My granddaughter "signed" a wedding certificate at age 18 months - with her Mom adding a readable name in parentheses. I also own an 1800 certificate with an "X" for an adult then signed by someone else who could write. On my in-law's certificate, the kitchen help also signed. The six year old ring bearer also signed this one, but the five year old flower girl was done by her Mom. Anyone who attended and observed, even if standing in the back, was expected to sign as a witness in my understanding. You can often determine (very loosely) relationships by proximity, spouses signed next to each other, as did siblings. But sometimes it was just who was standing beside someone else when signing - the free-for-all mentioned! My husband's grandfather had a bit of an ego :-) and apparently did not go through one of the lines with his wife (not surprisingly) but did end up signing (apparently later) ABOVE her name and out of line with the other signatures. Fun to even see personalities appearing sometimes! Judy %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Judith Walter Heald jheald@pennswoods.net Spring Mills, PA 16875 Our roots include: Lots of Quakers from 1600's to present. . . Surnames: Barnard, Dickson, Ely, Heald, Hilaman, Hoopes, Kirk, Kline, Lippincott, Marshall, Mercer, Moore, Ogden, Paxson, Plankinton, Pownall, Pusey, Pyle, Rodgers, Sellers, Sharpless, Swayne, Taylor, Thompson, Walter, Watson, Way, Webb, Wickersham. . . PA Counties, Chester, Delaware, Lancaster, Bucks, Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson, Elk, . . . -----Original Message----- From: Charlie [mailto:cbeat@mindspring.com] Sent: Friday, December 03, 2004 5:47 PM To: QUAKER-ROOTS-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [Q-R] Quaker weddings I know that all (or some?) of the guests or witnesses at a Quaker wedding would sign as witnesses. Is it possible to deduce ANYTHING about the age of a witness? I believe the witness did not have to be an adult, but may I assume he/she was over some minimum age? six? ten? twelve? Did it vary with time or location? My problem is in Virginia around 1740 to 1760. Any advice? Charles