6 Tips for Decoding Old Script Handwriting for Ancestry Research

Learn how to read and understand older ancestors’ language and handwriting styles.

One of the significant challenges facing historians and genealogists is learning to read and understand the older language forms and handwriting styles commonly found in the documents and records detailing the lives of our ancestors. Learning to decipher the handwriting techniques and characters of earlier times is a skill that needs time, practice and a lot of patience. As we look at old documents, we often have questions concerning the formation of specific characters, the meaning of particular abbreviations or the spelling of certain words.

There are quite a few online tutorials that can help you read these older documents with examples and tutorials on the letter and number formation (including English and Gothic script), commonly used abbreviations and spellings, and even tips for making out faded ones, smudged or sloppy text. Then, what you need most is practice, practice, and practice. Get together some of those document copies you have sitting in file cabinets or boxes and plan to spend some time transcribing them in their entirety.

One of the significant challenges facing genealogists is learning to read and understand the older language forms and handwriting styles commonly found in the documents and records detailing the lives of our ancestors. Learning to decipher the handwriting techniques and characters of earlier times is a skill that needs time, practice and a lot of patience. As we look at old documents, we often have questions concerning the formation of specific characters, the meaning of particular abbreviations or the spelling of certain words.

Why You Need to Understand Old Script

When you study old handwriting, understand that scribes, clerks, and clergy were about the business of keeping records with the understanding that few would ever be reviewing what they had written down. Sometimes the writing is “handsome” and “Elegant” as though it was on show for the world to see. Other times it’s barely legible. About the time you understand the handing of one priest from early 1800s church record, a new priest takes over and the exercise of learning new handwriting. Each writer had their abbreviations, punctuation, and style. However, a few essential pointers can assist you in determining the writing of an era in the past. The first lesson in working with only handwriting is learning to compare.

Compare and match letters…
Compare and match characters…
Compare and match doubtful words…

… to determine if they are the same.

Understand Ancestor Handwriting

The following tips will help you get started:
Don’t assume. Read slowly and practice patience, making sure the words make sense as you go.

2. Use a good-quality magnifying glass.

3. Use letters from words in the document that you can read to piece together the letters in the words you are having trouble with. One trick is to start by looking for dates, usually present in genealogical documents. Then use the letters in the month, day of the week, etc., to help determine the writer’s style.

4. As you figure out individual letters, you may want to consider making an alphabet chart with examples of each letter style.

5. Keep in mind that words were often misspelled in older documents – especially personal names and place names. You will often find them spelled differently in different parts of the document. You can use other documents, atlases, etc., as sources to verify the correct spellings.

6. Transcribe the document precisely as it is written – misspellings and all. This will help from making assumptions that might trip you up in your research later.

Starting Points for Further Research