AMANUENSIS MONDAY~Probate record for Isaac Frampton Jr died 1860, age 18

What does Amanuensis mean?
To put it simply, it means a “person employed to write what another dictates or copy what has been written by another.”

Today I will transcribe the last will & testament for Isaac Frampton, Jr.  He is the youngest person in my tree for whom I’ve located a will/probate record. 

Isaac Frampton, Jr. was the son of Isaac Frampton (1790-1859) and Jane MANN (1805-1857).  He was the youngest of 7 children born to this couple.  His parents, one brother, James and one sister, Barbory J. all predeceased him. 

(click on any image to enlarge it)

Here is my transcription to the best of my ability to read this record.

Isaac Frampton will:                                                                                             347

In the name of God amen I Isaac Frampton of the County of Cabell and State of Virginia being of sound mind & memory and considering the uncertainty of this frail & transitory life do therefore make ordain publish decree this to be my last will and testament that is to say first after all my lawful debts are paid and discharged I direct my executors, who are hereafter named first to have my body interred beside the ____ of my father & mother then to inclose the grave w an iron railing having first erected a neat tombstone over my remains  I give and bequeath to Charles Everett the entire use controll & benefit of my whole landed estate proceeds of the present years crop all moneys due by note document or otherwise for the next two ensuing years the money notes acounts & __ with my sorrel filley & my bed and beding to be his forever  I next give & bequeath to my Sister Rebeca J EVERETT the forty acre field including the two lots & houses now ocupied by H McCULOUGH bounded on the East by the farm of the late G L Busing on the south by the James river & Kanawha turnpike on the west by the land runing from said turnpike to the Ohio River & on the North by the Ohio River to be hers forever then at the expiration of the two years above mentioned I give & bequeath the residue of my ___estate to be divided equally between David Frampton Hyram Frampton & Charles T Everett by each one paying to Ephram Frampton the sum of one hundred dollars Likewise I make constitue & ____Charles T. Everett & H McCulough to be Executors of this my last will & Testament there by revoking all former wills by me made in writing where of I have here with subscribed my name and affixed my seal this 27 day of September A D 1860

Cabell County court clerks office Oct 1st 1860 The last will & testament of Isaac Frampton decd was this day presented in court the same is ordered to be recorded  A copy teste H H Wood clk

For such a young man, age 18, to have to write a will is sad.  What did he died of?  The only cause of death I have for the other family members, is his father Isaac Sr., who died of Dropsy.  That was recorded in the 1860 Mortality schedule.

Of those mentioned in Isaac’s will, sadly, both his brothers, David & Hiram and his brother-in-law, Charles Everett, all died in 1861.  Again, wondering how did they die?  David was 29 yrs, Hiram was 30 and Charles Everett was 32.

Isaac is buried at Burlington Green Lawn Cemetery in Fayette, Lawrence, Ohio.  I've been to this cemetery and visited the graves of many family members, including Isaac.  You may visit his memorial here #66806705

If you think you might be related to anyone mentioned in this blog post, please contact me.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

A BOX FULL OF TREASURES, SIGNATURES & MORE

 

Yesterday I noticed that I did not have a signature saved for my husband’s father, Gordon Charles Hall.  Gathering the signatures of ancestors is one of my favorite things to do.  I wrote a post about them, what they mean and where to find them back in December 2013.
 
Here is the link to that post Signatures & Handwriting - What they tell us

I knew that I had a box of “important papers” from my husband’s mother, Dorothy.  I’ve gone through the box before.  She loved to save things and was very neat and organized about it.  Her sister, Delphine “Honey” Long, was the same way.  Had I looked at every piece of paper in the box?  I didn't think so.  I retrieved the box from it’s place in the office closet.

 
As I began to look for a piece of paper that would contain my father-in-law’s signature, I came across new and revealing items.
 
TIP:  Maybe it’s just me.  But, when I find a box of “goodies” that has belonged to one of our family members I get pretty excited.  It’s like you can’t look at everything fast enough and you can’t take it all in.  Maybe you only go through some of it and then you get interrupted, distracted or have to take care of everyday life things.  Whatever the reason, ALWAYS go back to these boxes and make sure you’ve properly inventoried every item.  By inventory, I mean scanned and saved to your computer and added to your software database.

