In an earlier message Nel wrote:

> His name was William Hatcher. He signed his name as
>
> Will Hatch:
>
> H B Gill tells me the colon indicates an abbreviation, so it appears Hatch:
> was the abbreviated version of Hatcher (at least for ol' William).
>
> The words after the signature are "sealed in red wax"

Small correction: the words after "Hatch:" are "seald w^th (with) red
wax".

Many names were abbreviated with a colon. Tho: = Thomas, Rich: =
Richard, Will: = William, Cath: = Catherine, etc. It is slightly
unusual to abbreviate a surname, but certainly not rare.

Unless you have proof that William signed this will, I'd suspect that
the will is a copy and the signature was written by the court clerk.
Very few original wills from that era were preserved; most of what we
have is the official copies made by the clerk.

Kathleen Much

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