Can anyone read these?

[Somerset Sal]

surname1.jpg


surname2.jpg

I'm trying to read a will that was proved in 1692. There are two surnames in it that I just can't figure out. Can anyone else read them? Thanks!

Belinda

[Darksecretz]

I havent got a clue, just didnt want you to think that no-one was bothering

[Somerset Sal]

I havent got a clue, just didnt want you to think that no-one was bothering

Bless you!

[maudarby]

Hi
I have been trying to read the names. I don't know if this will help + I may not have added it correctly, but here goes.
Moggie

[Somerset Sal]

It might! Thank you very much.

[Christine in Herts]

The first one looks like ROTHMALER

The next one appears to start with B, but I'd need to be able to see it with slightly better definition to make any further guesses.

Christine

[maudarby]

Hi
I think the second name starts with H. I have a will which is quite a bit later than yours but I have just been looking at it & mine mentions Hanover (Sq) & the H looks identical to yours. I have scanned & cropped it but can't find a way to put it up on here.
Moggie

[Christine in Herts]

Moggie - I think you're right. It should be H.

Is that a downstroke from the target name, or an upstroke from the text below?

Christine

[Moulting Owl]

Is there any chance that these are different versions of the same surname? They look roughly the same shape (with the first vowel sound o in the top one, and ou in the lower one). If I squint at the second one, it might end "...er" but it would need to be written in a different handwriting, and you did say these are from the same will.

[Somerset Sal]

Thank you everyone for your efforts. I think you're right about the second name starting with H. They are different names: I think they're the married names of the testator's two daughters. As for Vothmaler, Rothmaler, it's driving me mad! I've tried searching Ancestry starting that name with every letter of the alphabet and it finds nothing useful. Oh well...

[Moulting Owl]

If the first surname is Rothmaler, Google picks up several references to the name, mainly Germanic. However, Robert Boyle's biographers do identify one in London (a correspondent with Boyle) at about the right date:

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/boyle/queries.html

"Erasmus Rothmaler, 1685, BL 5, fols. 46-8 [an alchemist formerly in Vienna, domiciled in Burghley St by Exeter Exchange; he also presented an alchemical MS to Boyle, now BP 23, pp. 307-473]"

(Not sure whether you would already have ruled this out)

[Somerset Sal]

Oooh! That's exciting, thank you! I'd googled Vothmaler, but hadn't got as far as googling other variations. I shall follow this one up.

[Christine in Herts]

ROTHMALER seems more likely - the first part of teh name is the same as for ROTH-SCHILD (red-shield, using the older spelling for the word now seen as "rot").

Christine