Among the many envelopes in Dorothy’s box was one from San Diego Federal Savings & Loan with this written on it – “all papers for 4634 67th including trust deed & title insurance.”  The envelope was postmarked 31 Mar 1959 and addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Gordon C. Hall.
 
Here is a photo of it.



As I went through this one envelope, I did find Gordon Hall’s signature.  While I was at it, I also found Dorothy’s.  Realizing I hadn’t saved her signature yet, I scanned, cropped, saved and added them to my Legacy database.
 

Then I began to look inside other envelopes in the box.  I found Gordon Hall’s dog tags from World War II and other important papers relating to his service to our country.  I sat down with my husband and we looked at several items.  He reminisced about his parents and we smiled at some of Dorothy’s entries in her date books.  I will share more about those in another post.

Today I plan to continue to go through this box and take care of what I started months ago, when I first located this box while cleaning out the office closet.  Life does have a way of distracting us.  But, sometimes, it’s twice the fun when you go back and find treasures you didn’t find the first time.
  
OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST
Office closet Clean Out & Organization Project
Office Closet Clean Out - The Finished Project

Happy hunting,

Copyright ©  2010-2015   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

SIGNATURES and HANDWRITING–What they tell us

  

WHO DOESN’T RECOGNIZE THIS SIGNATURE? 

In fact, John Hancock’s signature was so famous that we still use it as an acronym for signing our name.  “Please put your John Hancock here.” 

As genealogists we process, review, copy, scan, download and analyze many documents.  These can date back to several centuries ago, or be as current as last year.  

What can signatures mean to us as researchers?

• It certainly personalizes your connection with that particular ancestor.  You are looking at a document that was probably handled by your ancestor. 
• It can tell you if your ancestor was actually able to sign his or her name, or did they have to leave a mark?
• It can be an indicator whether you ancestor was left handed.  Left handed people often times write back handed.  However, this is not a “set in stone” rule.  There are right handed people who will also write and sign in a back handed slant.
• If you have more than one sample of the signature, depending on how many years apart they are, you might be able to tell if the ancestor has a shaky hand or has perhaps become ill.   Has the signature changed?  If so, how?  Did the ancestor sign his or her name before and now can only leave a mark?  Or just the opposite.  Did they leave a mark in an earlier document and later signed their name?

We certainly aren’t (at least most of us), hand writing experts.  Nor, will we become experts by examining our ancestors signatures. 

It is possible, however, to do a brief study on handwriting and perhaps learn a little more about our ancestor.  The study of handwriting is call Graphology.

I did a search in Google “the study of signatures.”  Here are some sites that came up that may help us learn a little more.  These are certainly not all-inclusive, but can still give us some good information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphology
http://atozhandwriting.com/signature-analysis/
http://www.ehow.com/how_2302506_study-signature-using-graphology.html

Maybe you are fortunate enough to have a larger exemplar of your ancestor’s handwriting.  Perhaps letters, land documents or hand-written wills.  These items are certainly treasures.  But, the truth is that for most of us, we are lucky if we have a signature.

WHERE DO WE FIND SIGNATURES?
Here are a few ideas

Marriage records
Land records
Birth records
Baptism & Christening records
Probate records
Draft registration records
Social security application (SS-5) records
Social security cards
Affidavits of various sorts
Driver’s licenses
Cemetery or funeral home records

There are more places to find signatures and I’m sure you can add to this list. 

Now, what do we do when we do find one a signature?

Once the document has been scanned or saved to your computer, you can use your favorite photo editing software to crop and capture the signature.  I use Microsoft Office 2010 Photo Editor, for it’s ease of use.  But any editor will work.  Here is an article I posted not long ago about using Microsoft Office Photo Editor for EASY DOCUMENT EDITING.

Now, go and look at all those documents you have and find those signatures. 
I have posted a few of my family’s signatures in a “signature” tab at the top of this blog.

Thanks for stopping by today.
Happy hunting,