If this was the scenario wouldn't every entry have an x? I have seen superintendent registrars fill in the details.This is known as a "true copy" The details are given exactly as they are shown in the original.Usually the x is accompanied with "the mark of" __________ . I have entries back to 1732 and yes those that make their mark are illiterate. I have come across some researchers who seem embarassed to find ancestors who are illiterate....... this was purely the times and nothing to be embarassed about.I even had one researcher who asked me "could the person have had an injured hand?" LOL I think it very important we question everything.... but we must be able to read the facts as they are. All the best, Kevin, Co Cork. > > Yes, for sure there are nearly all signed by the mark 'X', but I can not = > > believe that such a mark meant it was always a result of illiteracy on the = > > part of the informants. > > Consider this probable scenario of a time before the invention of = > > photo-copiers and computer digitisation as to how the process of = > > registrations might have been accomplished: > > The informants of a birth or death, or marriage (in which case the required = > > form was completed by the officiating priest or minister) reported the even= > t = > > in person at the local registration office where they made their statement= > s = > > which was duly recorded by the local registrar or one of his staff, and the= > n = > > signed by the informants - if they could write their name. > > These individual declarations made at local registration offices were then = > > sent to the town wherein the area Superintendent's registration office was = > > located. There they were transcribed onto a large folio, and , at the end o= > f = > > that quarter year, were sent as a batch to the General Registry Office = > > (GRO) Dublin, where they were again transcribed alphabetically in a large = > > folio when all the original individual quarterly returns from the many = > > Superintendents' registration districts were received. > > In consequence, when one obtains a copy from the GRO, or a local = > > Superintendents' district office, it is understandable that the original = > > signature of informants who could write, could not possibly appear on such = > a = > > copy. So, that office at the time of issuing a certificate, the clerk had t= > o = > > write the name of the informing party and place an 'x' on the signature lin= > e = > > over the original informants names. (I had occasion a few years ago to visi= > t = > > the Superintendents office in Limerick city and witnessed the clerk = > > transcribe the information I had requested from a large folio onto a blank = > > form of certificate). > > If the above scenario is what happened then one will understand the missing = > > signature and its substitution by an 'x' at a time when no one even dreamt = > > about a device that would make 'de facto' copies. > > I have copied this to other lists in the hope that someone more informed = > > might add or detract from my supposition on the matter. > > ***** Reply to the LIST ONLY - Please ***** > ***** Thanks for your consideration ***** > > P=E1draig M=F3r, > An Sean Gabhar > ----- Original Message ----- = > > From: "kevin " <kevinmcc59@eircom.net> > To: <irl-cork@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 7:18 PM > Subject: Re: Irish Birthdates > > > > Hello Dolores, Sorry about the slip up of course it's 1864. You may very = > > > well find yours inconsistent but that hardly means you can include all of = > > > Ireland. I have encountered the same problem with Eng. and Wales as I = > > > said. > > I can assure you from my experience that it was illiteracy > > compare marriage certs and entries.....the old x. was very prevalent.As = > > > for rounding up and down that was only used in the UK census 1841 as for = > > > the US i do not know, Regards,Kevin. > > > >> > >> Sorry I offended , but after 25 years of research every document and = > > >> census I have on my lines their ages never agree. Civil Registration = > > >> started in 1864 not 1868. I was merely speaking from my experience even = > > >> up to 1940's. Dolores > > > = > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to IRL-CORK-request@root= > sweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and = > the body of the message > www.ancestralservices.co.uk ----------------------------------------------------------------- Find the home of your dreams with eircom net property Sign up for email alerts now http://www.eircom.net/propertyalerts