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GENEALOGY

Palaeography

What is Palaeography, you ask?

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It is the study of script and handwriting (cursive writing) from several centuries ago and I've been writing it and studying it for decades. You might even say for centuries - in a way. I have a branch which leads back to England, to Esquires and Knights who were great Scribes of manuscripts from the 1500s. This type of research is "in the genes". I've posted an image at the bottom of the page for details on what need Palaeography skills can look like to properly interpret documents.

 

I've completed Advanced Palaeography courses with the International Institute of Genealogical Studies to help hone my skills, as well as use my artistic background to see lines and shapes and discern what each word could be. But it is more than just knowing a particular word, as sometimes records are written in other languages (frequently Latin) and may have 'Olde' spellings.

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Even if a particular name or word is spelled correctly in one record, many times names will be spelled "how the priest hears it" - as in the case with many records I've transcribed from emigrants from Ireland and Germany who landed in French Canada. Literacy and accuracy are wishful things, but not always the case. Names become Anglicized or made to sound "French" even though names were German. So Franz becomes Francois and Frank on records, even though it is the same individual. It all depends on where they are living. This is where the genealogist and the palaeographer in me can help connect your branches from one continent to the next - as our ancestors emigrated to the "New World". I frequently help others researching UK to Canada or United States.

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I have transcribed records written in Latin, Old English, French, German, Swedish, Irish and Scots Gaelic, and Welsh.

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As you navigate through the surnames and reports I have posted (including the sample reports) you will find images which may be difficult to read. Next to them I have included a transcription and in some cases a translation if it is in a foreign language.

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As a volunteer, I am currently helping the Manchester & Salford Family History Society with transcription of church records from the early 18th and 19th centuries.

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I'm presently interested pursing the MSc in Genealogical, Palaeographic & Heraldric Studes degree at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. The several-year course is rigorous and delivered online. I have taken other courses in a similar fashion with success, as most of the research is done online. Anyone with interest in this type of research should pursue it. It is important to interpret the records which remember and link our ancestors.

Palaeography example: Marriage record from 1579 for George Pendleton & Elizabetha Pettingale at St. Peter's Mancroft, Norwich, Norfolk, England

Pendleton_George_Marriage1579.jpg

A few years ago, I passed my Palaeography Final Exam at the International Inst. of Genealogical Studies with 100% in the course

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How about this set of Irish Catholic church records from 1698 Wexford, where some of the oldest records are found.

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To note: Irish Catholic church records are quite difficult to find prior to 1828 (emancipation) as many held ceremonies in secret to avoid persecution, at holy wells, private ceremonies, or the family too poor. This was particularly noticed with records on the east coast of Ireland (where I have Galway roots).

I love stumbling upon other things in old documents and maps as well - such as this duck or goose sketch (look on the right side of image - it is faint). This is from the 19th century map of Ramsay in Lanark, Upper Canada (Ontario)

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On a similar plat map, there is a drawing of "True North" and a directional pointer

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Without knowing cursive - it would be difficult to read this first page of The Hobbit written in calligraphy by J.R.R. Tolkien in 1930/1 and published 1937 - only about a century ago. A Palaeographer can take documents like this and ensure they are translated and transcribed, and kept for future generations. This is his nice writing. His everyday handwriting is actually quite atrocious to read as he was so imaginative, his writing couldn't keep up with his thoughts. He wrote with speed and some of it resembles short hand, a style of quick note-taking from that time. Compare the two handwriting samples. I've included transcriptions (both written by JRR Tolkien):

JRRTolkien_firstpage_TheHobbit.jpg

Transcription (by me):

A long expected party

When N

When Bilbo, son of Bungo of the family

of Baggins, prepared to celebrate his seventieth 71th

birthday there was for a day or two some talk in the 

neighbourhood. He had once had a little fleeting

fame among the people of Hobbiton and Bywater -

he had disappeared after breakfast one April 30th

and not reappeared until lunchtime on June 22nd in

the following year. A very odd proceeding for which

he had never given any good reason, and of which

he wrote a nonsensical account. After that he returned

to normal ways; and the shaken confidence of the district

was gradually restored, especially as Bilbo seemed by some

unexplained method to have become more than comfortably

off if not positively wealthy. Indeed it was the magni-

ficence of the party rather than the fleeting fame that

in first caused the talk - after all that other odd business had

happened some twenty years before and was becoming - 

decently forgotten. The magnificence of the prepar -

tolkien_letter_page_4.jpg

Transcription (by me):

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Well, this necessities survival of female

Then you want your final click in the explanation of how what

Barber thought could be known. So Barber also has to survive.

Alright, but my criticism is that in that cost your treatment in

the last 8 lines of the ? is far no summary, ? in uncon-

vincing .... You see you challenge criticism by ending "The

Major's tries are always so unconvincing." You can as say that ...

they are not (or near improbable bais?) unconvincing. It's no good 

trying to make a story faster or more snappy than its inherent nature will allow. *

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The Alexy- Rhyhoff would make, or has the makings of a good song!

The first line is an inspiration. Less good are l? 4 (and so it

onwenny line 26), also 10, 20, 34. * Thrs a defect that the 2nd

half of group II) cap. defcatio cabin~boy etc.) really belongs, apparent

before the first half. It would be improved it was metrically

? piece, and I actually think that (for certain) lines 20, 21 thined go:

? ? ? of most difficult and necessary tasks in writing ?

/ verse. It would make the final

complet into a quarter (or elsewhere) o.g. "He leaves the bridge as new

cabin boy and kicks away the ? policy? and ? below he takes a look

at ? Karl Marx book"

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I am afraid little of this is intellegible - I've had to 

rabble at great speed. And  surely you can read ? expect-

be ? ?. Anyway here's hoping, and I hope you'll

accept it all as a token of friendship. Here's to our next

shared pint.

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JRRT

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(for an interesting look at his handwriting analysis and source of letter, please see the blog Strength and Song - not by me)
https://strengthandsong.wordpress.com/2010/11/07/j-r-r-tolkiens-handwriting/

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Feel free to connect with me on Facebook or drop me an email. I enjoy helping others connect to their ancestors. If you have a document you would like transcribed or looked at, please contact me. I will let you know if I can do it.

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Traditional Library
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As a family project I've worked on for several decades, I am pleased to share my research to help others.

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Sample reports of my professional genealogy work I've done to help researchers.

Pendleton_George_Marriage1579.jpg

What is Palaeography, you ask? It is the study of script and hand writing, from several centuries prior.

© 2004-2025 by Kristin Carter-Groulx, Moonspinner Designs, & Turtle Bridge, an imprint of The Tenth Muse Books.
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