Deeds were brought to clerk who hand-copied them from the original into the deed books. The originals were then returned to the buyer OR were left to be thrown out at a later date, or stored in the basement to rot. This was same for wills and court papers. It was not until the mid part of the 20th century- and even later for some clerks- that original documents were microfilmed so if you had a handwritten will, what you see in the book is the handwriting of the maker of the will. Of course, by this time period, very few wills or deeds were written by hand. Mike Foreman ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, August 25, 2002 9:04 AM Subject: [WVHAMPSH-L] Early deeds question > Have been perusing copies of deeds from Pendleton County....time frame of > 1780-1820. The intent was to compare signatures from deeds written in other > counties. Well...the deeds in Pendleton County that I have are signed "by the > same hand" that wrote the deed. If there are three signatures, all are "by > the same hand." Has anyone else encountered this problem? From counties other > than Pendleton? > > My question: Is it possible these deeds were transcribed by hand from earlier > records? And if so, where are the earlier records? > > Thanks, > Vivian > >