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How do you learn to read old wills?

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  • How do you learn to read old wills?

    I have a number of old Poole Wills that I just cannot read.
    I find it very difficult to pick out names etc and wondered how others actually learnt how to do this.
    Dyslexia does not help :-(
    Avatar is my Gt Grandfather

    Researching:
    FRANKLIN (Harrow/Pinner 1700 to 1850); PURSGLOVE (ALL Southern counties of England); POOLE (Tetbury/Malmesbury and surrounding areas of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire (1650 to 1900); READ London/Suffolk

  • #2
    The National Archives have some very helpful advice:



    Then it's a lot of practising!!
    Caroline
    Caroline's Family History Pages
    Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.

    Comment


    • #3
      This is very handy too:

      Caroline
      Caroline's Family History Pages
      Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.

      Comment


      • #4
        The TNA course is very useful and there is also a good reference book by Hilary Marshall on the subject, that I use an awful lot when transcribing - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Palaeography.../dp/1860776515 That shows a lot of the different letter formations that can be used.

        A good way , if you are stuck and have the will image on screen is to create a letter sheet listing all the standard letters in lower and upper case, and then go through the document picking out words you can read and copying the individual letters onto the letter sheet using cut/paste or a snipping tool. Gradually you can work out the whole alphabet and letter formation for the particular scribe. Then you use that to decipher words you can't read (usually the names and places you really want) letter by letter.

        After that it is just practice - wills are generally easier than most other documents because they follow a fairly set format with standard wordings and phrases..." In the name of God Amen", "being sick in body but of perfect mind/memory", "I commit my body to be buried in the earth and my soul to almighty God my saviour", "I give devise and bequathe" etc. etc.

        It also depends on how old they are ... I find most documents from about 1600 onwards are not too difficult with a little practice but when you get back into the 1500s and earlier it can get very difficult indeed.
        Last edited by AntonyM; 24-05-15, 14:40.
        Retired professional researcher, and ex- deputy registrar, now based in Worcestershire. Happy to give any help or advice I can ( especially on matters of civil registration) - contact via PM or my website www.chalfontresearch.co.uk
        Follow me on Twittter @ChalfontR

        Comment


        • #5
          Thanks for the advice
          I now have a project for the summer recess period

          I also have a number of letters where it was written left to right and them the paper rotated to write top to bottom, which will be a good challenge as well.
          Avatar is my Gt Grandfather

          Researching:
          FRANKLIN (Harrow/Pinner 1700 to 1850); PURSGLOVE (ALL Southern counties of England); POOLE (Tetbury/Malmesbury and surrounding areas of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire (1650 to 1900); READ London/Suffolk

          Comment


          • #6
            I have letters like that too, Trevor. It just takes a lot of patience. Set up a Word document and put in the words you can make out, leaving spaces for the ones you can't. Do it for short periods (otherwise you will go mad!!) Each time you go back to it you'll be able to "get" another word or two, although sometimes it is just not possible.

            I often wonder how the recipients of such letters, written on the thinnest of paper, ever managed. I guess they had more time!

            Anne

            Comment


            • #7
              Someone showed me a very useful way of doing this, which has worked for me.

              Get some ordinary tracing paper and sellotape it over a photocopy of the document. Trace over the words you CAN read. Leave it on the worktop or the coffee table or wherever and every time you go past it see if you can make out another word and trace that in as well. Eventually, usually when you "get your eye in" you will be able to do the few missing words quite easily.

              It also helps to NOT stare at a particular word, but to sort of narrow your eyes and let your focus go into middle distance. The word outline will suddenly make sense.

              The worst document I ever saw was one of the first I ever saw! A very early church register written on a huge piece of paper (parchment?) the size of a tablecloth and then map-folded to be of a convenient size for the Vicar. He started randomly, moved onto another square, then the other way, then sideways and so on. It was utterly impossible to follow it and I was almost in tears, thinking I was far too stupid to ever get the hang of genealogy.

              OC

              Comment


              • #8
                Trevor, I dont know if this will help you, but a friends son who has dyslexia, when he was at school he had terrible troubles with any words on white paper until the teacher printed out his sheets on red paper (no idea why she thought this would help), but it did, for some reason he could then read the words quite easily, its only an idea, but could you try printing out the will on red paper, just to see if it does help you.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Nightryder View Post
                  Trevor, I dont know if this will help you, but a friends son who has dyslexia, when he was at school he had terrible troubles with any words on white paper until the teacher printed out his sheets on red paper (no idea why she thought this would help), but it did, for some reason he could then read the words quite easily, its only an idea, but could you try printing out the will on red paper, just to see if it does help you.
                  Oddly enough, there was an item on the BBC Breakfast programme today highlighting long-term research which totally discredited sight-related issues with dyslexia in the vast majority of cases. But there's no knowing what will help until you try it.
                  Uncle John - Passed away March 2020

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    It's blue paper for me
                    The condition is a weird one that nobody fully understands yet
                    Avatar is my Gt Grandfather

                    Researching:
                    FRANKLIN (Harrow/Pinner 1700 to 1850); PURSGLOVE (ALL Southern counties of England); POOLE (Tetbury/Malmesbury and surrounding areas of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire (1650 to 1900); READ London/Suffolk

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I would also recommend that, if you're keying the "translation" into a document, you also replicate the line-breaks. It makes it much easier to go back to check things out.

