out and file an email ? We forget that in a 100 years’ time [email protected] might be your great grandson’s signature and there will be nothing in paper format – heaven forbid as it will all look the same!! We all love keeping old letters and either filing them in box files or and old – and we know that the ink there will remain there much longer than from a printer cartridge.
To get the most out of signatures we need get the most information from the records that are available, we have to decipher these records and put meaning into the symbols we see on the old documents or papers that we find. As we read wills, death notices, baptisms, marriage certificates or even simple birthday cards we very often find that the text is gibberish to us and sometimes completely un-comprehendible.
You will find out as your research goes back in time the further back you go the more difficult it becomes to decipher old signatures. It is important to remember that many of our names today are still spelt phonetically meaning written the best way you could and how it sounded.
In many instances old handwriting looks similar to our modern day shorthand with dropped or (upper or lower) letters in names. Assuming what these names should or should not be can be a fatal mistake. If someone’s name is written in a signature such as Edwd does not necessarily mean the persons name is Edward as it could be Edwin. Names should be transcribed exactly as they are written – notes can always be made but never change the original record.
Signature of David Senekal
The signature of David Senekal (believe it or not?)
One of the letters in the alphabet that has changed the most is the Double SS which is used to be written as FF or fs like the surname Burgeff which is actually Burgess. Over 100 years ago the “s” was often written like a backward “f.” This strange symbol for “s” was used very commonly in instances where there was a “double s.” The unusual s first, called the “leading s.” Then the regular s.