The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1912-07-10
Colonial Illfteracy

United States Bureau OF Education .
The data was gathered by an exami-
nation Of signatures to the extant
illegal and other documents OF Co
lonal days, for the purpose of ascer-
tanning the number of signers who
had to make their marks While
ttfe data are not altogether conclu-
slve they beem to indicate that
Massachusetts occupied the most ad-
Ivanced educational position in the
seventeenth century, while Virginia
brings up the rear. The Dutch OF
New York and the Germans ofPenn-
sylvanfa. occupy middle positions,
These1are all the colonies for which
data have been compiled In the Blu
reau of Education's bulletin.
The monograph says, in part:
sat Albany of. $50. mems names
examined, covering the years from
1864 to 1876, twenty-one per cent
made their marks. OF 2S1 mems
signatures at Flatbush, covering a
longer period, nineteen per cent
made their marks. or the German
male immigrants above sixteen years
years OF age who came to Pennsyl-
van4a in the first half OF the
eighteenth century, 1923 names
have been counted, with the result
of twenty-six per cent who made
their marks.
ga significant result appeared
from our study of illlteracy, namely,
that the male Dutch inhabitants Of
Flatbush made continuous improve
ment in this respect, the percentage
of illiteracy decreasing gradually
from forty per cent in 1875 to
about six per cent in 1893"
"a most painstaking account OF
the seventeenth century virginians
indicates that 2,165 male adults who
signed jury lists, forty-six per cent
made their marks; and of t25445
male adults who signed deeds and
deposlttonss forty, per cent made
their marks.
"Tn the case of the Dutch women
fewer names were collected, and the
showings was not so good. OF the
1854 signatures Of Dutch women in
New York which were available, an
illiteracy of sixty per, cent was indi-
Gated. OF S,Os6 women signing
deeds and dispositions in Virginia,
seventy-fve per cent made their
marks.
"By way of comparison with these
results a study was made of the
signatures to deeds. ETC., executed
in suffolk county GBoston), Mass ),
for two periods in the seventeenth
century a generation apart" says
the bulletin. 1.-TWO volumes of the
published deeds were used, the first
covering the period 165371655, the
other 16S6-1697 ;"
In both the former and the latter
period, the percentage of men who
made their marks remained con-
slant at eleven per cent, while the
proportion of ilIiteracy among the
women decreased from fifty-eight
uer cent to thirty-eight per cent.
"These data are exceedingly in
teresting and in a measure do indi-
cate the educational conditions OF
the colonies" said James c. Bokyin,
editor of the Uted States Bureau
Of Education, yesterday. Thus,
the figures from virginia and Massa'
cbusetts possess uhdoUbted signa-
canoe AS rule, persons who sign
deeds are of the more prosperous
class; therefore, If forty per cent OF
these documents are signed with a
cross, as we find in Colonial Vir-
ginla, we may be surA that the pro-
portion Of irliteracy in the entire
was far greater.
at must be borne in mind that
these data by no means offer a final
or adequate measure of educational
conditions either as between the
colonies or as between the past and
the present. Nevertheless the fig
ures gathered are suggestive and
will probably stimulate further in
vestigation along the same line"
The bulletin of the Bureau of Ed
ucatton, which deals with Colonial
Illiteracy, is an historical mono
graph entitled, THE Dutch Schools
of New Netherland and Colonial
New York. " The writer, DR.. Will