                      C
                      Researching: BENNETT (Leics/Birmingham-ish) - incl. Leonard BENNETT in Detroit & Florida ; WARR/WOR, STRATFORD & GARDNER/GARNAR (Oxon); CHRISTMAS, RUSSELL, PAFOOT/PAFFORD (Hants); BIGWOOD, HAYLER/HAILOR (Sussex); LANCASTER (Beds, Berks, Wilts) - plus - COCKS (Spitalfields, Liverpool, Plymouth); RUSE/ROWSE, TREMEER, WADLIN(G)/WADLETON (Devonport, E Cornwall); GOULD (S Devon); CHAPMAN, HALL/HOLE, HORN (N Devon); BARRON, SCANTLEBURY (Mevagissey)...

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        There are a few software tools that can help - I use this one:

                        Retired professional researcher, and ex- deputy registrar, now based in Worcestershire. Happy to give any help or advice I can ( especially on matters of civil registration) - contact via PM or my website www.chalfontresearch.co.uk
                        Follow me on Twittter @ChalfontR

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Many thanks Anthony,
                          I have tried this out on one of the easier ones and it is a real help, as, unlike having the document open in one program and transcribing in another, which means I have to mark on a printed version where I was up to, this remembers where I am in the image each time I open the application.

                          Another little utility added to my list.
                          It should be added to the software list in the Forum site

                          Thanks
                          Trev
                          Avatar is my Gt Grandfather

                          Researching:
                          FRANKLIN (Harrow/Pinner 1700 to 1850); PURSGLOVE (ALL Southern counties of England); POOLE (Tetbury/Malmesbury and surrounding areas of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire (1650 to 1900); READ London/Suffolk

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by TrevorFranklin View Post
                            Many thanks Anthony,
                            I have tried this out on one of the easier ones and it is a real help, as, unlike having the document open in one program and transcribing in another, which means I have to mark on a printed version where I was up to, this remembers where I am in the image each time I open the application.

                            Another little utility added to my list.
                            It should be added to the software list in the Forum site

                            Thanks
                            Trev
                            Yes, it could be added and I have done so. Thank you for the link Antony.

                            (P.S. It may well already be in the Library somewhere as it is familiar, but I didn't find it immediately.)
                            Caroline
                            Caroline's Family History Pages
                            Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              It's not the actual seeing of the words, the eyes are not a fault.
                              It is the way that the brain receives and processes the information.

                              I teach and have a lot of empathy for dyslexia learners, though in a number of cases, the 'dyslexia' was actually them using a lable given to them in school for their laziness when it came to actually looking at what they had written and proofing it.


                              Originally posted by Uncle John View Post
                              Oddly enough, there was an item on the BBC Breakfast programme today highlighting long-term research which totally discredited sight-related issues with dyslexia in the vast majority of cases. But there's no knowing what will help until you try it.
                              Last edited by TrevorFranklin; 26-05-15, 11:24.
                              Avatar is my Gt Grandfather

                              Researching:
                              FRANKLIN (Harrow/Pinner 1700 to 1850); PURSGLOVE (ALL Southern counties of England); POOLE (Tetbury/Malmesbury and surrounding areas of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire (1650 to 1900); READ London/Suffolk

                              Comment


                              • #16
                                Originally posted by TrevorFranklin View Post
                                It's blue paper for me
                                The condition is a weird one that nobody fully understands yet
                                I taught children who found that coloured lenses helped them (pink as far as I remember) ..... but in the same class, the same idea did not help others one iota.
                                Caroline
                                Caroline's Family History Pages
                                Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.

                                Comment


                                • #17
                                  I think we should have a 'call out' to all members for any little utilities that they use and see what are useful and could be added to the software reference section.
                                  One really useful one I have used when sending GED files to other collaborators is RES PRIVATA
                                  I use it to remove all private information etc I do not want included, it no longer has a website, but The Family Historian User Group has archived it here
                                  Avatar is my Gt Grandfather

                                  Researching:
                                  FRANKLIN (Harrow/Pinner 1700 to 1850); PURSGLOVE (ALL Southern counties of England); POOLE (Tetbury/Malmesbury and surrounding areas of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire (1650 to 1900); READ London/Suffolk

                                  Comment


                                  • #18
                                    Originally posted by TrevorFranklin View Post
                                    I think we should have a 'call out' to all members for any little utilities that they use and see what are useful and could be added to the software reference section.
                                    One really useful one I have used when sending GED files to other collaborators is RES PRIVATA
                                    I use it to remove all private information etc I do not want included, it no longer has a website, but The Family Historian User Group has archived it here
                                    http://www.fhug.org.uk/wiki/wiki/dok..._privatisation
                                    That could work - I have already opened the Comments up on the Software page so they can be added there so they aren't missed by those who need to add them to the pages.
                                    Caroline
                                    Caroline's Family History Pages
                                    Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.

                                    Comment


                                    • #19
                                      I was lucky that my county's further education college ran a weekly 'tudor handriting course'. It took a year but was well worthwhile.
                                      Phil
                                      historyhouse.co.uk
                                      Essex - family and local history.

                                      Comment


                                      • #20
                                        The problem you have now is that FE is no longer funded for 'social' courses, which means those types of courses will be £100's to enrol on.
                                        Avatar is my Gt Grandfather

                                        Researching:
                                        FRANKLIN (Harrow/Pinner 1700 to 1850); PURSGLOVE (ALL Southern counties of England); POOLE (Tetbury/Malmesbury and surrounding areas of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire (1650 to 1900); READ London/Suffolk

                                        Comment

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