CrossRoads Farm

Handwriting Analysis

03 September, 2005 - 8:35 am

One of my responsibilities as an Assistant Town Clerk is to do recordings. Birth and death certificates, deeds, mortgages, quit claims, marriages and civil unions all need to be kept on record here at the town clerk’s office. Although the information is public knowledge it is kept in a walk-in vault. I’ve been cleaning out the vault in my spare minutes at work. If I have a question and the town clerk is busy, I go and tackle a shelf or to in the vault.

I’ve found some amazing things in there. Ancient maps of our cemeteries – drawn out by hand on old window shades. Some photo plates and a camera that belonged to a female photographer that lived here in the late 1800’s. Tons of old maps of Our Town, including the original Town map, protected between two sheets of glass and kept safe between two file cabinets. And my favorite item to date – a time capsule dated 1991, that is to be opened in 2041. I can’t wait. Think I’ll still be here when I’m 71?

I love to take out the old record books and just read them. Not just for the history inside but because of the remarkable handwriting of the past Town Clerks. The letters are precise and lovely to look at. The words evenly spaced. Handwriting like that was an art. An art we don’t need anymore. D has actually asked me why they still teach cursive writing at school. It’s a good question. Back in the day the town clerk didn’t just certify the document he would write out the entire thing. It had to be neat. Now the only thing handwritten on a document is signatures and certification.

Which brings me back to recordings.

Aside from writing a check or scribbling a shopping list I do very little writing. It’s a shame really. I like to write. I just don’t. I’ve tried writing journals on and off all my life and this one - here on the computer - is the only one I’ve ever stuck with. Now that I am doing recordings I am very aware of my handwriting. Each document is entered in our register when it is received. I have to track who sent it to us, the names of the individuals involved and what kind of document it is. This process not only makes it easier for Mary, our Town Clerk, and I to keep track and keep the documents in order, but also provides information for researchers.
Next the document gets ink stamped. The image is about 1 ½ x 3. The first line says Our Town, VT. Then there are spaces to fill in the date and time we received the document and the book number and page number where the information will be kept. Then there is space for me to sign.

I’m the first town clerk or assistant that I can find who has an illegible signature.

Finally, each document gets an index card – typed on a typewriter because our printer will not accept index cards – and then the names are handwritten again in the index of the book.

Needless to say, my penmanship is improving.

It is daunting to look at the lines of perfectly written names in the indexes and know you are about to put pen to paper in a book people will be using for research for who knows how long.

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