Dear friends of Beara, Our list member Pat Sullivan has graciously provided a single sheet guide to the way alphabetical letters have been written over the course of the last several centuries. This may be helpful to those among us trying to read the handwriting found in the old Catholic parish records. To view the guide, click on this link: http://bearaschildren.blogspot.com/2015/07/some-help-for-those-attempting-to -read.html Bill Gawne

As someone who has worked with a variety of handwritten records over forty years now let me offer some advice. Don't rush, this can take time. Read through the whole document as best you can to get a sense of the person's hand. As you get a sense of it, you can apply what you've figured out from the clearer examples to those that are less clear. Also, common sense . If you have a word, say [unknown letter] homas -- it is almost certainly a T even if it looks more like an F or Y. In this specific case get as much as you can from Riobard's books--you will have a much easier time finding the original with his transcription to work with than going in blind. Latin equivalents for first names are pretty easy to sort out with Google. You can quickly make up a list of those common in your family. Bill Mulligan