I would guess that a rector would have finished practicing his handwriting skills long beforehand and now had other more important 'exercises' to preoccupy him, whilst a newly-appointed clerk might well have good reason to brush his skills up, especially if his education in such things had been modest. Why in the front of the register? I bet plain paper was either scarce or expensive, or both. It might also indicate a new appointment, as someone who'd been in the post for a while might well have been able to build up a small supply of scraps of paper for rough notes etc.; perhaps the backs of redundant notices, bills, and deeds. I can almost feel the excitement of this new young clerk at discovering a whole blank inner front cover to the register, just waiting for him to fill it in his bestest hand possible with great glee! A bit like having a right good swivel on your office chair when you get given a new desk at work. I've had a few old (Victorian and slightly earlier) books with spines in very poor condition, and a peep at the layers in the spine usually reveals the re-use of already-printed paper, old book pages, handbills and so on, so even in more recent times paper wasn't discarded like it is today. Did you know that there's a Rootsweb list dedicated to the HOY name? I also found this website via Google: http://www.hoy.org.uk/ A brief look at its message board brought up one small thread on Elmdon, Essex HOYs from 2002, though in itself it isn't very helpful. However, starting up a new thread might produce some results. Lawrence -----Original Message----- From: essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of David Hoye Sent: 17 September 2008 10:47 To: essex-uk@rootsweb.com Subject: [Ess] Elmdon, Essex. The first two pages of the pr, which begins 1618, are "testers". On the first page in a good hand is written, repeatedly, "John Hoy is my name" Was he the rector? Does anyone have a copy of "The Hoys of Elmdon" by P. Hoy? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 270.6.21/1671 - Release Date: 14/09/2008 07:16 No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 270.6.21/1671 - Release Date: 14/09/2008 07:16