Hi all, I agree with Heather's very clever suggestion. This is where digital photographs of Archive documents are very handy if they are clear enough. As I do not have many 'old photos' of grandparents etc. I found the signatures to be the next best thing. As I have always been fascinated with handwriting this is also of great interest to me, and I have already started a small collection of signatures which I stare at sometimes to try and imagine the personality of my ancestor. Even the occasional "X" is interesting! Another pastime of mine is finding the street address, finding the exact location in the Cape Town Street Directory (sometimes street names have changed). I then scan the area and save in a folder for that particular family member. Who knows one day I may even get to visit all these spots, the old stomping grounds of my ancestors. The practice of housenaming is also interesting. I wonder if other Listers have any other suggestions to make our research more interesting??? Regards, Elva > X-Message: #3 > Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 18:45:38 +0200 > From: "Heather MacAlister" <heather@ancestors.co.za> > To: SOUTH-AFRICA-CAPE-TOWN-L@rootsweb.com > Message-ID: <071701c46e79$06e510b0$650aa8c0@heatherpc> > Subject: Old Signatures > Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" > > Hello Everyone > > A friend of mine recently showed me a fascinating and different way of > depicting the similarities of your family instead of using photographs. > > Find signatures of all your ancestors from old death notices, wills, > estates, cheques, inside of old books, autograph books, marriage > certificates, baptisms, anything . > > Scan in each one individually and paste them into MS Word. Then type in > the > name of the person and the year in which the signature came from. > Putting > them in order of age or generation. > I did mine and it was amazing. First of all I realized that some of my > family could actually write in the 1700's. The I started to notice the > similarity in some of the handwritings for example my great great > grandfather and then his great great grandson - it was frightening !!! > > The next time you go and visit some relatives take along a book with > blank > pages (or better invest in an autograph book - they still do sell them) > and > ask everyone to sign the book. Perhaps we could renew the old phase of > autograph books - they are still great sources of information for > families. > > > Kind regards > Heather > > >

Envelopes have the advantage of having more words on them, and a stamp and often a legible date. Of course you have to put in a caption to say who wrote them...... An album of these would be nice for children to look through on a rainy afternoon. Add a photograph of sender and receiver... Mind you, I've only just thought of this, I haven't done it! But several of the old letters I have from about WW1 time onwards do have envelopes. The advantage is that it is an on-going thing, for even with our computers we still have to send some things by post. Go well! Ivy Trott.

Hello Elva Your idea of the Street Directory is great - I looked at every Cape Almanac from the year I thought my ancestors arrived and have mapped out exactly how they moved around- I certainly must have gypsy blood in me as almost every year they moved. This also gives a wonder idea of who lived in the house next door - sometimes these clues are crucial to witness's in death notices and estate papers and definitely worth following up. thanks for reminding me of that tip kind regards Heather Heather's South African Genealogy Help List www.genealogy.co.za Cape Town Family History Society www.genealogy.co.za/society/socweb.htm ----- Original Message ----- From: "Elva Hanly" <theaviary@bigpond.com> To: <SOUTH-AFRICA-CAPE-TOWN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2004 4:43 AM Subject: [South-Africa-Cape-Town] Old Signatures (and Old Street Addresses) > Hi all, > > I agree with Heather's very clever suggestion. This is where digital > photographs of Archive documents are very handy if they are clear > enough. As I do not have many 'old photos' of grandparents etc. I found > the signatures to be the next best thing. As I have always been > fascinated with handwriting this is also of great interest to me, and I > have already started a small collection of signatures which I stare at > sometimes to try and imagine the personality of my ancestor. Even the > occasional "X" is interesting! > > Another pastime of mine is finding the street address, finding the exact > location in the Cape Town Street Directory (sometimes street names have > changed). I then scan the area and save in a folder for that particular > family member. Who knows one day I may even get to visit all these > spots, the old stomping grounds of my ancestors. The practice of > housenaming is also interesting. > > I wonder if other Listers have any other suggestions to make our > research more interesting??? > > Regards, > > Elva > > > > > X-Message: #3 > > Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 18:45:38 +0200 > > From: "Heather MacAlister" <heather@ancestors.co.za> > > To: SOUTH-AFRICA-CAPE-TOWN-L@rootsweb.com > > Message-ID: <071701c46e79$06e510b0$650aa8c0@heatherpc> > > Subject: Old Signatures > > Content-Type: text/plain; > > charset="iso-8859-1" > > > > Hello Everyone > > > > A friend of mine recently showed me a fascinating and different way of > > depicting the similarities of your family instead of using photographs. > > > > Find signatures of all your ancestors from old death notices, wills, > > estates, cheques, inside of old books, autograph books, marriage > > certificates, baptisms, anything . > > > > Scan in each one individually and paste them into MS Word. Then type in > > the > > name of the person and the year in which the signature came from. > > Putting > > them in order of age or generation. > > I did mine and it was amazing. First of all I realized that some of my > > family could actually write in the 1700's. The I started to notice the > > similarity in some of the handwritings for example my great great > > grandfather and then his great great grandson - it was frightening !!! > > > > The next time you go and visit some relatives take along a book with > > blank > > pages (or better invest in an autograph book - they still do sell them) > > and > > ask everyone to sign the book. Perhaps we could renew the old phase of > > autograph books - they are still great sources of information for > > families. > > > > > > Kind regards > > Heather > > > > > > > > > ==== SOUTH-AFRICA-CAPE-TOWN Mailing List ==== > Heather's South African Genealogy Help List > www.genealogy.co.za > > ============================== > Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration > Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237 > > > >

