You're referring to the deed at So Deeds CD:279. I think you can be safe in assuming a clerical goof. The clerk may have been preparing to enter "William Stevens Howard" (the second grantor), then realized he was still transcribing "Edmond Howard", and then just went on about his business, failing to strike out the extra "H". I've never seen any such abbreviation, and would encourage you to pretend it didn't happen. Note that (e.g.), the following deed at CD:283 exhibits no such error, for the same parties. There are lots of little slips of the pen or brain wanderings in the records. Some are more serious, actually entering the wrong name for a person or a property. Some of this sort are corrected later on, maybe decades later, when someone's trying to prove title. I can add that upwards of 10% of pre-1700 land records suffer some form of transcriptional error made by clerks with no real understanding of surveying terminology. John tarantulac@aol.com wrote: > >I have a question about abbreviations on colonial (read that written 1707) deeds. > >  > >Quoting a deed of this date, “Between Edmund Howard H and Margarett his wife . . . . . in ye Province of Maryladn on ye one part Gent: and Henry Scholfield of Somerset County in ye Province afd of ye other Part. . . .”