On a marriage certificate of 1791 the bride makes her mark. It is possible that her father was a schoolmaster, but if so it seems odd that she could not write. It is possible that the clerk assumed that she was illiterate and asked her to make the cross which she did. However, would it have been unusual in those days if a country schoolmaster had not taught his daughter to write? I'd appreciate opinions. Don Tomkinson

Is it possible that this was an entry from a rough piece of paper later entered up by a clerk? Perhaps the bride was not asked to sign the original and so the clerk imagined that she may have not been literate? Audrey Lee ----- Original Message ----- From: "Donald Tomkinson" <don.tomkinson@lineone.net> To: "OLD ENGLISH MESSAGE" <OLD-ENGLISH-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2008 6:34 AM Subject: [OEL] SCHOOLMASTER's DAUGHTER > On a marriage certificate of 1791 the bride makes her mark. It is > possible that her father was a schoolmaster, but if so it seems odd > that she could not write. It is possible that the clerk assumed that > she was illiterate and asked her to make the cross which she did. > However, would it have been unusual in those days if a country > schoolmaster had not taught his daughter to write? > > I'd appreciate opinions. > > Don Tomkinson > > > > ==================================== > WEB PAGE: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~oel/ > ARCHIVES: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=OLD-ENGLISH > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > OLD-ENGLISH-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 - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.173 / Virus Database: 270.7.6/1713 - Release Date: 07/10/2008 18:40