Does anyone have experience reading 17th century documents?
Answers
-
I’d be willing to give it a try. (Majored in Shakespeare many years ago...)
0 -
I can help. I've just completed a paleography class. Court and Secretary Hand were part of the course.
0 -
Share an image here and it looks like there are good prospects to get help!
0 -
Where did you take the paleography class?
0 -
Here's the document. The background is this. The Cass/Case family have an ancestor John Cass(e) of Hampton. He first appears in 1648 with three references, one of them being he sells land. We don't have any earlier documentation for him. This digital copy of the town records may indicate he was there in 1640, and was one of the original land grantees.
questions are: Is the word we circled Casse? and what are the words after the supposed name.
Here's the transcription from the volunteers who wrote in the town index.
July 14, 1640 – Cross voted in writing to the Deputies, eating in Boston, August 7, if he gets over his infirmity in time.
Mr. Bachiler, Mr. Hussey, Thos. Jones, William Eastow, Wm. Palmer, John Moulton, Thomas Moulton, Wm. Wakefield shall have 4 acres of planting ground in what is already appointed them in the East Field and what formerly was granted; Cass, Richard Swain, Robert Tuck, Robert Saunderson shall have 4 acres etc., in the South Field. Richard Knight shall have his 5, 20 – 23 part of his hundred. Wm. Sayward, Wm. Fuller to have 4 acres added to their 15.
0 -
BYU-Idaho online with Sister Call.
0 -
Can you send me a link to the document? That way I can compare words and letters throughout the document. also it looks as if the right side is cut off in your picture.
I'm not sure it is Casse that you have circled. Also, it doesn't look like the words Richard Swain follow. Please post a link to the document.
Thanks.
0 -
The paleography class I took at BYU Provo was one of the highlights of the family history program at the time. The professor was pretty scary, especially with the final exam. It is still one of the most memorable classes I took for my family history degree.
0 -
Hi Paula, here's the link to the index. http://www.hamptonhistoricalsociety.org/town-records/book1_index.htm
Here's the link to the photos, look at page 49, the index gives the wrong page. https://archive.org/details/HAMPTONRECORDSVOLUME1PHOTOS_201802
there's more text on the page and it includes richard swain, but there's text inbetween the presumed name "cass" and "richard swain" so it's not a complete transcription.
0 -
I have an idea for what you have circled in the attached image. I've not found it in the linked image yet. Let's see what @Paula Erhard makes of it then we can discuss this.
0 -
ok. now I see what you are referring to. You are right it is not a true transcription of the document. It does look like "casse of _______ parish Richard Swain...
I just moved and don't have my map book of England. Do you know what parish he lived in? Could that be the missing word?
I will look for my books today and see if I can find the parish name. Please let me know the name of the parish if you know it.
0 -
Okay, makes sense, thanks.
0 -
Hi Paula, do you think that word is parish? This is Hampton in New Hampshire, though it was old mass bay colony then. See the links above to the digital copies.
0 -
I'm not sure I am looking at the same place. @Paula Erhard will you make do a screen shot to add so I am sure we are all looking at the same row on the same part of the page. Then I can discuss it with the correct context. I did have a little trouble getting to what I think is the correct page.
0 -
0 -
Oh, wow, sorry, when you mentioned Hampton earlier, I just assumed it was England. I'm sorry, but I am still not sure what the words are. I will keep looking at it but maybe Brother Williams can give us his idea.
0 -
My apologies, I wasn't clear on the location.
0 -
Here is a screenshot of the document and page in question. If you start with the line that has 2. at the beginning, go down 5 more lines and you will see the part that he is asking about.
0 -
To my eye the mystery word starts “Jo” and ends with “h”. if the second word is “Parish”, I vote for the name “Jonah Parish”. I don’t see a comparable capitol P elsewhere on the page for comparison.
0 -
I'm wondering if the word is "casse". Why would the document refer to the men with both first and last names, except this Casse fellow? Makes me wonder if the word is not Casse at all. Remember they did not have correct spelling or punctuation back then.
0 -
On second thought... “James Parish”. My final answer.
0 -
The way I was taught to read this old stuff is to read through and pick out what you can read and then come back through it on a second pass. The first time I read this earlier today the small part in question made no sense at all to me. When I looked a second time, after reading through several lines of text I think it finally made some sense.
Only after reading lines seven and eight did it start to make sense to me.
0 -
You are getting there!
0 -
Look at the line just above 2. and you should see: the 8th moneth next), in case he be timely recoided of his present infirmity
Compare the words "in case" with what we are looking at in line five.
0 -
Okay wait a minute... is that “also James Parish”?
0 -
Or “also James Paris”?
0 -
also ___ James is correct
so what do we have before James and before also?
0 -
Well I see this “c” that stands for something but I’m having trouble scrolling back and forth on my phone to compare image to “transcript”. And “recoided” is not a word I’ve encountered before.
0 -
Darris Williams I gotta give this up for tonight. I hope you all can solve this
0 -
My read on this is below. I'm not quite sure how to represent what looks line an ampersand in any way close to how it was written in this document. The underlined text is where I'm not quite sure of the transcription. Context is a key help for us in family history and a huge plus in reading these old documents. Practice helps a lot also. That's why I didn't just give my take on the transcription. Hopefully this little exercise helps all of us improve our paleography skills. It helped me!
2. It’s Agreed & graunted, that Mr Bachiler, Mr hussey, Tho: Jones
Willm Easton, Wm Palmer, John Moulton, Thomas Moulton &
Willm Wakefield, shall have seaven acres apeece more of planting=ground added unto
what is already appointed them, in the East field (as parte of their
larger Lotts formerly graunted); & also that James Davis, Richard
Swaine, Rbt Turke, & Robt Saunderson, shall have ten acres apeece
added to theirs formerly appointed, in the South field (as part also
of their larder allotments); & likewise that (in that South field) Richard
Knight shall have five & twenty acres (as parte of his hundred) & Willm
howard & Wm Fuller, ten acres apeece added to their fifteene’s ____
All to be speedily layd forth by the measurers. ___
0
