Handwriting

How’s your handwriting these days? Texting and typing rather than writing? Do you keep handwritten notes, or are they all electronic now? You may not be the only one whose handwriting is suffering. Schools are placing less emphasis on handwriting and children are using print more so than running writing (cursive script). So will your children be able to read hand written records when it comes to their family history?

Gene Weingarten addresses the question in an article in the Washington Post Magazine at http://goo.gl/8m3Hs. Although this is an American story, such influences are becoming more widespread. It is not only today’s youth – how are you at deciphering old records? There are many transcription mistakes in the current databases available, and it is always worth going back to the original. I have had many people confuse ‘T’, ‘L’ & ‘S’ when capitalised. I spent many hours looking for ‘Solano’ (someone’s ancestor’s maiden name) but after checking a copy of the original document, found it was actually ‘Tolano’. You can image the effect this had on my research.

Cyndi’s List website has a section with links to numerous articles about handwriting and interpreting writing from times past.