Help Reading Faded / Small Text.

Dean, Barton David

Help Reading Faded / Small Text.

In the Parish Register for Church Gresley is an entry for the Marriage of Gulielm (William) Newbould and Alicia (Alice) Callingwood in May of 1625. I cannot read the day of the event; it is too faded and small for me to read well. It is written in Latin and I'm taking it to be the 13th. It looks like the writer blended some of the letters. Could anyone offer me more assurance on the date? The entry is squoze in between others and isn't easy to find at first glace. The URL to the page is: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6PX9-JMN?i=885&cc=1911752

 

Thanks!

Bart

Anitra Whittle

Hello Bart.

I can't read that either. But I'm going to tag your question to @England Genealogy Research​ . Hopefully there will be someone there experienced in reading old records.

Thank you for the question.

Anitra

Paul W

The date definitely seems to end in "primo", so you have a choice between vicesimo primo (21st) or tricesimo primo (31st). Looking at other entries on the same page, the first letter looks more like a "t" than a "v", so I would suggest 31st May 1625 as the full date, but I am open to contradictions from anyone more experienced than myself in reading old handwriting in Latin!

 

Here's a link that might prove helpful, although it does not show examples of old handwriting, I'm afraid. It often helps to compare with the clearer entries on the page, too.

 

https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections/researchguidance/datingdocuments/latin.aspx

Dean, Barton David

Thank You! I appreciate that.

 

Bart

Dean, Barton David

After a second look, I agree with you. And thanks again for the resouce recommendation that is better than what I had!

JeffWiseman

Dean, you may already be aware of this, but if you have faint lettering on the page, you can frequently improve its readability a bit. Go to the Tools->Adjust Image in the reader's menu and increase the contrast some. Then compensate for the extra brightness that is created by then turning down the brightness adjustment some.

 

This can help a lot but be aware that there is a point of diminishing returns if you add too much contrast. Experiment with it and you'll see what I mean.

Dean, Barton David

Thanks! I have used the tools to invert and to adjst the brightness and contrast. Knowing that others are doing it gives me more confidence in what I am doing. Now all I need is more practice and experience. I truly appreciate you going the extra mile. Just because I happened to know about the tools doesn't mean I know other things. If you come across other helpful ideas such as this, I hope you will share them with me.

 

Again, many thanks!