At our family reunion we displayed the signatures of the ancestors in chronological order and then added a space for each family member present to sign their name. We now have a wonderful register of family signatures. As far as the street address' are concerned, it is amazing to find members of two families whose descendants have married, living a few houses apart in the 'early' days. Coincidence?? Regards Fay -----Original Message----- From: Elva Hanly [mailto:theaviary@bigpond.com] Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2004 4:44 AM To: SOUTH-AFRICA-CAPE-TOWN-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [South-Africa-Cape-Town] Old Signatures (and Old Street Addresses) Hi all, I agree with Heather's very clever suggestion. This is where digital photographs of Archive documents are very handy if they are clear enough. As I do not have many 'old photos' of grandparents etc. I found the signatures to be the next best thing. As I have always been fascinated with handwriting this is also of great interest to me, and I have already started a small collection of signatures which I stare at sometimes to try and imagine the personality of my ancestor. Even the occasional "X" is interesting! Another pastime of mine is finding the street address, finding the exact location in the Cape Town Street Directory (sometimes street names have changed). I then scan the area and save in a folder for that particular family member. Who knows one day I may even get to visit all these spots, the old stomping grounds of my ancestors. The practice of housenaming is also interesting. I wonder if other Listers have any other suggestions to make our research more interesting??? Regards, Elva > X-Message: #3 > Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 18:45:38 +0200 > From: "Heather MacAlister" <heather@ancestors.co.za> > To: SOUTH-AFRICA-CAPE-TOWN-L@rootsweb.com > Message-ID: <071701c46e79$06e510b0$650aa8c0@heatherpc> > Subject: Old Signatures > Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" > > Hello Everyone > > A friend of mine recently showed me a fascinating and different way of > depicting the similarities of your family instead of using photographs. > > Find signatures of all your ancestors from old death notices, wills, > estates, cheques, inside of old books, autograph books, marriage > certificates, baptisms, anything . > > Scan in each one individually and paste them into MS Word. Then type in > the > name of the person and the year in which the signature came from. > Putting > them in order of age or generation. > I did mine and it was amazing. First of all I realized that some of my > family could actually write in the 1700's. The I started to notice the > similarity in some of the handwritings for example my great great > grandfather and then his great great grandson - it was frightening !!! > > The next time you go and visit some relatives take along a book with > blank > pages (or better invest in an autograph book - they still do sell them) > and > ask everyone to sign the book. Perhaps we could renew the old phase of > autograph books - they are still great sources of information for > families. > > > Kind regards > Heather > > > ==== SOUTH-AFRICA-CAPE-TOWN Mailing List ==== Heather's South African Genealogy Help List www.genealogy.co.za ============================== Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237