Molly Shumate said:
I would like to know if people signed with their mark even though they could 
write their name, perhaps because it was easier?

My quick response is 'Yes.'  My research experience for colonial America and 
later ancestors, and other researchers I have helped, 'indicates' some could 
indeed sign their full name even when they were likely illiterate.  An 
example is my earliest proved ancestor who signed his full name on a 
promissory note with just some small blots of ink, actually loops of a few 
letters filled with ink.  But trying to sign a court or deed document 
possibly of rough quality paper with a poorly made or worn quill pen, and 
with possibly a thinly made ink that tended to run easily from the split in 
the nib could lead to a messy signature, or in worst case a large runny ink 
blot that could ruin the document.  A very light and controlled 'touch' from 
lots of experience was necessary to prevent these blots while an 
inexperienced 'heavy hand' would widen the split in the nib thereby allowing 
ink flow onto the paper and a resultant ink blot of varying sizes.  I 
'speculate' this lack of experience with the quill pen was the primary 
reason for many to forego a signature.  Those who may have been literate, or 
who had some quill pen practice (and maybe pride of literacy) accepted the 
challenge, often resulting in an up/downhill signature of a 'squiggly' 
appearance interlaced with the seemingly always present ink blots. 
Surprising to me though, the witnesses who likely were no more literate than 
the signator often seemed to have better writing skills, so possibly the 
primary signer wanted to be most careful with his/her 'personal document' 
and was therefore more nervous and leary of the pen as a general rule...? 
It's interesting and even exciting (to a genealogist) to imagine our 
ancestors' personal experiences.  Early McDaniel-McDonald ancestors of mine 
survived the French & Indian War in the Great South Branch (of the Potomac 
River) Manor of Lord Fairfax, VA (present Hampshire Co. WV), with a son, 
Valentine, (my line) born there 11 Jan 1760 per his Rev War pension records 
(a cold and snowy day/night per my research.)  They left VA migrating 
through MD to Westmoreland/Fayette Co. PA about 1773, then flatboated down 
the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers to Maysville, KY in the autumn of 1790 and 
thence into Northwest Territory (present Brown Co. OH) -- all by 1796, 
difficult to imagine!!
Neil McDonald 

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