How consistently did individuals, who were unable to write, use the  
same mark when signing documents?

          Has anyone done a study of the consistency or inconsistency  
of marks?

          I have found two instances where men named Peter Beller  
signed a document using a mark, and I would love to have input from  
the List Members to help me judge the likelihood that the signers were  
different men.

          The first instance is the signature on the 1728 Lancaster  
Co. PA Naturalization Petition. To sign, this Peter Beller made his  
mark, a backward slanting “B” and a recorder wrote in the rest of the  
name on the petition, incorporating the mark as the initial letter of  
“Beller”

          The second instance  is the signature on a 1756 Halifax  
County VA bill-of-sale. The court record indicates that to sign, this  
Peter Beller made his mark, a forward slanting “P B”, and the clerk  
copied the mark into the record. In other cases where marks were used,  
the same clerk reproduced the unique marks, so I think that Peter  
Beller’s mark was like the “PB” shown in the image.

          The letter B in in the second mark is quite different from  
the first mark.

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