Deciphering American handwriting Deciphering American Handwriting By Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG The answer to untangling your pedigree may be in the records you have collected through the years. Take another look at these documents. Possibly you did not deciphered accurately the information recorded years ago. Forget the notion that your name has always been spelled a particular way.
Numbers cause problems also.
Many fours look like sevens and could be the reason some of the ages of your ancestors appear to be inconsistent. In New England records in the 17th century the number eight often is lying down horizontally. The use of Roman numerals in documents necessitates that a genealogist learn to read them. If your skill in this area is weak, find a Roman numeral table in an almanac or a large dictionary and make a copy to use while researching. The indexes made for some original records are misleading and many are inaccurate.