Francis Payne wrote: > Thanks once again for the very informative reply. Thank you :)) > Disappointing to hear that > some register offices have taken it upon themselves to refuse to issue the > "historical" certs. Why would they do this ? Some of it is simply that they do not have the staff. > Yes, the LDS film would seem to be the way to go. Mind you, one person's "X" > might look the same as another's ! True but not all those who couldn't write did sign with an "X". I've seen "marks" that were like five bar gates, as well as circles, horizontal lines, the initial letters of the bride's/groom's given name. Some marks could be quite elaborate. On the other hand the vicar's writing could leave much to be desired!! > Just joking. The ones who could sign would be worth having a look at. Very definitely worth a look as you can tell from the signature how confident they were with writing. Awkward, angular letters suggest someone who had possibly learnt to write for the occasion and would never pick up a pen again. Flowing, well formed letters suggest someone who wrote regularly. And all points inbetween :)) > I have > navy and army records which have two g-g-grandfathers' sigs. One signs "Payne" whereas all the previous parish and census records had him > and his family as "Pain". So, something of a landmark. That's also useful for helping find possible variant spellings in registers too.