The Art of Deciphering Historical Handwriting

Inventory of Mary Morris Pasquotank County, North Carolina
April 5th 1746

Cursive writing......for most historians, we can read and write it.   But before too long, there might be a generation of historians who will not understand or know how to read cursive handwriting.   I hope it does not become an lost art among historians and or the general public.

My first experience reading historical cursive writing was probably when I began helping my parents do genealogy research and looking at census records. (Yeah, I am nerd.)   Then off to college and began my journey in the Historic Preservation field where our "Intro to Local and Public History" aka HST 200 with Mr. Bob White.  This class weeded out those who would continue in the program.  We had to complete 3 projects that semester.  The one that sticks out the most was "find your dead person" in historical records.  So basically we were given a name of a resident in Cape Girardeau County prior to 1860 and we had to find all the primary historical records we could about him/her and then write a tour script for their "historical house."  This was way before the digital age, so we had to go to the courthouse and look up probate, wills, land transfer and estate records and then look on microfilm any census records.  Needless too say, I learned my mad research skills from that class.  Thanks Mr. White!!!!!!!

Deciphering historical cursive handwriting can be a challenge and even more so when the handwriting looks like chicken scratch and there are holes and tears in the paper such like the example of the one shown below.

Inventory of the estate of Elizabeth Winslow,  Pasquotank County, North Carolina
1750

There is also an art to deciphering what is been listed in the inventories.  Sometimes the administrator of the estate would write phonetically the articles of the inventory such as shows = shoes; jackgert/jackcoat = jacket; bunnet/bonett= bonnet; calyco = calico; pear= pair; sail=sale, fols = false, chex/chequex/check'd/check't = check; hude/hud = hood; shuebuckels = shoe buckles; cloke/cloake = cloak; linning = linen and etc.

Also terminology of clothing helps us understand what we are looking for:

18th century spelling/terminology = modern equivalent

Gound = gown
coats/pettecoats/pettycoats/petitcote = petticoats
pair of boddies/bodyes = stays
smocks = shift
sack & coat = French style gown and matching petticoat
quilts/ quilt coat = quilted petticoat

Rebecca Eborn sale of estate 1758
Hyde County, North Carolina

1 Garlick Shift
1 checked apron
1 checkered Bonit & Jacket
1 Calleco Gound
1 payr blue stockings
1 striped pettey coute
1 striped gound
1 chamber pott
1 ladel wooding
1 red clock
1 payr cambrick pinnors
1 blue silk bunit

So we decipher that there is:
1 garlix shift
1 check apron
1 check bonnet & jacket
1 calico gown
1 pair of blue stockings
1 striped petticoat
1 striped gown
1 chamber pot
1 wood ladle
1 red cloak
1 pr cambrick pinners
1 blue silk bonnet

What I like about Rebecca Eborn's inventory - she has both a blue silk bonnet and a check'd bonnet.  She is the first to have a check'd bonnet listed but it is not the only one that I find.  There is a calico bonnet listed earlier in 1753.  However, it does fall in line with other linen bonnets and or check'd bonnet.  I plan to go into more detail about bonnets in North Carolina for a future article.

Hannah Hay inventory: Carteret County, NC 1777

Hannah Hay's inventory shows us that in many cases they mix in other items amongst the clothing. So you have to pay attention because you think you have everything and then they throw an item towards the bottom.  Her inventory listed the following:

5 gowns, 4 silk handkerchiefs, 2 linen, 1 cotton ditto, 3 pettycoats, 2 jackets, 4 aprons, 3 hoods, 17 caps (yep, you read that right 17 caps!); 11 ribbons, 2 yds of white linen, 3 mantles, 1 iron trammel, 1 pr of pot hooks, 1 earthen porringer, some wool, 1 shoe hammer, 3 spoons, 2 gold rings, 3 sugar boxes, 1 looking glass, 3 hats, 2 bonnets, 1 glass salt seler[?], half bunch of tape, 1 silver buckle, 3 shifts, a few saddle nails and buckles, 3 prs of silver sleeve buttons, 43 rows of pins, 8 awls, 4 [unknown] half scaine of white thread, 3 stomachers.

 As you can see just from these two examples, sometimes they list the type of material/textile of the garment, sometimes they don't.  It doesn't deter or lessen the information.  It still provides us a number of garments or other items such as shoes, stockings, shifts and etc., that the woman owned.

I began a spreadsheet to breakout what I have found among women's inventories/wills and estate sales.  Here is my list of items:

gowns
short gowns
bed gowns
petticoats
jackets
Suite of clothes
wrappers/night rales
shifts
pr of stays
pr of stockings
pr of shoes
pr of gloves
bonnets
hats
handkerchiefs
cloaks
mantles
capuchin
hoods
aprons
prs of ruffles
caps
prs of pockets
stomachers
sleeve buttons
ribbons
gold rings/jewelry
garters
laces
shoe buckles
mitts

Again, I am still new to this blogging thing.  So if there is anything special you want to know more about (ie., types of bonnets, textiles, gowns, shoes, stockings and etc.) let me know.