Chapter 14: Deciphering Elements of Handwritten Records
Deciphering Handwriting
Reading old handwriting is necessary in Family History Research. Many documents were written by hand, and scribes had their own personal style when writing. Handwriting can be almost like a code. Some handwriting can be easy to read, and other handwriting might be very difficult. A reader may have to study the document to learn the exact message that was written.The scribe’s code must be broken, or deciphered, to produce a loyal interpretation of the record.[1]
It is important to know what the scribe was writing. The exact names, dates, and events in historic documents must be pulled from the record so there are no errors in the research. Fortunately, there are several tips for accurately and loyally deciphering the scribe’s unique handwriting.
Tips for Deciphering Handwritten Documents
Researchers may use several different strategies for reading both ancient and modern handwriting styles. A few of these tips are outlined below:
- Read through the document quickly to identify words that are easy to read.[2] There are dozens of two- or three-letter words that are recognizable, even in older scripts. Identify the easy words first to get used to the handwriting in the document.
- Search for key words and phrases. Look for words most likely to be found in the document. For example, the handwriting of an old marriage record may be difficult to read, but a researcher can expect to see words like bride, groom, witnesses, parents, married, wed, or matrimony.
- Look for patterns of letters. In every language, there are groups of letters that often appear together. In English, many words end with ing. In German, it is common to see the sch letters together. The letters eau or eaux are frequently seen in French words.
- Identify the vowels in a word. Every word will have at least one vowel, and when the vowels are isolated, it is easier to identify the consonants.
- Use alphabet example sheets. There are handwritten alphabet examples from each era, and it can be helpful to compare the letters in the example sheet to the letters in the document. The FamilySearch Wiki has several alphabet examples from different time periods.
- Create an alphabet of the scribe’s handwriting. Each scribe had his own style and flair for writing. Copy one example of each individual letter from the document, and create a chart of the scribe’s unique alphabet for a good reference while transcribing.
- Trace the path of the scribe’s pen to visualize how the letter was written. An illegible letter can be determined by following the scribe’s pen strokes to see how the letter was formed.
- Scan through the document to find repeated names. Surnames may be mentioned more than once in a document, and one version might be easier to read than another. An example of this is shown below:
George Felstead Father
Margaret Felstead Mother
- Say the word aloud to determine phonetic spelling. Words were often spelled the way they sounded. A written word might make no sense at all, but if pronounced phonetically, it is easier to tell what the scribe was trying to communicate.
- Use a magnifying glass. This is a quick way to enlarge the field of view.
- Use photo tools to enhance the sharpness or brightness of the image.[3] Sometimes digital images are poor copies. A photo program can be used to crop, enhance, or enlarge an image so it becomes easier to read.
- Use maps or gazetteers to identify place names.[4] The spelling of a place name may not be obvious. A map, gazetteer or list of cities helps narrow the possibilities. For example, if a city in New York started with Roch- and the rest of the word was illegible, a gazetteer shows only one possible place: Rochester.
Elements of Handwritten Documents
Alphabets
Each handwritten document has both capital and lower-case letters. Numbers are used to record ages and dates. Some capital letters look just like the lower-case version of that letter. Some examples are O, o, W, w, C, c, and U, u. In these examples, the size of the letter is the best way to determine whether a word begins with a capital or lower-case letter.
Other capitals look very different from the lower-case version of the letter. Some examples are B, b, D, d, H, h, and R, r. However, scribes adopted their own habits, and their writings must be studied to determine how their letters were formed.
Alphabet example sheets can be found for every era and geographic region. The scribe’s writing will not be exactly like these examples, but they should give the researcher a good idea of what characteristics were seen in handwriting styles used during the time period the document was written.
Other elements found in handwritten records are superscripts, strikeouts, inserted words, and brackets.These must be correctly deciphered when reading and copying old records The following examples show how to recognize these elements and how to copy them.
Superscripts
Scribes used shortcuts to save time and space on the page. Superscripts are written slightly above the main line of writing and indicate a word was shortened or abbreviated. Ordinal numbers are often abbreviated with a superscript after the number. Examples are 1st, 22nd, or 43rd. The superscript letters are usually the last letter or two of the word if it is spelled out: first, twenty-second, and forty-third.
Names were commonly abbreviated with superscripts. Richard could be abbreviated as Richd, Elizabeth could be abbreviated Elizth, and James could be abbreviated Jas. Additionally, longer words, place names, or titles could be shortened with superscripts.
Superscripts can be created by clicking on the superscript button in Microsoft Word (found in the “font” section of the ribbon).
[Superscript]
[Strikeout]
[Subscript]
A superscript, and a loyal copy of the superscript are shown here:
the 24th day
Brackets
Older documents may have some elements that can be created in Microsoft Word. Brackets can be added to a document by selecting the Insert tab on the ribbon, then selecting Shapes and then either the left or right bracket. The bracket can be inserted in the document and resized by stretching it. Right-click on it to change the color from the default blue to black.
A bracket, and a loyal copy of a bracket are shown here:
Inserted Words
If a word was omitted from an original document, the scribe may have used a caret (^) to show where the missing word belonged, and then added the omitted word on the line above. A loyal transcription will include that same inserted word with the caret, exactly as written. The caret symbol (shift + 6) can be added as a subscript (found in the “font” section of the Microsoft Word ribbon). The font size should be increased for the caret only, and the inserted word added on the line above.
An inserted word, and a loyal copy of an inserted word are shown here:
real estate, wheresoever situate unto
forever,
his heirs and assigns ˄ charged
Strikeouts
Strikeouts are commonly seen in handwritten records.There was no way to erase a mistake, so the scribe would cross out the error and continue writing. Strikeouts should be included in transcriptions.They should never be omitted.
If the words can be determined, they can be typed into the transcription, and a strikeout added. The strikeout feature is in the fonts section of the Microsoft ribbon. If the words cannot be determined, the word strikeout can be enclosed in square brackets: [strikeout]
A strikeout, and a loyal copy of a strikeout are shown here:
Acreman’s
Deardan’s
Baptism
Family History Researchers will rely on their ability to loyally interpret older records written by any scribe. Deciphering elements of handwritten records, such as capital and lower-case letters, superscripts, inserted words, and strikeouts, will be important as you study and transcribe old handwriting. More information about transcription will be discussed in Chapter 15.
[1] Kip Sperry, Reading Early American Handwriting (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1998), 1-2.
[2] Hilary Marshall, Paleography for Family and Local Historians (Phillimore & Co. LTD, 2010), 6-9.
[3] Bridget M. Sunderlin, CG®, “8 Expert Tips for Reading and Transcribing Old Records,” blog post, Family History Daily (https://familyhistorydaily.com/genealogy-help-and-how-to/reading-transcribing-old-records : accessed 3 Jul 2023), tip #5.
[4] “Maps,” FamilySearch Wiki (https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Maps : accessed 3 Jul 2023), para. 2.