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  1. #1

    Default Can not read old handwritting

    I have two documents from 1700's Scotland that I can not read. Both concern an ancestor and may be important to making a connection to Scotland. If anyone can help I would be very grateful! This is my first post so perhaps someone can guide me through the process.

  2. #2

    Default

    First of all, welcome to the British Genealogy Forum! You'll find that we have a community of helpful people here.

    The trouble with 18th century scottish handwriting is their use of "secretary hand", a sort of shorthand with standardized abbreviations. Some letters were written differently, and there were also a couple of extra letters (yogh and thorn).

    As long as the files are not enormous, you can always post key bits here for people to try, but that isn't practical for whole documents.

    There's an article in the Help section of Scotlands People HERE about reading early handwriting which might help. It'll certainly explain what's going on and there's links to other very useful sites.
    I have found the tutorials on the Scottish Handwriting (National Records of Scotland) website HERE very helpful.

  3. #3

    Default Thank you Lesley

    Thanks for the lovely welcome! I have isolated the areas of the documents and they are not large so could probably be posted here. I'm a Senior citizen so please bare with me Thank you so much!!







  4. #4
    Super Moderator Sue Mackay's Avatar
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    I can't make it all out, but the first extract seems to say

    James YELTON ??? April born child buried fourth ????
    The second looks as if it has a place name M'oro. Could this be Middlesborough?

    Robert YELTON M'oro Burgess and Margaret BROWN his spouse A.S.N. [alternative surname?] JAMES
    w [witnesses] James SPOTSWOOD, John BLAIR, barbers, John EISTON ???maker, Max??? SCOTT M'oro and Robert BROWN ???
    I'm sure someone else can do better!!!
    Sue Mackay
    Insanity is hereditary - you get it from your kids

  5. #5

    Default

    The third word in the first one is indweller, and I think that the last two words are Brouns houses, I think.
    Suzanne, what parish is that first one for?

    The second one is for an area of Edinburgh. I'll have a look when I get home...

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by Lesley Robertson View Post
    The third word in the first one is indweller, and I think that the last two words are Brouns houses, I think.
    Suzanne, what parish is that first one for?

    The second one is for an area of Edinburgh. I'll have a look when I get home...
    Lesley, the first one is from here:



    You ladies are wonderful!! Thank you so much and your guesses are certainly better than mine LOL!

  7. #7
    Brick wall demolition expert!
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sue Mackay View Post



    The second looks as if it has a place name M'oro. Could this be Middlesborough?


    As it's a Scottish document could it be Musselburgh rather than Middlesborough?

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