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Archiver > PENNINGTON > 1998-08 > 0903729874


From: "Carolyn McDaniel" <>
Subject: Re: [PENNINGTON-L] What IS this name???
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1998 13:04:34 -0700


Dear Linda and the List,
I have most often found the JNO abbreviation used for John.
There are a variety of other examples of this kind of abbreviation,
used before pens got to be very versitle writing instruments, and each
letter was a painstaking effort. Frequently the first letter was
written and the following ones were elevated to the right, sort of
like mathmatical symbols are now, or as we might write 1st, 2nd, or
4th, for example. One of the worst examples of this is the name
Elizabeth, which was often abbreviated as Eliz and then the"a"
elevated and a period placed beside it. Sometimes the "a." ended up
not so elevated, and of course then the name was misintrepreted as
Eliza --quite understandably.
There is a really neat page on reading old handwriting: Old
Handwriting http://www.firstct.com/fv/oldhand.html This page uses
one of my own perplexing surnames -- Standley -- that was mistakenly
indexed in the marriage records of Phillips County, Arkansas, causing
me to search for many years for my non-existant MANDLE ancestor rather
than Elizabeth Standle(ley). It makes a good story in my course
chapter on thinking genealogically. Here are two other URLS which are
really helpful too:
Handwriting Samples: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ote/writing.htm
How to read a 200 Year Old Document
http://earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/howto.html

Your Cousin, Carolyn

Carolyn McDaniel


http://www.geocities.com/~carlsdaughte

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