Reading Early American Handwriting by Kip Sperry

“thrast” (thrashed) For more examples and information, review the following PDFs: “Plimoth” P – lower case p looks more like y “dispose” – also with long s L – lower case l bent or crooked Some say that these earlier Qs look more like the number 2 Doc. The cursive “Q” may not look familiar to you on its own. “Thurs Day” – North Family Papers folder 31 Q The capital T in the second appears to be a Y. Isolated, this capital I in the first example looks like a Y, G, or J until seen in context. Many capital letters may look like others, until you read the entire word. While an a was usually written with a closed loop, this one appears as an o.ĭouble consonants were sometimes used, as with two consecutive f’s at the start of a word to indicate a capital in a proper name. The practice was most common during the 17th century. An e was written more like an o without a closed loop, a remnant of 17th century English secretary hand. The vowels a, e, and o can seem very similar. This practice continued into the 19th century. The long s appears at the beginning and middle of words but not at the end, although like any rule there are always exceptions. One of the most common letters you will encounter is the long S, appearing as a lower-case f. Information at the bottom of this page provide more information on that script and how letters were formed. While we haven’t focused on one script, it’s essential to familiarize yourself with English secretary hand used in the 17th and early 18th centuries since it does appear in many early American documents of that time period. As always, context is crucial in helping one decipher words. Highlighted are several letters that may prove problematic when reading old documents.

Reading Early American Handwriting by Kip Sperry