Regarding Sloppy Handwriting

 

Family history researchers who have pursued ancestors from foreign countries may have caught themselves muttering under their breath about the sloppy handwriting of the clerks and clerics tasked with pinpointing those forebears in history. As I work through the generations preceding my paternal grandparents, I certainly know I have—if, that is, I've been able to find any documents at all.

The reason for the difficulty in finding documents lies partially with the fact that some of the usual online genealogical resources lack access to actual documents from my Polish roots. I've had to look elsewhere for many of my discoveries, and there is one significant drawback to that.

Many Polish genealogy websites began as indexing or transcription services. While I'm grateful for that resource—it's better than no resource at all—such a situation simply shifts the onus for deciphering impossible handwriting from my own two eyes to the capabilities of a proxy reader. I'm glad for those volunteers, of course, but I also realize what a challenge it can be to read a sloppy hand, even if it is a native Polish-speaking volunteer who is attempting to catalog the records.

Now that I'm pondering whether to give up on October's research focus for my Twelve Most Wanted, I spent last night exploring what records are available for the upcoming featured ancestor. In this case, we'd be shifting our attention from the northern region of Pomerania to a province somewhat to the southwest.

It's been nearly a year since I last researched family members from this line, but I was surprised to discover, in exploring documents at FamilySearch.org, that instead of merely finding transcriptions of records (plus, in some cases, a notice that the record can be viewed only by personally researching at a designated center), the document itself was available online. 

This is a welcome bonus for several reasons. First, I know the names I'm seeking, and in many cases, I know who those names should be attached to. I also know the appropriate diacritical marks that should accompany the surname, and am familiar with the usual way that a quick hand might confuse the issue. But most important, I can double-check what an indexer, weary from reading pages and pages of documents, might have read as one letter, when in fact the letter in question might clearly be different. 

If only we have the eyes to see that handwriting—no matter how sloppy—we can double check what others perceived, possibly incorrectly, and find that "missing" document which referred to our brick wall ancestor. Being allowed to access that document for ourselves can make such a difference.

It almost convinces me to stop my complaining about how sloppy that handwriting really was. At least, with a digitized copy of the actual document instead of only a transcription, I can see for myself what that entry actually reads.