Hi Fran, You are right to question that the will is for the same man who executed the deeds. Is the will copy of the /original/ or is it a copy from a will book? If you have a copy of the original, is the signature on the will different from the handwriting in the will or is the writing the same throughout? If the handwriting is the same throughout, then either the testator was the scribe or someone else was. The deeds signed with a mark indicate that particular William West was not capable of scribing a will. Do any of his deeds identify him as "William N. West" or is the will the only document using that name? Do the devises in the will agree with the land he owned when he died? Are there extant estate papers for William West or William N. West? Just some thoughts, Kathy On 3/10/2017 10:02 AM, Fran West-Powe wrote: > Given to me was a large number of deeds from Bladen Co., NC > involving transactions to and/or from William WEST covering the > years approximately 1790-1830. > > My question: in all the deeds, William used his mark but in his will > William signed his name as William N. West. Is it usual for one man > to use, all his adult life, his mark then use a signed name to his > will? > > I hope this question is clear? > > Many thanks. > > FWP > > Fran > > > > --- > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > https://www.avast.com/antivirus > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the > message >