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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Signing My Name While My Wife Makes Her Mark

This set of signatures from an 1824 document executed in Kentucky. Apparently the husband wrote in his wife's name for her to make her mark.

10 comments:

  1. There are similarities in the two writings but I would say the names are written with a different hand, probably the clerk who would 'witness' the mark for Susanen Tinsley. The only other possibility for the difference is location on the page. The top signature is shakier.

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  2. I'm more inclined to say they are by the same person, most likely someone who simply did not write very often and probably wrote his name and then his wife's a few moments later. The handwriting of the couple is significantly different from the other handwriting on the page.

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  3. I agree with you that the same person wrote both. James Tinsley and his wife Susaner/Susanen.

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  4. James and Susan Tinsley. Susan's name was given an extra "en" at the end.

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  5. Jarvis Tinsley and Susanna Tinsley

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  6. Interesting I think Jarvis or James Tinsley and Susanna Tinsley with the added en designating as married. :>)

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  7. I would like to hear more about 'en' designating marriage. I have heard of 'et ux' being used to designate 'wife' when her name is not actually written. Is 'en' used similarly?

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  8. Not to give away the answer, but I wanted to address JanniRee's comment. I don't think it's an "en" at the end of the wife's name. I think it's an "er," more denoting how it was pronounced than anything else. I have a few Emmas who are "Emmars" in records in a similar fashion.

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  9. James Tinsley
    Susaner Tinsley
    her x mark

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    Elsewhere in the document she is styled as Susannah, but it's reasonably clear what the signer wrote her--at least to me.

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