For our ancestors who lived before the age of photography, their signature is often the closest we get to “seeing” them. Do you have a favorite ancestral “John Hancock”? 1/6 #NationalHandwritingDay
My favorite ancestor signature (at the moment) belongs to my 5th great-grandfather Thomas Kirk, who left his mark on the 1832 administrator’s bond from his son’s probate file. It’s simple and suggests a lot about his education and life. 2/6 #NationalHandwritingDay
I also think about my great-grandfather Marion Lumpkins’ careful yet jittery signature from when he was 89. I knew him personally and have photos to remember him, but seeing his script conjures visceral memories of his mannerisms and personality. 3/6 #NationalHandwritingDay
I think about the absurdity of my great-grandmother, the daughter of Italian immigrants born in the United States, having to sign her name to a document to regain her American citizenship after she married an Italian immigrant. 4/6 #NationalHandwritingDay
I think about my 4th great-grandfather George Hawks and what’s in a name. I discovered that his mother died young and his father, Daniel Jucket, gave up the child to her family thus changing the child’s surname from Jucket to Hawks. 5/6 #NationalHandwritingDay
And I think about my grandmother’s signature and how I see hints of my mother’s own penmanship. Handwriting can be passed down the generations and offer a look at the past. 6/6 #NationalHandwritingDay
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
I was 11 when #MyGenealogyStory began. My teacher asked the class to map out our family trees. I was clueless. My aunt, an avid family historian, came to my rescue. 1/5
She shipped me a tube containing a tightly rolled pedigree chart. Like a treasure map to the past, I excitedly unfurled the scroll (printed on dot matrix paper with perforated edging). Covering the dining room table, it contained peculiar names like Burr Zelah and Waitstill. 2/5
I followed the names from one generation to the next. The 1900s gave way to the 1800s. Most lines stopped by the 1700s but a few went to the 1600s and a couple names even toe tapped into the 1500s! 3/5