Bill, Thanks for the excellent advice. Sometimes when the priest's handwritting is so bad, I often will start at the back of the book and work forward, by the time I get to the faded harder to read material, I've got the writing down. No worse writing was found than the priest in Rahoon, who couldn't decide if we were Cain, Kane or Keane. And there were so many of the same name in the area that I was blessed to figure out that ours were from Clybaun. In time, we are able to figure just about anything out, it just takes practice. And so much appreciation for Riobard and his help. I'm sending prayers of appreciation and hopes for good health for both he and Joan. Theresa > > 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 > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BEARA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message > --------------------------------------------- This message was sent using SnowCrest WebMail. http://www.snowcrest.net