I was basing this more so on the printed versions, since I have not seen the
name except on line in various representations that look like the old
English or Germanic form of the written versions
I knew that if I asked this forum I would obtain a better answer than my
feeble attempts to prove my wife's family, Ross, was possibly the Rolfe's at
jamestowne.
Thank you,
John Adams

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of J. Douglas Deal
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 6:30 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Rolfe or Rosse

Mr. Adams:

I thought you were basing this proposition on a possible misreading of the
"ss" in Rosse when written in longhand (or printed?). The answer to that
suggestion is no, the use of the so-called "long s" does not produce
something that is easily mistaken for "lf". Two long s together look
something
like two f (ff) when handwritten and almost exactly like "ff" when printed
in
roman letters. If the long s is followed by the "regular" s in longhand, the
two together look something like "fs". In neither case does one mistake the
two s together for "lf".

It would be easiest to see what I'm saying if I could write and send this
message in longhand. I'm sure there are websites on paleography that would
be useful in this regard.

Douglas Deal
Professor of History and Chair of History Department
State University of New York at Oswego
Oswego, NY 13126
[log in to unmask]
(315)-312-5632

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html