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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition => Topic started by: sharay on Monday 11 April 11 10:09 BST (UK)

Title: Help with handwriting please
Post by: sharay on Monday 11 April 11 10:09 BST (UK)
Hi,
I'm trying to figure out the name of John's mother, on another document I read it as Janet Campbell but now seeing this document I'm not so sure. Looks to me like Mary Brown Ritchie formally Caldwell, Cauldell, Cauldwell ???
Any suggestions?
Title: Re: Help with handwriting please
Post by: KGarrad on Monday 11 April 11 10:11 BST (UK)
Looks like Cambell to me?

A common spelling mistake!!  ;D
Title: Re: Help with handwriting please
Post by: LizzieW on Monday 11 April 11 10:11 BST (UK)
My first thought was Turnbull, but looking at it again I'm not sure that is correct.
Title: Re: Help with handwriting please
Post by: kathb on Monday 11 April 11 10:28 BST (UK)
Hi, Sharay, do you have another piece of this document to compare a bit more handwriting please? Currently it could be Cambell but could do with seeing a bit more of the handwriting to compare.
Regards
Kathb
Title: Re: Help with handwriting please
Post by: sharay on Monday 11 April 11 10:44 BST (UK)
Hi,
This is a bigger bit of the death certificate for John Ritchie child of John Ritchie and Mary Brown Cambell??.
Thanks
Title: Re: Help with handwriting please
Post by: sharay on Monday 11 April 11 10:47 BST (UK)
Hi
This is where I thought it was Janet Cambell originally but as I have hit a wall finding his birth thought maybe I am reading the handwriting incorrectly.  This is the marriage of the same person, previous one is his death.

Thanks
Title: Re: Help with handwriting please
Post by: Billyblue on Monday 11 April 11 10:51 BST (UK)
Well it's certainly Campbell in the third one you posted.

I would have thought Cambell in the first but looking at the bigger bit, the initial letter does not match the capital C in Cardiac.
But maybe it was just a sloppy writer??

Dawn M
Title: Re: Help with handwriting please
Post by: PrueM on Monday 11 April 11 11:02 BST (UK)
I think it's Cambell  :)
Title: Re: Help with handwriting please
Post by: kathb on Monday 11 April 11 11:06 BST (UK)
Hi, sharay, thanks for the additional sections.  Although the C does not seem to match that in Coal and Cardiac, on closer looking there is what appears to be the remainder of a downward curve on the first letter of the surname.  This could then be a better match for the C and therefore I would again say Cambell.
Regards
Kathb
Title: Re: Help with handwriting please
Post by: genjen on Monday 11 April 11 11:09 BST (UK)
I think it says Formerly Cambell but underneath that, there is what looks like another entry...MS( maiden surname) ????

Is it possible that she was married twice, or am I mis-reading that bit??

Jen
Title: Re: Help with handwriting please
Post by: PrueM on Monday 11 April 11 11:13 BST (UK)
It says "Not Known" at the bottom, for Father's Profession :)
Title: Re: Help with handwriting please
Post by: genjen on Monday 11 April 11 11:19 BST (UK)
Oh - so it does. ::)

Sorry, it was just a thought because often, the word 'formerly' on a certificate is used to indicate a previous marriage and the maiden name then comes below it.

I still opt for Cambell.

Jen :)
Title: Re: Help with handwriting please
Post by: sharay on Monday 11 April 11 11:25 BST (UK)
Hi,
I didn't know what that said, its clear now , not known. John and Mary or Janet where both deceased by 1877, so the informant on the death which was his son in 1908, would not likely have known the occupation of his grandfather that he never met.
Thanks for that, i'm opting for Cambell too, was kinda hoping it might have been something else, no birth record matching cambell or campbell.

Thanks again everyone
Title: Re: Help with handwriting please
Post by: LizzieW on Monday 11 April 11 11:46 BST (UK)
Perhaps I'm just not used to reading Scottish certs, but how does  Mary Brown Ritchie maiden name Cambell (Campbell) in the first attachment become Janet Ritchie, maiden name Campbell in the second attachment.  I suppose it's the other way round at her marriage son's birth she was called Janet Campbell.  At her son's death she was called Mary Brown Campbell.  Did Janet die and her husband then marry her sister/cousin or whatever, or did Janet just decide she didn't like her name?

Lizzie
Title: Re: Help with handwriting please
Post by: sharay on Monday 11 April 11 11:54 BST (UK)
Yup, and with a common like John Ritchie having the mothers maiden nailed down really really helps.

In 1877 her son calls her Janet Ritchie formally Campbell (dec)

In 1908 her grandson calls her Mary Brown Ritchie formally Cambell/Campbell

Have printed out every birth of a  John Ritchie with father John Ritchie between 1845 and 1855, everything has him born 1851/1852, still nothing to match, hence why I was hoping I was mis reading the handwriting.

Thanks
Title: Re: Help with handwriting please
Post by: LizzieW on Tuesday 12 April 11 10:34 BST (UK)
In 1877 her son calls her Janet Ritchie formally Campbell (dec)

In 1908 her grandson calls her Mary Brown Ritchie formally Cambell/Campbell

That's why I wondered if Janet had died, perhaps before the grandson was born, Mr Ritchie re-married to someone called Mary Brown and that is why the grandson has used the 2nd name.

Lizzie
Title: Re: Help with handwriting please
Post by: sharay on Tuesday 12 April 11 22:51 BST (UK)
Thanks Lizzie,
Yes that could explain it, the Grandson was born in 1889.  I think the Janet Campbell would be the closest name of his mother, in 1908 the grandson would have most likely been going off memory of something his parents once told him, seeing as both were deceased by 1877, long before he was born. If the father did remarry to a Mary Brown it would have been before 1877 but after 1851/1852 and maybe John was old enough to remember his mothers name in 1877. All possible explanations.
However, still can't find a possible birth 1851/1852 to Janet Campbell and John Ritchie.
Maybe John's birth mother died when John was still very young and his father remarried to a Janet Campbell then remarry again to Mary Brown?
That's where I go next anyway.
Thanks again everybody
Sharon