Genealogy Chat

Has anyone else got anything like this in their family tree?

My great-grandfather was born 1826 in the Welsh Valleys. That part of Wales has always been keen on education, and as far as I know, he and his siblings all went to school. One of his brothers became a Baptist Minister.

His first marriage was in 1859, when he was 33, and both he and his bride "signed" the register with an X. She died in 1874, by which time he owned his own factory with employees. He remarried in the same year, and signed the register in the usual way.

Later he wrote his own will, and signed it. I find it very difficult to believe that he learnt to read and write as a mature adult, although it's not impossible, and am wondering whether he pretended to be illiterate at his first marriage so as not to embarrass his new bride.

It's impossible to prove one way or the other, but has anyone else come across this?

Did he have a neatly handwritten Will, or was it a bit of scawl? Someone who learned late in life may not have such a rounded script as someone who was taught - and practiced - when they were young.

It does sound a bit odd though. The examples I've seen are that the bride is more likely to mark with a X than the male.

The writing on the will is what I would call mature, but more important, the signature is in the same writing, and so is the signature on his second marriage register entry. I think there is little doubt that by 1874 he was fully literate.

I recall that someone on GR quite a while ago,commenting on this subject. According to him (I remember that it was a man, but don't know which one) some, officials sometimes made the assumption that people from certain backgrounds could not read and write. Said oficials would command. @Make your mark her, or put an X here" and the hapless couple would do so, rather than argue and or upset the official.
Therefore it could be possible that someone who could write 9or at least sign their name) would just make a mark. Perhaps signing previous or subsequent documents.

This was just the commenters point of view, so i have no way of knowing if it was true.

My great grandfather, Samuel, from Wales also "made his mark" on his wedding cert. I have no other documents that he had the chance to sign. However on his son's (my grandfathers) wedding cert. Samuel is referred to as a Vet. (!) I think that granddad was rather streaching the truth, but believe that Samuel was very knowledgeable about animals, especially horses. Of course he could have gained this knowledge without any book-learning, so I will never know the truth of the matter.

I have the same thing in my tree, I think people learnt to sign their name, but took a long time, so perhaps they just used a cross to speed things up.

On the other hand I have a copy of a will from 1928 signed with a cross. Mind the person was 84, so probably never went to school.

Andy

Thank you for your comments. I will never know the truth, but it's interesting to speculate. :-)